介绍:
Shaolin Temple at Dengfeng County, Henan Province, is the birthplace of Buddhism's Zen in China as well as the cradle of China's Shaolin style martial arts. Daniel Homes went to the temple for a visit just recently.
This week, I've traveled down to arguably one of China's most acclaimed destinations, the Shaolin Temple. It's a place of myth and legend, and its mystique has reached far further afield than just China.
Famous in the western world through cinema and literature, its name conjures an image of a mysterious and traditional China. I've travelled to the temple to see if this is really an image based on fact, or fable. One of the temples Shaolin monks has ofered to walk me around the temple, to explain some of its history.
"The Shaolin Temple was first built in the Beiwei dynasty in 495AD. Why was it called the shaolin temple? Because the nearby mountain is called Shaoshi mountain and their used to be a lot of trees in the area. So the temple is called Shoalin temple. This particular building was built in 1974 and the three characters written above were written by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty."
The temple itself has survived some of China's most turbulent historic events, being rebuilt many times in the process but it's still maintained a traditional architecture that's recognized as Chinese throughout the world. But there are also signs of its age, scattered throughout the temple, and it's easy to see where its mystique originates from.
"So there are dozens of holes in this tree and I've just been told that they're basically from monks using their fingers when they were practicing kung fu, just stabbing into the tree. To me that seems incredible, that's got to hurt. Apparently after that the tourists saw the holes in the tree and carried on trying it themselves, so that's why they've got so big."
It's a great story, but with the temples age taken into consideration, I wouldn't be surprised if these stories had been exaggerated over the years. And it's not the only fable that hints at both the temples age and mystery.
"So we've just come up to the top of the temple and there are these massive holes throughout on the floor. How did they get here?"
Monk:
"During the Qing dynasty the monks would sit and practice meditation but they were afraid to be found so they closed the doors and practiced inside here. Years and years passed by and over time, these grooves were formed."
Having seen the marks of Shaolin's rich cultural history scattered throughout the temples trees and walkways, I was surprised to see such a grand example of China's modernization. In one of the courtyards, a group of African Kung Fu students were showcasing their talents. With China's increasing global and political influence it's interesting to see its culture is also being accepted in other parts of the world. Such an enthusiastic display of Kung Fu from an African delegation is pretty much the last thing I expected to see at the Shaolin temple.
But the idea of Kung Fu, a martial art, happening in the same place as Zen Buddhism seems at odds to me. After all, martial arts is associated with violence, whilst Zen buddhism is a peaceful religion. And this was a question I was lucky enough to put across to Shi Yongxin, the head of the monastery.
"The Shaolin temple is very linked to Zen or Chan, and it's also very linked to Wushu, Kung Fu. The two seem to me to contradict each other. Is this the case or do they work side by side?"
"Any problem you think is the opposite is actually not the opposite it mainly depends on how you handle it. The combination of Zen and martial arts is a tradition of Shaolins culture. The purpose of practicing kung fu is to build one's body. The purpose of meditation is to build one's soul. Only with good health, you will have good mood, you'll have a good mood, good composure. There's a significant relationship or cause and affect relationship among these. The two are from the same family. Studying zen and martial arts together and understanding zen through the practice of Kung Fu the two combined are the tradition of the Shaolin temple. The two should not be separated. Everything depends on how you interpret it."
It's great to see that so many visitors use the temple for it's origional and spiritual purpose, and whilst I'm no closer to understanding the origins of the temples mystique, it's nice to see such grand traditions thriving in a country that's rapidly modernising.
大家还在听
