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Shaolin Temple |
Shaolin Temple is probably
the most famous temple in China, not only because of its
long history and its role in Chinese Buddhism, but also
because of its martial arts or Wushu Chan. Shaolin
Temple is situated in the beautiful Songshan Mountains,
which is only eight miles of Dengfeng and about 50 miles
southwest of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province.
The Shaolin temple has many legends and mysteries
surround it. The origin of martial arts, the origin of
kung fu surround the vague mysteries of the Shaolin
Temple and the shaolin monks. Shaolin Temple was
established in 495 A.D. for spreading Buddhism at that
period. Emperor Xiaowen was a believer of Buddhism so he
decided to build the temple in the Songshan Mountains to
house Batuo, an Indian monk, who translated many
Buddhist works and had a few hundred followers there.
Damo (Bodhidharma), the
legendary Indian monk, came to Shaolin Temple in
527A.D., who was the creator of Chinese Zen. There are
many legendary stories about him. One of the well-known
stories says he was meditating in a cave on the top of
shaoshi hill for nine years, which caused his shadow
imprinted on the wall. Nowadays, the stone was
enshrined in one of the buildings in Shaolin Temple.
Many people believe he wrote the famous 'Yijinjing', the
base of Shaolin martial arts or Gongfu.
Shaolin does have a long
tradition of Chinese martial arts, as the saying goes
'All martial arts are from Shaolin'. This is partly
because Shaolin was located in a strategic area so they
had to protect the temple themselves from wars or any
invading, and partly because of the support of most
emperors from different dynasties, which came after the
13 Shaolin monks once saved Li Shimin, the emperor of
the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Since then Shaolin was
allowed to have soldier-monks and it began to enjoy the
reputation of “The Number One Temple Under Heaven”.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368A.D.-1644A.D.), Shaolin
housed over 2,000 soldier-monks at its peak and they
were often used by the government to combat rebellions
and Japanese bandits.
There are many noted relics at Shaolin Temple. There are
over 300 ancient stone inscriptions, some of them by
famous calligraphers. The large mural of 500 arhats in
the Qianfo Hall was from the Ming Dynasty. There are 232
pagodas from different dynasties, known as Pagoda
Forests. The oldest one was from the Tang Dynasty.
Actually, the pagodas are the tombs of the eminent
Shaolin monks, which are a grand view and they are the
largest scale well preserved in China. |
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