In our country, Shaolin is divided into north and south. Northern Shaolin, which everyone is more familiar with, is the Buddhist monastery located in Zhengzhou, Henan. We often say that "the world's first brake" and "the world's kung fu out of Shaolin, Shaolin kung fu A world" are related to it.
There are many sayings about Southern Shaolin, of which Fujian Province is the most famous. There are 3 Southern Shaolin in Fujian Province, namely Putian Shaolin, Quanzhou Shaolin, and Fuqing Shaolin.
Putian Shaolin is located in Linshan Village, Jiulian Mountain, Xitianwei Town, Licheng District, Putian City, Fujian Province. Putian Shaolin was not called Shaolin at the beginning, but "LinQuan Temple". In 1986, people found an ancient architectural site in the foothills of Jiulian Mountain in the north of Xitianwei Town, which contained stone troughs, steles, stone pillars and so on from the Northern Song Dynasty.
This stone trough is more important, and it reads "When the monks and soldiers of the temple are always good and they work together to build a stone trough.". People deduce from this that this is the site of Southern Shaolin.
Why do you think of Shaolin when you see a "monk soldier"?
According to historical records, only the Shaolin Temple can be crowned with the word "monk soldier". "Monks" originated in the Northern Wei Dynasty. When the Northern Wei Dynasty emperors went west to Chang'an, they raided the monasteries and found bows, arrows, spears, and beams. It can be seen that the practice of martial arts by monks is not an isolated phenomenon.
During the Tang Dynasty, the world was in chaos, Li Shimin soldiers went out of Tongguan and forced Luoyang, but they were unexpectedly captured by Wang Shichong, who claimed to be Emperor Zheng, and the thirteen stick monks of Shaolin entered Luoyang City at night to rescue Li Shimin.
This is the story of "The Thirteen Stick Monks Save the Tang King". This story has an element of interpretation, but it is true that the Shaolin monks learned martial arts and helped the Tang dynasty at the end of the Sui Dynasty.
After Li Shimin became emperor, remembering the merits of Shaolin, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple on Mount Song was remodeled and expanded the Linquan Temple in Putian, Fujian Province, forming a large-scale Shaolin Temple. This was the later Southern Shaolin.
Some of the above statements are historical facts, but many of them are reasoning, which is difficult to fully convince people.
The source of Quanzhou Shaolin is also based on evidence.
Quanzhou Shaolin, also known as Zhenguo Dongchan Temple, is located in the eastern foothills of Qingyuan Mountain, Quanzhou. The relationship between Zhenguo Dongchan Temple and Shaolin is also related to the "Thirteen Stick Monks Saving the Tang King". It is said that after Li Shimin became emperor, Zhikong, one of the thirteen stick monks, went south into Fujian to establish the Zhenguo Dongchan Temple.
At present, it can be explained that zhenguo dongchan temple is the main basis of the Ming manuscript "Qingyuan Jin Clan Genealogy LiShi", the Qing codex "Xishan Magazine", "Linji Zhengchuan 34th Shou Shengxing Guo Zen Temple Tieshan Zhuo Tian'er Monk Hezang Pagoda Self-Inscription".
The above information is not an official history of letters, and there are even errors in the records. Whether it's true or not, let's decide.
Fuqing Shaolin is located in Shaolin Natural Village, Dongzhang Town, Fuqing City, and is said to have been founded by one of the Thirteen Stick Monks into Fujian. After the baptism of war, Fuqing Shaolin was also reduced to ruins, and later rebuilt.
The traceability of Fuqing Shaolin is also more difficult. The Song Dynasty Liang Kejia wrote the "Chronicle of the Three Mountains", which mentioned the Fuqing "Shaolin Temple". It is not known where the Shaolin Academy is.
In 1995, when people were archaeologizing the Shaolin site in Fuqing, they excavated a lot of porcelain, and the words "Shaolin", "Shaolin Courtyard" and "Shaolin King" were written on the porcelain.
It seems that Fuqing Shaolin also has traces to follow.
Finally, let's talk about North and South Shaolin. The abbot of the Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin, has his own opinion, "In all the texts of our Shaolin Temple, I have never seen the word 'Southern Shaolin'. However, there is a 'Northern Shaolin Temple', but the word 'North' does not refer to our Songshan Shaolin Temple. "This Northern Shaolin is on the north side of the Songshan Shaolin Temple, which is actually the branch of the Songshan Shaolin Temple.