As the mainstream sect of jianghu and the positive energy of martial arts, the Shaolin Temple not only vibrates in the sea, but also vibrates overseas, becoming a source of national pride.
However, it is strange that the fame of the Shaolin Temple is not mainly because of its religious inspiration, but the myth of the legendary "world martial arts out of Shaolin".
Today, we will talk about how the Shaolin Temple came to the altar.
Dharma Ancestor brought Shaolin martial arts?
At the end of the 4th century AD, the northern nomadic Xianbei established the Northern Wei Dynasty and occupied the Central Plains. While accepting Han culture, he also accepted the Eastern Buddhism and greatly promoted it. As a result, Buddhism flourished, and according to the Book of Wei and Shi Laozhi, at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were more than 30,000 monasteries in the country, as many gas stations as Sinopec in the country.
In the nineteenth year of Taihe (495), emperor Xiaowen of northern Wei—yes, emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in order to settle the Indian monk Bata who had come from the western region to preach, built a monastery in Shaomu Shanyin, Songshan, named "Shaolin Temple". This is where the Shaolin Temple comes from.
After several decades, in the third year (527) of the Xiaoming Emperor of northern Wei, another foreign monk Bodhidharma came, that is, the legendary Bodhi master... Uh, Dharma Master. He taught Zen Buddhism at the Shaolin Temple, making the Shaolin Temple the center of Zen buddhism at that time.
△ Bodhidharma statue
What is Zen Buddhism? To put it simply, there are many sects of Buddhism, such as the Tendai Sect, the Three Treatises Sect, the Dharma Sect, the Huayan Sect, the Vinaya Sect, the Tantra Sect, and so on, all of which pay attention to reading and copying scriptures, doing good deeds, accumulating merit, and practicing hard. But Zen Buddhism belongs to a relatively small and fresh kind, paying attention to "insight", which means that you have to follow your heart and understand the true meaning, otherwise how to practice is useless.
By the way, I think you have also realized that the monk who was often asked by teenagers to ask about life and confused, and then took boiling water to burn the teenager's hand, and then pulled down a chicken eight times, is a typical Zen style.
Well, at this time, the status of the Shaolin Temple is determined: it has both a royal backstage and can export theories and values.
However, the fact that Dharma Guru founded Shaolin Martial Arts is not reliable. The text of Dharma in the history books does not leave any record of the master fighting with people or showing miracles. Later legends say that Dharma is the basis for martial arts masters, mainly from the legend that Dharma left the Yi Jian Sutra. However, according to the investigation of Mr. Tang Hao, a martial arts examiner, this sutra actually talks about the Taoist method of yin and yang supplementation, which is very different from the precepts of Chinese Buddhism, and there is no doubt that it is a forgery of posterity.
So where did Shaolin's name for martial arts come from?
Let's not be in a hurry, let's talk about the Buddhist industry at that time.
From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, although Buddhism experienced setbacks such as "destroying the Buddha", it developed and grew on the whole, and the monasteries became a powerful local force. Large temples like the Shaolin Temple have a large number of fields and slaves. In the Sui Dynasty, the Shaolin Temple received thousands of acres of rewarded fields. In order to defend these properties, the temple naturally also has some armed forces, which are monks, or warriors.
△ The Japanese monks in the game Shogun 2: Total War are a powerful infantry unit that shouts The Buddha trumpet to fight and is not afraid of death
The Shaolin Temple became famous for its martial arts in the Tang Dynasty. Many people have heard the story of "the thirteen stick monks saved the Tang King", but that is the interpretation of the legend.
The Tang Dynasty's "Shaolin Temple Stele" records that in the last year of the Great Cause, thieves swarmed, the Shaolin Temple was "robbed by mountain thieves", the monks resisted, the mountain thieves set fire to it, and the monastery was "destroyed together".
Later, the Shaolin monks raised an army and helped Li Shimin defeat the divided forces Wang Shichong, and was rewarded by Li Shimin for giving him 40 tilts of land and a body of water. In the commendation order, Li Shimin said that "masters and so on can deeply understand the changes and understand the mysterious causes", which means that you can recognize the general trend of history and make the right choice, but he also pointed out in passing that the Shaolin Temple and Wang Shichong originally had a grudge: "Wang Shichong is not evidence-stealing, dares to go against the heavens, peeps into the legal situation, and acts against karma" - Wang Shichong has robbed your territory and occupied your fields, and you do not beat him and beat anyone?
The war made the Shaolin Temple closely related to the rulers of previous generations
Due to the grace of the emperors, during the Tang and Song dynasties, the Shaolin Temple owned more than 14,000 acres of land, 540 acres of temple foundation, 5,048 pavilions, and more than 2,000 monks. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, more than 9,500 volumes of Buddhist scriptures were well-known at home and abroad, and they were called "the first brakes in the world". For a long time in later generations, not only were the abbots of the Shaolin Temple ordered by Qin, but although they occupied a wide area of land, the government never collected its money and grain.
At the same time, the Shaolin Temple also began to train monks and soldiers in an organized manner, and became a strong armed force on which the rulers relied.
During the Reign of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, local officials in Henan appointed monks as "Counselors of the Xuanfu Division" to form an army with monks to oppose the Jin soldiers. The Shaolin Temple in the Yuan Dynasty also participated in the defense of thieves, maintained local law and order, and even participated in the war against the Red Turban Army in the late Ming Dynasty. As for the participation of monks and soldiers in the anti-Wu war in the Ming Dynasty, it is even more well-known.
△ Mural depicting a Shaolin stick monk fighting a Wokou
In this process, the martial monks summarized the fighting techniques and training methods, and gradually formed the martial arts system of the Shaolin Temple. According to records, in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Shaolin abbot Fuju invited martial arts masters from all over the country to the Shaolin Temple to practice martial arts, summarize them, and collect them into Shaolin Fist. It can be seen that it is not "the world of martial arts out of Shaolin", but with the world of martial arts, there is Shaolin.
Is the shaolin temple's martial arts powerful?
From the Yuan and Ming dynasties to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the social status of the Shaolin Temple was raised very high. In terms of title, it is often given the honorific title of "Zuting Shaolin Zen Temple" or "Great Shaolin Zen Temple".
Especially in the Ming Dynasty, the ming rulers gave preferential treatment to the Shaolin Temple and supported its martial arts development, during which the temple also produced many abbots who were diligent and good at management, and the Shaolin Temple entered a golden period of development.
△ The murals in the Baiyi Hall of the Shaolin Temple were painted in the late Qing Dynasty, reflecting the martial arts style of the Shaolin Temple
The martial arts practiced by martial monks were initially aimed at actual combat, but they would be abandoned over time. The Ming Dynasty warrior and martial artist Yu Dayu once at least watched the martial arts at the Lin Temple, but the result disappointed him, believing that "all the true skills were lost", so he chose a few monks and followed him to learn the stick technique. In the eyes of this martial general with great achievements, the martial arts of the Shaolin Temple at that time had already shown signs of being out of actual combat, and they could not defeat the enemy on the battlefield.
However, as a local force that has long maintained martial monks and can bring together and pass on various martial arts skills, the Shaolin Temple is undoubtedly much more stable in preserving and passing on martial arts techniques than the clans, families or teachers of the people in turbulent times. So even if there is degradation, the Shaolin Temple is still an important martial arts resource library. In order to facilitate the training of soldiers to carry out short-term combat skills, the famous general Qi Jiguang selected 32 postures from 16 folk martial arts, especially Shaolin boxing, and compiled them into a fist score - "Fist Classic" as a teaching material.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the government was corrupt, the combat effectiveness of the army was not decent, the government repeatedly recruited Shaolin monks, the army also hired Shaolin masters to train soldiers, and in the people, due to social unrest, ordinary people also learned martial arts for self-defense, and it was also common for them to learn kung fu in Shaolin, due to the development of the commodity economy, merchants either asked Shaolin disciples to be dart masters or went up to the mountains to learn art. The Shaolin Temple of the Ming Dynasty was a resounding signboard in the hearts of both rulers and ordinary people.
"The world's martial arts out of Shaolin" is the Qing Dynasty Heaven and Earth Association in order to hold the thigh
This was not the case in the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains with a backward civilization, and the Shaolin Temple was reluctant to face the fact that the dynasty had changed. During the Shunzhi period, the Rebbe allowed Hai Kuan, the last abbot of the Shaolin Temple in the Ming Dynasty, to continue to be the abbot, but he returned to the temple to observe the changes in time on the grounds of "foot disease". It was not until eleven years later, when he finally felt that there was no hope of anti-Qing restoration, that he accepted the appointment. Such an expression of love and ignorance, obvious attachment to the previous BOSS, of course, does not invite the government to see.
At the same time, many anti-Qing revivalists came to the Shaolin Temple in the deep mountains and dense forests to take refuge, and the Qing rulers regarded the Shaolin Temple as a stronghold for harboring anti-Qing people. During this period, in addition to the abolition of the tax privileges of the Shaolin Temple, the Qing government did not appoint an abbot of the Shaolin Temple after the death of Haikuan.
In order to consolidate his rule, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty strictly practiced martial arts among the people and was particularly vigilant against the practice of martial arts by Shaolin monks. Several emperors had deep prejudices against the Shaolin Temple, and always criticized them in their performances, such as Yongzheng once accusing Sang Huai of scolding the Shaolin Temple monks as "Shimen defeated seeds"! Qianlong also accused the Shaolin monks in a compromise: "In the name of teaching and practicing boxing and sticks, it is particularly common practice to gather rogues and fierce and lawless people."
△ Master, it is this person who scolds you
After all, the Shaolin Temple is the "ancestral court of Zen Buddhism" and has a pivotal position in the religious circles, and the official feels that it is still necessary to unite the front and play its exemplary role, and also strictly prevent Shaolin monks who know martial arts from doing anything unfavorable to the imperial court.
Therefore, the relationship between the Qing government and Shaolin is also undergoing subtle changes, and the emperors will also give plaques, drive to and repair the Shaolin Temple, and the monks who have figured it out in the suppression will also receive them attentively, and they will repeatedly erect monuments to local governors and sing praises and praises.
Even though the Shaolin Temple is not allowed to practice martial arts in a formal manner, Shaolin martial arts are still popular in the folk, and due to the dispersion of Shaolin martial monks, Shaolin Kung Fu spread to various places, and some martial monks also entered secret associations against the Qing Dynasty to teach Shaolin martial arts.
The influential Tiandi would see this opportunity and think that the martial arts he practiced came from Shaolin. With the impetus of the Heaven and Earth Society, a large number of local martial arts have hugged their thighs, claiming to originate from Shaolin, forming a strange scene of "the world's martial arts out of Shaolin". At that time, except for a few internal martial arts that were advertised as the Wudang school, Shaolin Kung Fu was basically equivalent to the entire Chinese martial arts at that time.
Coupled with the fact that the folk rumors about Shaolin martial arts are becoming more and more magical, no longer satisfied with the general fist, stick, knife, gun and other conventional martial arts, and exaggerated and rendered into a variety of strange martial arts, it is difficult to distinguish what kind of martial arts are real Shaolin martial arts.
The martial arts novels that are inspired by traditional clubs and folk martial arts naturally inherit the saying that "the world's martial arts are out of Shaolin", and shape the Shaolin Temple into an authentic martial arts.
Everyone knows what happened after that
From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the life of the Shaolin Temple has not been very good. After the founding of New China, after the land reform, the Shaolin Temple only had more than 30 acres of land left, and 14 monks who were often hospitalized lived a life of self-cultivation and self-feeding, and only maintained the mountain gate. The Shaolin Temple was also affected during the Cultural Revolution, and later, even local officials in Henan did not know that such a temple existed.
Until the spring breeze of reform blew through the door, the local government rebuilt the Shaolin Temple one after another. In 1982, the "Shaolin Temple" went viral all over China, selling 140 million at the box office for two cents a ticket. In contrast, the current 1 billion box office is still pediatrics.
Since then, the Shaolin Temple has become more and more brilliant, becoming the now well-known Shaolin Temple, there are martial arts performance teams traveling overseas, there is a huge cultural industry, I don't know who among the tourists who are crowding, who expects to come here to get the teachings of the master, and see with a clear mind?