Henan Shaolin Temple
From Karate, Kungfu, Wrestling, Mixed Fighting Information Source
The Henan Shaolin Temple is a Buddhist monastery in the Song Mountains of Henan (Honan) Province in The People's Republic of China. This and the other Shaolin temples have long associated with Chinese martial arts. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt many times.
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Founding of The Temple
The first Shaolin monastery in Henan Province was established by Buddhabhadra (Ba Tuo in Chinese), an Indian Buddhist monk, in 495 CE. In time, the monastery became a temple serving the local people. The temple also admitted Daoist as well as Buddhist monks. The monks soon became famous for their translations of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. It was one of the first Chan (Zen) Buddhist monasteries in China.
The Coming of Bodhidharma
In 539 CE, another Indian monk, Bodhidharma (Ta Mo in Chinese), arrived at the Henan Shaolin Temple. He found that the monks, who spent all their time either translating texts or meditating, had become fat, weak, and unhealthy from lack of physical activity. Ta Mo decided to teach the monks his knowledge of the Indian martial arts with all their physical training, combined with imitations of the fighting styles of various animals which he had observed during his travels through the forests of India and China. This combination of Indian martial arts, native Chinese martial arts and mimicry of animal fighting formed the basis of what we call today Kung Fu.
The Burning of The First Temple
The first Shaolin temple was destroyed in 574 CE when the Imperial government suddenly decided that Buddhism was antithetical to Confucianism, the official state religion, and thus to the State itself. The Henan Temple was reconsecrated circa 600 CE when official policy was reversed and Buddhism was once again tolerated, even encouraged. Around 650 CE, a second Shaolin temple was established at Nine Lotus Mountain in Fujian Province in southeast China. It was known as the Southern Shaolin Temple. This second temple was often a refuge for the monks when they ran afoul of the authorities and the Henan Temple was destroyed in result. In time, other Shaolin temples were built in other parts of China, including the Green Cloud Monastery in Guangdong Province, another at Wudang Mountain in Hubei Province, and another at O Mei Shan (Great White Mountain) in Sichuan Province.
The Second Burning of Shaolin
Then in 1644 CE, the native Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the invading Manchus, who established the last dynasty of Imperial China, the Qing. The Shaolin Monks fought for the Ming Dynasty in their losing struggle to hold on to power. After the Qing were installed, the Shaolin led the effort to expel the Manchus and restore the Ming Dynasty. In response, the Qing attacked and destroyed the Henan Temple in 1647. The monks who survived the massacre (supposedly only five in number) fled to the Southern Shaolin Temple, where they actively engaged in continued resistance to the Qing. Some thirty years later, this temple was also attacked by the Qing and destroyed, as were the remaining Shaolin temples throughout China. The buried ruins of the Southern Temple were only unearthed in 1990.
Restoration
The Shaolin temples were re-opened in the early 1800s, but on the condition that there would be no martial arts training (which had gone underground) at the temples. The Qing still feared the powers of Kung Fu. And as it turned out, rightly so: China's underground martial artists led the unsuccessful Boxer Rebellion (1900) against the Qing and foreign colonizers. In 1911, the people of China rebelled and overthrew the Qing the following year. By the early 1920s, the Guomindang, or Nationalist Party of China, had seized power, proclaiming China a republic. In 1927, President Chiang Kai-shek, fearful that the Shaolin temples could once again become centers of revolt, ordered them all closed. Further damage to the temples was inflicted during the so-called "Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976), when China's now Communist government waged both a physical and cultural war against all of the country's traditions and heritage.
Beginning in the late 1970s, however, there was once again a shift in official policy, this time favoring pride in China's ancient past. The government suddenly feared that many styles of Kung Fu would disappear forever. Since then, all the Shaolin temples have been re-opened and restored as centers of Buddhism and Chinese martial arts.
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