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Written by: Debbie Salcedo
 

Title: "Shaolin Temple: Birth of Kung Fu"
About: Travel and Tourism China

Located in the Songshan Mountains, the 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.

 

Found some 50 miles southwest of Hainan's provincial capital, Zhengzhou, the temple was built in 495 to house Batuo, a celebrated Indian monk, who, after many years of spreading Buddhism, was later known as Fo Tuo, or Grand Monk.

In 537, another famous Indian monk, Boddhidharma (also known as Damo), settled in the temple, and as legend has it, created a sort of primitive bare-hand combat routine called “xingyi boxing” after he had sat meditating in a cave for nine years.
 

That started the kung-fu tradition at the temple.

At the beginning of the seventh century, a group of 13 Shaolin soldier monks were reputed to have saved future Tang Dynasty (618-907) emperor Li Shimin, by defeating an entire division of the ruling Sui Dynasty's army and helping him break out of prison.
 

When he took power, Li showered favors, land and wealth on the temple. Shaolin then thrived as a center of kung-fu masters from around the country. At its heyday, it housed more than 3,000 solider-monks.

These soldier monks were often used by the government to combat rebellions and Japanese bandits. But martial arts were forbidden during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Even with the protection of solder-monks, Shaolin was severely damaged by fire a few times. The largest fire set by the army of Shi Yousan in 1928 destroyed most of the buildings of Shaolin Temple. In the ensuing 40-day fire nearly all the temple's classical literature and records were also destroyed.

The present buildings at Shaolin Temple are spread out over an area of about 10,000 acres. The most interesting relics are the murals in the Eastern Hall, which depict groups of boxing monks.