Amazing Stories from the Shaolin Temple

By Jeffrey J Kelly

 

The original Shaolin Temple, located in China's Henan province, is a magical place.  It is probably the single most famous Buddhist temple in the world, yet, strangely enough, it is renowned today more for its connection with the martial arts than for Buddhism.  This fact is even more unusual when you consider that the Shaolin Temple is where the Dhyana sect of Buddhism was introduced to China.  This denomination, which stresses the practice of prolonged meditation, established deep roots in China and also profoundly affected the history and culture of Japan, where it became known as Zen.  The Shaolin Temple is also said to be the birthplace of Chinese martial arts, although there are those who doubt this claim.  Regardless of whether Kung fu originated at the temple, the fact is that martial arts and Buddhism were synthesized for the first time there.  This union can be traced back well over 1,500 years, and has profoundly affected the way martial arts are practiced to this day.  Even today, although many young men come to the temple to learn its brand of martial arts, many also come to learn Buddhism, for indeed, the two cannot be separated at the Shaolin temple.  This unique combination of the physical and spiritual has for centuries captivated martial artist.  The Shaolin Temple has long been the subject of innumerable fables, some based in fact, others not.  There have been so many stories, books and movies about the temple that is often difficult to separate fact from fiction.  What follows are several of these stories, gleaned from conversations with Shaolin Temple monks, as well as discussions with Wang Bin, the president of the Disciples of Shaolin International Institute of Kung Fu.  They are stories, handed down for generations, bout some of the prominent figures in the temple's past.  Whether they are fact or fiction is up to the reader to decide.  The construction of the Shaolin Temple was commissioned by Emperor Xiao Wen around A.D. 495.  The emperor ordered the temple built for the benefit of an Indian Buddhist monk named Buddhabhadra, known as Ba Tuo in Chinese.  An early missionary Ba had arrived from India to spread Buddhism and had found favor with Xiao, who was a supporter of the new faith.  The temple, lying to the northwest of the Dengfeng County seat, was built at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain along the Song Shan Mountain range.  Named in a part for the mountain that bordered it to the north, the temple was called Shalin, meaning the "forest of Shao Mountain."  Ba was established as the first abbot, and for the rest of his life, he translated sutras(Buddhist writings) and taught Buddhism at the temple.  It is also said that Ba was enamored with the Chinese martial arts, and actually recruited individuals skilled in them.  Ba had several outstanding disciples, including a man named Hui Guang.  Ba met Hui while traveling through the nearby town of Luoyang.  As he walked, Ba noticed a young boy kicking a shuttlecock, known in Chinese as Jian zi.  This in itself was not unusual, for all Chinese youngsters are familiar with the game.  However, rather than kicking the shuttlecock in front of him, which is the most common method, the boy was kicking it behind himself, a much more difficult technique.  The monk watched as the boy kicked the jian zi 500 times without dropping it.  Even more impressive was the fact the boy was performing this nearly impossible feat while standing on top of a high wall that overlooked a stone courtyard.  Any loss of balance and the boy could have fallen to his death.  Impressed by the boy's concentration and ability, Ba approached him about becoming a Buddhist monk.  The boy was interested and was permitted by his parents to journey with the monk back to the temple, and he was thereafter known by his Buddhist name, Hui Gang.

    It is said that Hui was a skilled acrobat before becoming a monk, and it is thought that he may have been influenced in introducing martial arts into the curriculum at the Shaolin Temple.  Working with Ba, Hui translated and wrote commentaries on many Buddhist sutras and was regarded as the founder of the Dilun school of Buddhism.

    Seng Chou was another of Ba's noted disciples.  Seng was raised in Anyang county in Henan province and, when he was 28, he made a vow to become a Buddhist monk.  He was accepted as the disciple by Ba and soon became known for his intelligence and prodigious memory.  He was able to understand and memorize the most difficult of the sutras after only one reading.  Seng was also extremely strong and was said to be skilled in the martial arts.  He enjoyed wrestling, and during holidays and festivals, would perform for the crowds that visited the temple.  Seng would take on all comers, and it was said no one could beat him.  For fun, he would climb up onto the main beam in his room, at least a dozen feet above the floor, and leap from one beam to the next - a distance of almost 10 feet between each.  He also liked to walk atop high walls with uncanny speed and agility.

    One story tells of a journey Seng made across Wangwu Mountain to spend an extended period in solitary meditation.  Hearing a thunderous roar and a great thrashing about in the nearby woods, the monk went to investigate and came upon two tigers locked in mortal combat.  Not wanting even these savage creatures to injure one another - for Buddhist vow not to harm any living being - Seng rushed forth and used his heavy iron staff to separate the two beasts.  Then, with a loud cry that frightened the ferocious animals, he chased the tigers off.

    Seng was also known for his achievements in Buddhism.  In A.D. 552, Emperor Wen Xuan constructed a temple for him on the southern slope of Mount Long, northwest of present-day Anyang.  It was here that Seng edited two books on Buddhist meditation.

    The man generally credited with creating the martial art now called shaolin chuan was an Indian monk named Bodhidharma (or Da Mo in Chinese)Bodhidharma came to China from India in about A.D. 470 arriving by boat and staying in southern China for a time.

Emperor Wu of Liang, a devout Buddhist, heard of the new missionary’s arrival and invited him to the palace.  Upon meeting Bodhidharma, the emperor said “I have built many temples and pagodas, and have restored even more.  I have given much of my treasury to the Sangha (brotherhood of Buddhist monks) and made offerings in all the major temples of the land.  What merit have I gained by all my efforts?”

          Bodhidharma looked the emperor in the eye and answered “Your majesty through all your efforts, you have gained no merit at all.”

          Enraged, Wu had Bodhidharma banished.

          Unwelcome in the south, Bodhidharma journeyed to northern China.  To do so, he had to cross the Yangtze River, which was swollen by heavy rains and dangerous to cross.  Undeterred, the monk pulled a leaf off the stem of a nearby reed.  He blew on the leaf and it reportedly grew to the size of a small boat.  Bodhidharma then mounted his “vessel” and safely crossed the mighty river.

          After some wandering, Bodhidharma came upon the Shaolin Temple, Captivated by the charm and isolation of the small monastery nestled at the foot of wooded mountains, the monk decided to settle there.  Since Dhyana meditation is best conducted in solitude, the monk searched about for a quiet place to practice and soon discovered a small cave three-quarters of the way up the steep mountain behind the temple.  Once settled into his cozy new quarters, Bodhidharma began practicing long hours of Meditation.  He sat, unmoving, facing the cave wall, day after day, summer and winter, year after year.

          One summer, Bodhidharma discovered that he was drifting off to sleep soon after sitting down to meditate.  Angered by his laziness and realizing he would never reach enlightenment by sleeping, the monk cut off his eyelids with a knife.  He tossed the eyelids from the cave and, soon thereafter, a tea plant sprouted at the very spot where Bodhidharma’s eyelids had landed.  The monk’s disciples later found that, when brewed, the tea from this plant helped keep them awake during long meditation sessions.  Tea has been an integral part of Dhyana meditation remained in the cave.  Bodhidharma remained in the cave for nine years, until he reached enlightenment.  When Bodhidharma left the cave to begin teaching, disciples discovered that the sun had burned the monk’s shadow into one of the cave’s rock.  The disciples removed the rock and put it on display in the temple where it remains to this day as a testament to Bodhidharma’s religious zeal.

          Stories circulated about Bodhidharma’s self-induced solitude and one winter day a young man named Shen Guang showed up at the mouth of his cave.  Shen had studied Taoism for many years, had heard of Bodhidharma, and determined the study with him.  Shen stood patiently for hours in the knee-deep snow outside the cave, waiting for Bodhidharma to finish his meditation.  When the monk stirred at last.  Shen introduced himself and announced his desire to become a disciple.

          Bodhidharma was concerned when he learned of Shen’s long association with Taoism, and he feared the young man was not sincere and merely wanted to add to his collection of knowledge.  To test Shen’s sincerity, Bodhidharma told him “I will take you as my disciple only when heaven snows red.’  With that, he dismissed the young man.

          Shen was crushed, but he was also determined not to give up.  Pulling a knife from his belt, he cut off his left arm, allowing the blood to splatter on the snow.  Once again he knelt before Bodhidharma, offering up his arm as a gesture of his commitment.  Bodhidharma agreed to make Shen a disciple and tended to the young man’s wound.  He gave his new disciple the name Hui Ke, and shortly before his death, Bodhidharma passed on his robe and begging bowl to Hui who became the second patriarch of the Dhyana sect in China.

          After he emerged from the cave, Bodhidharma imparted his knowledge of meditation to the monks who had made the long climb each day to his cave to bring him food.  Bodhidharma noticed however, that the monks were having very little success with the new technique.  Their bodies were not up to the rigors of prolonged meditation.  Their muscles were soft, and many of the monks had developed circulation problems from sitting cross-legged for so many hours each day.  Some had so little energy that they fell asleep the minute they sat down to meditate.  Bodhidharma realized they needed some sort of exercise to counteract the effects of prolonged sitting.  Drawing on his education as an Indian nobleman, Bodhidharma developed a series of exercises were designed to increase the circulation of internal energy, strengthen and loosens the tendons, and tone the muscles.  The exercises were later listed in a book called The Muscle Change Classic.  Exactly when martial arts training became a major part of the temple’s curriculum is unclear, but history shows that at time, the monastery’s martial arts program became more important to the monks that Buddhist teachings.  Strange stories about the Shaolin Temple continue to the present day.  For example, many people have heard the tale of an underground chamber full of wooden automatons beneath the temple.  Legend has it that when a young monk completed his training, he had to undergo a final test of his fighting prowess.  He was ushered into an underground labyrinth filled with wooden men, then the exit was sealed behind him.  He was expected to find his way out while defeating any wooden robots who crossed his path.  Once liberated from the chamber and its mechanical army, the monk was free to travel and teach Buddhism and martial arts.  Although there is no hard evidence such a compartment ever existed, many still claim it is there, buried under the temple grounds.

          Fact or fiction?  You decide.

          In either case, such stories are all part of the colorful legend of China’s original Shaolin Temple.