Shaolin Monastery was founded at the foot of Mount Song in Henan Province, China, around 480 AD. The site is world renowned for training monks in the art of Shaolin Quan style kung fu. With incredible strength, flexibility, and pain endurance capabilities, the disciples of this temple have earned a reputation for being the most powerful among Buddhist warriors.

Buddhism is generally considered a peaceful religion, with an emphasis on principles such as nonviolence, vegetarianism, and even self-sacrifice to avoid hurting others. So how can Shaolion Temple monks become warriors?

The history of the shaolins began over 1, 500 years ago, when a stranger came to China from lands far west ...

The Origin of the Shaolin Temple

Legend has it that in the year 480, a monk and wanderer teacher traveled from India to China. He was called Buddhabhadra, also known as Batuo or Fotuo, in Chinese. According to the Buddhist Chan (or Buddhist Zen in Japanese) tradition, the monk taught that the doctrine could be better transmitted from teacher to student, rather than just by reading sacred texts.

In 496, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty gave Batuo the necessary resources to establish a monastery on the sacred mountain of Shaoshi, located in the same area as Mount Song, which is more than 30 miles from the imperial capital of Luoyang. This temple is named after Shaolin - “Shao”, from Shaoshi Mountain, and “lin”, meaning forest.

The beginning of shaolin history

Another famous Buddhist teacher was Bodhidharma, who may have come from China or Persia, but it is not known for sure. However, he refused to teach Huike, one of his Chinese disciples. Outraged, the boy decided to prove his sincerity and his worth by cutting his own arm off. With this he became the first student of Bodhidharma.

The same teacher was known to spend nine years in silent meditation in a cave above the Shaolin Temple. One legend says that he slept after seven years, but cut his eyelids so that it would never happen again. Then they became the first tea plants when he stepped on the ground.

In 534 Luoyang and the Wei Dynasty were overthrown. In this, many temples in the region were destroyed and possibly the Shaolin too.

Shaolin in the Sui Ages and Tang's Beginning

Around 600, the emperor Wendi of the new Sui dynasty presented the shaolins with more than 5 km² of land, in addition to the right to grind grain with a water mill. The emperor himself was a Buddhist follower, but most of his court supported Confucianism.

Sui succeeded in reunifying China, but it only lasted 37 years. Before long, the country was again divided into fiefdoms fought by the warlords. However, the fortunes of the Shaolin Temple increased with the rise of the Tang Dynasty in 618, which was headed by a rebel Sui court official.

The Shaolin monks fought bravely in favor of Emperor Li Shimin and against General Wang Shichong. At the end of the dispute, Li became the second emperor of the Tang dynasty.

The Shaolin Temple in the Tang Era

Although they helped the early masters of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhist temples and the Shaolin faced several casualties. In 622, the Shaolin Temple was closed and all the monks were forced to return home. However, two years later, the site was reopened due to the military service rendered to the throne by the disciples. In 625, Li Shimin returned about 2.26 km² to the monks of the monastery.

In the 8th century, relations with the emperor were not easy, but Chan Buddhism flourished strongly in China. In 728 the monks built a monument engraved with stories of their service to the throne as a reminder for future emperors.

One of the Shaolin Temple frescoes

The Tang Era to Ming Transition

In 841, the Tang Wuzong emperor, fearing the power of the Buddhists, caused many monks to be expelled and even killed. However, Wuzong idolized his ancestor Li Shimin, so he spared the shaolins.

In the year 907, the Tang Dynasty collapsed, beginning a chaotic period of 5 dynasties and 10 reigns. After that, the Song family prevailed and dominated China until 1279. However, few records about the Shaolins remained from that period.

All is known is that in 1125 a shrine was erected in honor of Bodhidharma, about 800 meters away from the Shaolin. The Song dynasty was followed by the Yuan (Mongol), which reigned until the year 1368.

One of Bodhidharma's representations

Shaolins in the Golden Age

When the Yuan Dynasty was over, the Shaolin Temple was destroyed once again during the rebellion of Hongjin (Red Turban) in 1351. Legend has it that a bodhisattva (a being of light approaching the buddha image), disguised as a kitchen helper, saved the temple - in fact, the place was entirely burned.

Still, until the year 1500, the Shaolin monks continued to be famous for their fighting skills. In 1511, 70 disciples died in battle against bandit armies. Between 1533 and 1555, the monks gathered to fight in at least four major wars against the Japanese pirates.

Shaolin Training Part

In the next century, the Shaolin honed their unarmed fighting methods. However, the monks fought for Ming's side in 1630 and lost.

Shaolin at the beginning of the modern era

In 1641, rebel leader Li Zicheng destroyed the monastic army, sacked the Shaolin Temple, and killed or drove away the monks. In the year 1644, he set out to dominate Beijing, put an end to Ming Dysnatia, but was prevented by the Manchus, who founded the Qing Dynasty.

The Shaolin Temple remained deserted for many decades. The last abbot, Yongyu, left the site without naming a successor in 1664. History tells that a group of Shaolin monks rescued Emperor Kangxi from the nomads in 1674. Therefore, some envious military men burned the temple, thus killing much of the Shaolin disciples.

In 1679, Gu Yanwu traveled to what was left of the Shaolin Temple to record his history.

The shaolin in the Qing Era

The Shaolins slowly recovered from their plunder, and in 1704 Emperor Kangxi issued a written mandate to return the temple to imperial favor. However, the monks learned to be cautious: unarmed combat replaced military training - after all, it was not good to be seen as a threat to the throne.

In 1735-1736, Emperor Yongzheng and his son Qianlong decided to renovate the Shaolin Temple and remove the “false monks” - martial artists who wore robes but without being ordained. Then Qianlong - then emperor - visited the Shaolin in 1750. At the time, he wrote poetry about the beauty of the place, but banished the monastery's martial arts.

The Shaolin in the Modern Era

During the 19th century, Shaolin Temple monks were accused of violating their monastic vows for eating meat, drinking alcohol and even hiring prostitutes. Many of them considered vegetarianism impractical for a warrior - probably that is why government officials sought to impose the habit on Shaolin monks.

The reputation of the temple received a serious attack during the Boxer War, which occurred in 1900. In it, the Shaolin monks were accused - probably unfairly - of being responsible for teaching rebels the martial art of boxing.

In 1912, Qing, the last emperor of the Chinese dynasty, was overthrown due to his low position compared to the intrusive powers of Europe. The country went into chaos again, which only ended with the victory of communism under Mao Zedong in 1949. Prior to that, in 1928, General Shi Yousan burned 90% of the Shaolin Temple. Much of it would not be rebuilt for the next 60 to 80 years.

The shaolin under communist laws

At first, the Mao government was not bothered by what was left of the Shaolin. However, according to Marxist doctrine, the new power was officially atheistic. As early as 1966, the Cultural Revolution in China began and Buddhist temples were one of the first targets of the Red Guard.

The few remaining Shaolin monks were whipped through the streets and then arrested - the temple texts, paintings and other treasures were stolen or destroyed. This could have been the end of the shaolin, had it not been for the 1982 film "Shaolin Shi" or "The Shaolin Temple, " which was the first work of famous actor Jet Li (Li Lianjie).

The plot of the feature film was based superficially on the stories of the monks described by Li Shimin and became a phenomenon in China. Between the 1980s and 1990s, tourism erupted at the Shaolin Temple, reaching more than 1 million inhabitants a year by the end of the decade.

Today, Shaolin monks are among the best known on the planet. They exhibit martial arts knowledge in various countries and thousands of films have already been produced about them.

Batuo's Legacy

It is very difficult to imagine what the first Shaolin disciple would imagine if he could see the temple today. Most likely, he would be surprised and even amazed at how much blood has already been spilled in the history of the place.

However, to survive the turmoil that constituted so many periods of Chinese history, Shaolin monks had to learn hundreds of warrior skills. Despite several attempts to end the temple, it survived and still thrives today. Soon you can still find it at the base of Mount Song.