Shaolin

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Shaolin Temple on Song Shan

Coordinates: 34 ° 30 ′ 7.3 "  N , 112 ° 55 ′ 48"  E

Map: China
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Shaolin​
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People's Republic of China

Shaolin ( Chinese  少林 , Pinyin Shàolín ) is the name of a Buddhist monastic order in China and its members. Shaolin also describes the monastery of origin of the order, which is located on Songshan Mountain in Dengfeng in Henan Province in the heart of China . It is famous for its martial arts style少林 拳 (Shàolínquán, "Shaolin Fist"), better known as " Shaolin Kung Fu ". The monastery is also considered the birthplace of the historic Chan - Buddhism , the precursor of Zen ( . Kor Seon , . Viet Thien , sanskrit dhyana ).

The name Shaolin Temple ( Chinese  少林寺 , Pinyin Shàolín Sì ) is also used by a number of other monasteries in the People's Republic of China, Korea (Sorim), Indochina and Japan (Shorinji).

In the west, the order and the monastery are mainly known through the film character of the monk "Kwai Chang Caine" (played by David Carradine ) from the television series Kung Fu from the 1970s and from numerous other Eastern countries, even if the portrayal of the monks usually doesn't have much to do with reality. Various “Shaolin” show groups have also become known, touring with their acrobatic performances and impressive skills through many countries, although the show mainly demonstrates modern Wushu and aesthetic show interludes by specially engaged actors who do not share much with the monks of the monastery have to do.

The Shaolin Order reopened or founded a number of temples in China and the west in the 1980s. It sees itself as a school of Chan Buddhism; the martial art is considered part of the Buddhist practice.

Surname

The name of the temple is 少林寺Shàolín Sì in Chinese . The characters 少shǎo or shào mean “little” or “young”, but it is also the name of the Shaoshi mountain (少室山), at whose northern foot the monastery is located. The character 林lín means "forest", 寺si means "temple". The name Shaolin can therefore either be translated as "Temple in the young forest", but probably reflects the location as "Temple in the forest on Mount Shaoshi".

history

Stupas at the Shaolin Temple on Songshan , August 1993

In 496 AD , the emperor Xiao Wen (孝文帝) (471–499) of the northern Wei dynasty provided the Indian-born monk Batuo (跋陀), also known as Fotuo (佛陀) in Chinese sources, with funds to build the Shaolin Monastery in the Songshan Mountains in Henan Province . Under the direction of Batuo, the Shaolin monastery developed into a center of Buddhist teaching. Batuo founded a Sutra Translation Hall (Fanjing Tang - 翻 经 堂) in which sutras such as Ratnamati and Bodhiruci translated sutras from Sanskrit into Chinese. The fame of this translation academy was so great that the Buddhist pilgrim monk Xuanzang (603–664) petitioned the Emperor Taizong (599–649) of the Tang Dynasty to be allowed to live in the Shaolin monastery. Xuanzang cited Bodhiruci's achievements as the reason for his choice.

According to legend, the Indian monk Bodhidharma ( 菩提 達摩 , Pútídámó ), founder and first patriarch of Chan - or Zen - Buddhism , who came to the Shaolin monastery around the year 527, taught the basics of the Shaolin martial art , which was then followed in the Monastery were further developed and passed on. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), the Shaolin monks achieved great renown in the Chinese Empire. On the stele from the year 728 there is historical evidence that the Shaolin monastery sent 13 fighting monks to support the oppressed dynasty. In gratitude for the good service these monks rendered, the monastery was granted a number of privileges, including training some monks as warriors.

From 1368 to 1644 the Shaolin monastery and its martial arts, which was promoted by the ruling Ming dynasty , experienced an enormous boom. The monastery army was about 2,500 strong, and the monastery martial arts were practiced in countless variations and techniques. In this context, there is also talk of the heyday of the Shaolin temple.

The temple has been destroyed, looted and rebuilt several times in the course of its existence.

The best known is the alleged destruction of the temple in the Qing Dynasty by Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722). He is said to have destroyed the temple and murdered many monks for fear of the monks' fighting power. In fact, Kangxi was probably more of a supporter of the temple, whose calligraphic inscription above the main gate of the temple still hangs there today.

The last destruction of the monastery occurred in 1928, when various warlords were fighting their disputes over the area of ​​the temple. A large part of the temple's religious art treasures and writings were lost, and only small parts of the temple were rebuilt.

The southern Shaolin monastery

Legends tell of a second, southern Shaolin monastery in Fujian , which is said to have existed until the 18th century. The legend about the destruction of the Shaolin monastery during the reign of Emperor Kangxi may refer to this monastery. The southern Shaolin monastery is considered to be the place of origin of the southern Chinese martial arts styles (e.g. Wing Chun , Hung Kuen ).

The exact historical location of the southern monastery is unknown and is claimed by at least three locations in China.

Younger story

After the founding of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949, was allowed initially grant the monks during the Cultural Revolution in 1966, the temple was destroyed and persecuted the monks and sold. The ruins of the monastery were only inhabited by a few monks for years. In 1982 the temple became known in the west through the film Shaolin Temple with Jet Li and was also discovered for tourism. The Chinese government had the temple rebuilt and, as part of a general liberalization of religious practice, allowed Buddhist monks to practice there legally again.

The temple of the First Patriarch and the pagoda forest of the Shaolin Temple ( Chuzu an ji Shaolin si ta lin初祖 庵 及 少林寺 塔林) have been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China (4–89) since 1996 .

restructuring

Telephone booth in the Shaolin monastery

In 1999, the monk Shi Yongxin was enthroned as abbot of the monastery. In addition to numerous activities to revive the Shaolin culture, he also made a name for himself with the controversial demolition of “Shaolin Village”. Until 2001 there were numerous martial arts schools in the immediate vicinity of the temple, which had little connection to the temple, but adorned themselves with the name "Shaolin". On the one hand, this promoted the temple's popularity, but from the point of view of the abbot Shi Yong Xin, it damaged traditional values, as these schools had no connection with the temple. In agreement with the communist government of the People's Republic of China, he had almost all Wushu schools in Shaolin expropriated and demolished in September 2001. The schools affected were compensated with corresponding land in nearby Dengfeng ( chin.登封), but numerous schools were evicted against their will. Their properties, which belong to the state, were mostly fields or grassy areas. Only the state Wushu school "Wushu-Guan", which operates as part of the Shaolin monastery, remained.

The Shaolin Monastery and its surroundings are also a tourist attraction today. Wushu demonstrations take place every hour before Wushuguan. The service area “Shaolin The Stage of Joy” was built in the front area of ​​the temple itself, with souvenir shops, a tourist office and a restaurant. The demolition of the schools and the construction of a centralized infrastructure with a Wushu school, its own merchandising and hospitality industry are interpreted by observers in part as an indication of a commercial orientation of the Shaolin monastery.

Shaolin outside of China

In addition to the monastery on Songshan, which is usually regarded as the monastery of origin of the Shaolin Order, there are various temples and monasteries both in China and outside of China that bear or have borne the name of Shaolin . Especially during the time of the Cultural Revolution, when many monks fled China, they often founded such monasteries and temples in other countries.

Since the inauguration of Abbot Shi Yongxin and his efforts to make the monastery better known and more modern, there have also been various "official" spin-offs of the monastery around the world. These are not infrequently in conflict with the already established "Shaolin" monasteries, since the original monastery in Henan is now trying to limit the use of the name Shaolin worldwide to the institutions contractually associated with the main monastery.

Germany

In Germany there is a Shaolin Temple, which was officially founded as a representative of the Chinese mother temple, the Shaolin Temple Germany in Berlin.

On September 1st, 2010 the “Shaolin Europe Association (SEA)” was founded in Vienna by the Venerable Grand Master Shi Yong Xin, Abbot of the Shaolin Temple in Henan (China). The Shaolin Europe Association is an umbrella organization for promoting the spread of authentic Shaolin culture in Europe and has its headquarters in Berlin.

Since the end of the 2000s, German-language media have also been reporting on a Shaolin temple in Kaiserslautern, which is now located in a property in Otterberg . It is therefore a training center run by members of the Shaolin Order for teenagers and young adults. For some time it has been discussed whether the Shaolin Temple in Otterberg was or is recognized. The center calls itself a “Shaolin Temple” and is run by Mr. Monroe Coulombe under the Chinese name Shi Heng Zong , who calls himself an abbot and claims to be the first non-Chinese monk of the Shaolin order in 200 years. According to the order, Coulombe is neither a monk nor an abbot of the Shaolin. Coulombe is one of the co-founders of the Shaolin Temple Kaiserslautern in 1995. Coulombe never reacted to the request of the Berlin “Shaolin Temple Germany” to change its name. Prosecution on suspicion of fraud was discontinued by the public prosecutor “in the absence of sufficient suspicion”. In 2010 the state youth welfare office got involved.

Austria

The Shaolin Temple Austria is a Buddhist temple of the Chinese Order of Shaolin and is based in Vienna . It was founded in 2011 by Grand Master Shi Yan Liang, Dharma Master of the Henan Temple. Shi Yongxin dedicated the temple on October 1, 2011. In Austria it is the only branch of the Shaolin Temple in Henan. The temple in Vienna is one of the largest chan Buddhist centers outside of China.

Shaolin Temple Austria is the legal entity of the Shaolin Cultural Association based in Vienna. The temple is still a member of the Shaolin Europe Association , which was also founded by Shi Yong Xin in Vienna on September 1st, 2010.

See also

literature

  • Bernhard Moestl: Shaolin - You don't have to fight to win. Droemer / Knaur, Munich 2008, ISBN 3-426-64566-1 (an introduction to the 12 life principles of Shaolin monks)
  • Robert Egger, Hartmut Zwick, Shi Yong Chuan, Sabine Knoll: More energy through Shaolin Qi Gong. Springer-Verlag, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-211-33549-8 (a presentation of the energetic exercises of the Shaolin monks)
  • Roger Stutz, Claudio Brentini: The virtues of Shaolin Kung Fu . DGS printing u. Graphics service, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-033-05905-4

Web links

Commons : Shaolin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Meir Shahar: The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts . University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 2008, ISBN 0-8248-3110-1 , pp. 11 .
  2. ↑ Meir Shahar: The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts . 2008, pp. 33-34.
  3. ^ Southern Shaolin, where are you? Retrieved January 27, 2010 (English).
  4. ^ Ballermann Shaolin. Retrieved January 27, 2010 .
  5. ↑ Shaolin Monks Still Fighting to Save Name (English). Archived from the original on May 9, 2008 ; Retrieved January 27, 2010 .
  6. ↑ a b c Anne Kirchberg: A mistake can be damned painful - The Shaolin dispute . In: Die Rheinpfalz , April 11, 2013.
  7. ↑ The Art of Fighting - Young Germans in the Shaolin Forge . MIRROR TV. Painful borderline experience - the Shaolin monastery in Kaiserslautern . Deutschlandradio Kultur, January 1st 2010. The Shaolin von Otterberg. Martial arts and prayers . SWR, August 17, 2010.
  8. ↑ a b c Sebastian Beck: The Shaolin swindle . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , 19./20. March 2011, p. 11.
  9. ^ Shaolin Temple Austria - inauguration
  10. ^ Shaolin Europe Association