I invite you to come and discover the Shaolin Monastery, a magnificent Buddhist temple in China. It boasts a rich history and architectural heritage built trough many centuries.

View of the Monastery

 

The Shaolin Monastery is located to the east of China on Mount Song Shan in the Henan Province. This mount is one of the 5 sacred mounts which symbolize the 5 elements including earth, wood, metal, water and fire. Mount Song Shan represents earth. It is 1500 meters high and overhangs the river Luo. The monastery is 30 kilometres from the town of Luoyang, one of the historic capitals of China for 13 dynasties. 

 

Map of China

The surroundings offer a lot of Buddhist monuments such as the White Horse Temple, caves with statues of divinities and gravestones of Buddhist patriarchs. It is located in an outstanding landscape composed of forests and streams.

The monastery is called Shaolin because it comes from the Mandarin Shao Lin Si. It means young forest because of its localization in a vast forest of pines and cedars. 

Shao Lin Si  =  少林寺 

The Shaolin Temple was built in the late 5^th century by Emperor Xia Wen for the Indian monk Batuo in order to teach Buddhism. It stands as a proud example of the traditional local architecture with the curved roofs. It is 37000 square meters including 7 main buildings. Most of the buildings were restored in the late 20^th century because it suffered from a fire in 1928 which destroyed a large part of it. The Thousand Buddhas House dates from 1588. It is the oldest building of the monastery because it wasn’t damaged during the fire. At the centre of this building stands a statue of Buddha made of bronze called Buddha Pilu.

 

The Drum Tower

Several steles stand at the entrance of the monastery in the courtyard. First there are modern steles in gratitude for the donators who restored the monastery from 1976 onwards. Then there are ancient steles with inscriptions of emperors from different dynasties. These steles are sometimes completed with a statue of a mythological animal which looks like a tortoise called Bi Xi. It represents strength and longevity. 

Bi Xi

The most important building of the monastery houses 3 statues of different Buddhas representing the 3 worlds including the past, the present and the future. Buddha Yao Shi Fo (on the left) is in charge of the past, Buddha Shi Jia Moni (in the middle) controls the present and Buddha Omi Tuofo (on the right) is in charge of the future. Most of the Buddhist activities are held at this place.

The worship room

This big bell weighing more than 6 tons wakes up the monks of the monastery every day. It is located at the Bell Tower near a magnificent statue which represents Buddha Kshitigarbha and weighs 5 tons.  It dates from the Ming dynasty (1368-1643). 

The Bell Tower is 34 meters high and dates from 1994 because the first building was destroyed during a fire in 1928. This tower is opposite the Drum Tower which houses a drum. The monks drum in the evening. The tower was restored in 1996.

The monastery is also composed of a forest called the Pagodas Forest or the Stûpas Forest. A stûpa is a pagoda, a religious monument in the Orient. It is approximately 15 meters high and it was erected for the ancient famous Buddhists. Each one has a particular layout and a particular form according to the status of the Buddhist. This forest counts approximately 250 stûpas built from the 7^th century to the 20^th century. The Shaolin monks train to martial art (Kung Fu) in this place because they are close to the ancient masters.

The Stûpas Forest




Bodhidharma

 



 

The Indian monk Bodhidharma (470?-543?) or Da Mo in Chinese came to the monastery to teach Chan Buddhism (called zen) in 527. This word means meditation. He was the 28^th descendant of Buddha Shâkyamuni, the first Buddha. 

Bodhidharma meditated in front of the wall in a cave near the monastery for 9 years from 527 to 536. 

 

A stone gate dating from 1604 represents the entrance to the cave where the monk meditated. This natural cave is 7 meters long and 3 meters wide.

 

 

The Zen Gate

Then Bodhidharma decided to develop Kung Fu. He discovered monks with weak bodies and muscles because they spent their days meditating in the temple. Bodhidharma is considered the founder of Shaolin Kung Fu. He first wanted to strengthen the monks with gymnastic and then he wanted to unite the body with the spirit with particular movements. 

Wu = Martial art

Inverse bow and arrow posture

A Kung Fu fight



 

 

A magnificent fresco tells the story of 13 monks of the Shaolin Monastery saving prince Taizong from his enemies in 618 thanks to martial art. Consequently the monastery has been called “the first monastery under the sky”.

 

The Bonzes fresco