11.
Shaolin temple and Kung fu
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Shaolin temple Kung fu demonstration
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Yesterday I got my shorts back from the laundry
service and they are brilliant. All the mud stains (some a few
days old) came off and the pants were ironed and folded inside
the bag. I marked something wrong on the sheet so the total actually
came out to be less than what I thought, somewhere around 2 USD.
Not bad for such quick and excellent service. On the bus this
morning Haibo gave out waters so we could all be hydrated.
Today was the first special day for me since I was in my dad's
home area of the Henan Province. The first stop was the Shaolin
temple. It was more interesting than the other temples because
I got to see monks walking around with incense and doing their
prayers inside the worship halls. The Shaolin temple is situated
in Henan Province, 13km northwest of DengFeng country town at
the western foot of Mt. Songshan. The name Shaolin comes from
the fact that the monastery is nestled in the woods(lin) below
the shady northen slope of Shaoshi Peak.
 Shaolin
Monastery was built in 495 under the patronage of Emperor Xiaowen
(reigned 471-500) of the Northen Wei Dynasty, to accommodate a
visting Indian monk, Bodhiharma. During the 1,500 years of its
history, it has gone through many ups and downs; at times a vast
thriving establishment, at others suffering decline and disaster.
In 573, Emperor Wudi (reigned 561-579) of the Northen Zhou Dynasty
prohibited the Buddhist and Taoist religions. The Shaolin Monastery
was abandoned. After 581, Emperor Wendi (reigned 581-605) of the
Sui Dynasty revived Buddhism, granting the monastery 10,000 mu
(666 hectares) of land and providing subsistence for the monks.
Not long after, however, wide spread uprisings and wars against
the Sui resulted in the monastery being razed to the ground, with
only a stone pagoda left standing.
By the reign of the Tang Dynasty Emperor TaiZong (reigned 627-650),
the monastery flourished once more, again in possession of more
than 600 hectares of land, buildings with a total of more than
5,000 rooms, over 1,000 monks, and its own army and statutes.
In 1312, Emperor RenZhong (reigned 1312-1321) of the Yuan Dynasty
ennobled the abbot of the Shaolin Monastery as the Great Master
of the Void and the Duke of Jin. However, at the end of the Yuan
Dynasty, it met again with disaster, once more being consumed
by fire. The buildings remaining today date from the Ming and
Qing dynasties, and the title plaque, ShaoLin Monastery, above
the main entrance was written by Emperor KangXi (reigned 1662-1723)
of the Qing dynasty. Unfortunately, its troubles were not over
yet. In 1928, during a battle between feuding warlords, Shi YouSan
sent troops to burn the monastery. The fire raged for more than
40 days, reducing most of the main halls to ashes and destroying
many cultural relics.
After some time for pictures we walked for a few minutes to the
Pagoda Forest. It stays true to its name because it literally
is a forest of pagodas. I learned that emperors usually had pagodas
built with 9 levels because 9 is a lucky number.
 A
stupa is a brick structure in which the cinerary urn of a deceased
Buddhist monk is preserved, generally called a pagoda. In each
of the Shaolin pagodas, the cinerary urn of a presiding monk,
or of an especially famous monk, was stored, and, deep under the
ground surrounding the pagoda ,a number of urns of his disciples
were buried. According to historical recordings, there were originally
more than five hundred pagodas, but only two hundred and twenty
seven have remained. They occupy an area of about 14,000 square
meters. They were different in height and workmanship in accordance
with the monk's prestige, position, scholarship, and the financial
condition of the temple when he was alive. The pagodas are different
in shape, each has an inscription tablet, some with fine sculptures.
They are samples of plastic arts of different ages.
The Forest of Pagodas is not only the last resting place of the
Shaolin monks, but also a wonderful view, and a treasure house
for students of architecture, painting, calligraphy and sculpture.
 Next
up was a kung fu demonstration at the nearby martial arts school.
Shaolin Quan is one of China's most well known traditional Wushu,
its name originating from the Shaolin Monastery. Haibo explained
that this boarding school trained some of the best fighters in
China including Jet Li. It was neat to know that all the performers
in the show were actual students of martial arts and not theatrical
performers. I sat up front with Jason, Darryl, Pete, and a few
others and we were called on stage to try to pull a bowl off a
monk's stomach. We did not succeed.
The quality of lunch was great but there was not enough selection.
The good food included pork ribs, man tou (Chinese bread), and
mee fun (rice noodles). It all tasted great but there just wasn't
much to pick from. While eating I thought about our time here
and noticed again that we were halfway done with our trip. I really
liked the small cities and the historical sites but I was ready
to see big cities and experience what today's China is like. |
少林寺是天下第一名剎，禪宗祖庭，少林武術的發源地，因其座落在河南省登封市中岳嵩山的腹地，少室山下的茂密叢林中，所以取名“少林寺”。
少林寺的塔林，是少林寺歷代住持和尚和素負盛名高僧的墓塔群，每個墓塔周圍地下，都有不等數目的骨灰磚盒，據說是徒弟。史籍記載，這裡原有大小佛塔五百餘座，因自然的原因，大部分已不存在，今有二百二十七座。占地面積一万四千多平方米。塔的大小、高低，層數及粗細程度是按照和尚生前的地位，佛學的修養程度，徒弟的多少，威望的高低和寺內當時的經濟狀況等條件修建的。塔的造型各異，每塔都有志銘，有些塔上刻有精美的圖案花紋，表現了各個朝代的造型藝術風格。
