Photo Essay - Shaolin Temple - Birthplace of Zen Kung Fu
Photo Essay - Shaolin Temple - Birthplace of Zen Kung Fu
During my first year in China I was taken by the Headmaster to see Shaolin Temple, about an hour's drive up into the mountains from the school near Zhengzhou where I was teaching English and other subjects. I returned there again a couple of years later, taking photos (or having them taken of me). On my first visit a monk taught me how to pray to Buddha. One should first burn incense, than bow 3 times to the Buddha. I never learned the prayers, but I know my mother-in-law prays to Boddhasatva GuanYin every morning.
From Wikipedia:
The Shaolin Monastery, also known as the Shaolin Temple, is a Chan ("Zen") Buddhist temple in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, China. Believed to have been founded in the 5th century CE, the Shaolin Temple is the main temple of the Shaolin school of Buddhism to this day.
Shaolin Monastery and its Pagoda Forest were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010 as part of the "Historic Monuments of Dengfeng".
Shaolin Kung Fu, also called Shaolin Wushu or Shaolin quan, is one of the oldest, largest, and most famous styles of wushu or kungfu. It combines Zen Buddhism and martial arts and originated and was developed in the Shaolin temple in Henan province, China during its 1500-year history. Popular sayings in Chinese folklore related to this practice include "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin" and "Shaolin kung fu is the best."
One day when I was teaching my class, a student asked me if I had ever visited Shaolin Temple. Ironically, on that very day I was wearing a Shaolin Temple T-shirt that I had purchased there, but it was under a shirt that had pressure fasteners instead of buttons. I said "Have I ever visited Shaolin Temple? Have I ever visited Shaolin Temple?" and tore open my shirt to show the T-shirt. The teacher came from the classroom across the hall to find out what the howling laughter was about.
1. Approaching the gate, the mountains behind.
2. Dharma Hall martial arts student residence.
3. Who IS that guy?
4. Incense burning in front of the temple.
5. Another temple building.
6. Ride'em cowboy!
7. A few of my friends on my second trip.
8. One of the many huge carved bells I've seen on my many adventures in China.
9. A demontration of Kung Fu by the students. Unfortunately I had forgotten that my camera could take videos.
10.
11. Never too young to be a student of Kung Fu.
12. A graveyard for important monks, but not for dignitary or temple head level.
13. Entering the "Pagoda Forest", where many head monks and Buddhist dignitaries are burried.
14. Part of the "Pagoda Forest"
15. This is the memorial pagoda for a particularly important Buddhist dignitary.
16. Residences for the teachers and other monks.
17. Taking a cable car much farther up the mountain. I've always been nervous on these things.
18. The path to the mountainside. (Paths are important in Zen Buddhism.)
19. Looking to the right. The mist clouds the nearer hills and almost hides the distant mountains.
20. I took the upper path because I wanted some more years to my life.
21. (This was a photo from the internet) Henry Kissinger visited Shaolin Temple when he was in China to arrange for President Nixon to meet Chairman Mao.
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China is an incredibly interesting country to explore.
The path to the mountainside. (Paths are important in Zen Buddhism.)
My favorite among the many interesting and unique images within one of Buzz's photo essays that makes The Newstalkers stand out as something special.
Very nice Buzz. I think that I've seen this one or one very much like it some time back over on NV. The thing that makes me think so is the double trail along the cliff. I seem to remember someone posting stuff about that cliff. Might have been another, similar cliff or it might have been this article.
The artistry is, as usual, splendid. Not just the paintings or the architecture either. The bas relief carvings on the bell are excellent.
The picture of you reminded me of someone. Then I saw it, they reminded me of myself. Blue jeans and shirt (my usual costume) and the white hair. You're not quite as chunky around the middle as I am, though.
A few years back, my granddaughter was sitting on my lap. She patted me on the tummy and asked if I was Santa Claus because I was fat and had white hair. My reply, "What would make you think.....ho ho ho.....that Isabell? Are you looking to get a whole bag of coal in your stocking this year? That's what happens to little kids who break Santa's cover.
I probably posted the article on NV that you are speaking of, and that would have been at least a decade ago. This one uses many of the same photos as before, now re-edited and framed, and the narration is new. However, some of the photos here have been posted separately from time to time with comments on some articles on NT more recently. I know I have recently posted the one of the Kung Fu kids, one of the mother sitting her kid on the statue, and the one of the trail along the side of the steep mountain that you recall seeing.
Actually, I've lost weight since those photos that are almost 12 years old were taken, and I'm not quite so portly any more.
I'll bet they don't have a "secret exit" where the Gungfu students graduate..... {chuckle}
Beautiful essay Buzz......
If I knew it wouldn't be secret.
Always fascinated by history and China has much to share.
5000 years of it, and I will never get to see a fraction of what there is.
This picture grabs my attention a little more than the others.
The mountains in the background remind me of the lime formation Karst Mountains.
This cliff face reminds me of the scenes of some formations in the NA North West resulting from millions of years of lava flows, according to some.
Those vertical lines and appearance of the rock.
I would enjoy spending a month or two with some geologists studying that area.
Interesting - it was A.Mac's pick as well. I look at that photo now and recall walking that path.