The Shaolin temple is in trouble.

I quite dislike the term "birthplace of China's Martial Arts".

Me too!

q: Time for a protest? [LoL]

The Shaolin temple is dead. Everything you see there today is fake. When Jet Li went there to shoot Shaolinsi he said that it was mostly in ruins with only several poor monks there that had no martial ability whatsoever. RIP Shaolinsi. Also, the place was overrated to begin with.

- Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker

Umm... now this is frightening. I was so certain I visited Shaolin Temple and it was thriving pretty well... in ruins.. not really, a little old looking perhaps, but then it is an old temple.... I see lots of young monks in yellow practising their martial art and it is pretty much alive with tourists and people.... help! did I visited the wrong Shaolin Temple?

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. You visited the right place, at the wrong time. Infact only the temple foundations are really olde. The rest has been rebuilt - Disney World style. Everything you see there is fake and utterly disappointing (To someone looking at it from a combative standpoint). Very few of those "monks" are real. It is all a business. "pretty much alive with tourists and people" that are [99%] not real martial artists.

- Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker

but where is the real shaolin kungfu?
although i like to see shaolin movies, it is not the real kungfu.
shaolin gain its good reputation or money, but lost its kungfu of zen

Ggg214, you may find the answer to your question on this Shaolinguan thread.


Restoring the traditions of Shaolin Temple would be difficult because Chinese Buddhist temples changed as China changed. Since the GPCR, atheist China disbanded the Shaolin Temple and it became "popular" only after Jet Li's movie, Shaolin Temple, in 1982. Shaolin Temple was revived only after commercial success, so it will naturally have a commercial/entrepreneurial atmosphere. Some of the monks are probably real monks, but others may not be as devout. I find other Chinese temples to be very similar.

Here’s a Shaolin Temple History thread.

Founded in 495CE, Shaolin temple in Henan province was one of the earliest Chinese centers for the translation of Buddhist texts and developed into a large, wealthy monastery. Bodhidharma, revered as the founder of Zen Buddhism, may also have resided here ca. 530CE. He is also credited in legend with establishing the practice of martial arts for which Shaolin-sometimes nicknamed the "Kung-Fu monastery" is famous.

The first mention of "fighting monks" at Shaolin dates from the early seventh century CE, when the emperor Gaozu was aided in battle by thirteen of its monks. It is difficult to gauge to what extent and in what form martial arts were practiced there, but by the Ming dynasty Shaolin was a renowned fighting center. It was especially famous for the practice of martial arts using a staff.

In the late Ming and Qing dynasties, Shaolin fighting techniques spread throughout China. In 1553, some Shaolin monks helped defend Fujian province against the incursions of Japanese pirates, although in 1561 one general, Yu Dayou, was highly critical of a sword style he saw demonstrated at the temple. Many styles of martial arts that emerged during the late Qing, often among secret societies, claimed to trace their lineage back to the fighting monks of Shaolin.



Extracted from CHINA The Land of the Heavenly Dragon

I　ｔｒａｉｎｅｄ　ｔｈｅｒｅ　ｆｏｒ　６　ｍｏｎｔｈｓ．　Ｉｔ＇ｓ　ａｌｌ　ｆａｋｅ．

What a disappointment that must have been for you.

I really felt disappointed. Now I just don't care anymore.

Where were you trained in? I don't recall Shaolin Temple is accepting non-monks to be trained there. You, like many others, probably went to one of the numerous schools around Shaolin with the name like "Shaolin ..... School."

Shaolin Temple is still there under Master Shi Yong Xin. I recall one house caught fire and was burned a couple of years ago. Master Shi Yong Xin wants to expand Shaolin.

The reason Shaolin enjoys the status of state recognition is during China's dynasties, Shaolin monks usually sided with the government, against rebellions and invasions.

Just want to emphasize again, Shaolin Temple does not train any outsiders, let alone teach you their secret martial arts. It's still their tradition as far as I remember.

It's just a glorified Disneyland.

On a related note, if anyone is interested I just detailed just a few (of many) of the interesting points discussed in Prof. Meir Shahar's new book The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts (2008) at this thread:

http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php...p;#entry4931376