Shaolin Temple - Birthplace of Kung Fu (A Retrospective)
Shaolin Temple - Birthplace of Kung Fu (A Retrospective)
Shaolin Kung Fu (Chinese: 少林功夫; pinyin: Shàolín gōngfu), also called Shaolin Wushu (少林武術; Shàolín wǔshù), is among the oldest institutionalized styles of Chinese martial arts.[1] Known in Chinese as Shaolinquan (Chinese: 少林拳; pinyin: Shàolínquán) or Shaolin wugong (Chinese: 少林武功; pinyin: Shàolín wǔgōng), it originated and was developed in the Buddhist Shaolin temple in Henan province, China. During the 1500 years of its development, Shaolin kung fu became one of the largest schools of kung fu.[2] (Wikipedia)
Former American Secretary of State (and the man who engineered Nixon’s “Opening to China” as National Security Adviser) Henry Kissinger visits the Shaolin Temple. (I did not take this photo, but I took all the others)
During my first year in China, the school where I taught English took the foreign teachers on a tour of Shaolin Temple. It was up on a mountain a couple of hours drive from the school. At this ancient temple I learned from a monk the method of praying to Buddha - light three incense sticks and plant them in front of the statue of Buddha, clasp hands together as if in prayer and bow 3 times. I didn't learn the words, but now I hear them when my mother-in-law speaks them. Of course I made a donation, and also purchased a T-shirt with the Temple name and picture on the front - a story to be told about the T-shirt in my first comment below. I still wear it from time to time.
Some of these photos were posted by me long ago, but I have now edited them to appear better.
1 Approaching from a distance, a huge gathering of the students
2 The main temple
3 The kids start learning quite young
4 And eventually put on displays for the public. I entirely forgot that my camera could take a video.
5 They have to learn not to be afraid
6 When the head monk dies, a huge stele (tombstone) marks his death. Over the centuries of the existence of this temple, many stele have been erected.
7 The hillside walk to the most ancient buildings is scary, and I was on the upper one where you see people walking. Would anyone dare to walk on the lower one?
8 The residences for the students and instructors is on a hillside beside the school.
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One day I wore my Shaolin Temple T-shirt to one of my classes, but covered with another shirt that had squeeze-studs as buttons. On that day I encouraged the students to ask me questions (in English, of course) and one student asked me if I had ever been to see Shaolin Temple. I repeated: "Have I ever been to Shaolin Temple?" and ripped open my shirt to show my T-shirt, and the whole class burst out laughing.
Nice!
Great series of photos and a history lesson.
Well done.
Well done indeed!
Good article and pics.
Thanks.
E.
Those are amazing pictures, Buzz. It's like National Geographic! I got a real feeling for what it was like to be there.
btw.. I doubt I would walk the upper one. I have vertigo.
"If you can snatch the pebble from my hand it will be time for you to leave " from the TV series Kung Fu .
Thanks to my friends, for your kind words, and to those who thumb up the comments to indicate their presence. Pity others have no interest, but then I guess it's hard for them to get their brains out of a political cage.
Buzz, the photos are nice.
There are quite a few articles that are posted on NT that don't get much response. I have seeded or written a number of them myself. We have people who go onto articles where they repeat themselves over and over and over ( ) and the articles stay on the front page because of it. The system is broken.
As you know, John, I am aware that you are an NT member who is capable of posting diverse interesting articles that don't dwell on politics, and I do seek them out.
However, I woud have preferred that you didn't use a comment on my article to take a shot specifically at another member. It just dragged you back to the reputation you bear among many here.
Every article should be barred from the front page after three days. At that point people are just repeating themselves anyway.
Then articles of interest could easily be missed by many, but it does have the benefit of directing members to use the groups - which is something I try to encourage.
I don't want to necessarily derail your article, but I will just say this. It does not seem like very many people use the site the way it was intended. As long as people access the articles through the home page and not by using the tabs on the "forums" page nothing will change. The home page attracts people to the last comments instead of all the recent articles.
"As long as people access the articles through the home page and not by using the tabs on the "forums" page nothing will change."
I agree wholeheartedly with your opinion on that, John. I have often done a check of the forums only to see that many articles of interest have been ignored by the membership and in my case, even if they had their 15 minutes of fame on the Home (Front) Page they were wiped off by nasty political verbal wars before I got to see them since my waking hours are so different from the vast majority here. You have been accused of "bumping", but in the circumstances I don't blame you, and I've done the same thing myself.
Every article should be barred from the front page after three days. At that point people are just repeating themselves anyway.
Disagree; if members are motivated to comment, as long as the comments are not repeated slurs or unjust criticism, and/or made by the same member … that's why the site exists.
The view of hillside walk is breathtaking. Is this the only way up? I understand that the temple was destroyed many times but, after looking at the approach, I certainly wouldn't want to be the first man up that narrow path to face a shaolin monk unless I had a gun.
"Is this the only way up?" To get as far as where that photo was taken one has to use a cable car that goes up a fairly long way. However, it's possible to drive to the top from another direction.
My connection from the Poconos is agonizingly slow and sporadic; when I'm back in Philly I will comment fully on this beautiful photo essay.
Magnificent!
We on NT are fortunate beyond words to be the recipients of Buzz's photo essays which are intensely interesting, unique and well presented.
Keep sharing these, Buzz!
Number 7 is my kind of place.