China News Service Zhengzhou, April 14 Question: Why did a "Shaolin Examination Gong" attract many foreigners to participate?
Author Zou Xiang (Shaolin Cultural Scholar, Head of the Official Website of Shaolin Temple)
At the beginning of 2022, the "Shaolin Kung Fu Examination Network Competition" launched by the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, China, attracted more than 5,000 Shaolin Kung Fu practitioners from nearly 100 countries and regions on five continents of the world to participate, once again highlighting the influence of Shaolin Kung Fu and Shaolin culture in the world. So, what is the mystery of Shaolin Kung Fu being sought after by this?
Where did Shaolin Kung Fu come from?
Shaolin Kung Fu refers to the traditional Buddhist cultural system formed in the specific Buddhist cultural environment of the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, China, with the Belief in King Jinnara as the core, the martial arts practiced by the martial monks of the Shaolin Temple as the manifestation, and the wisdom of Zen Buddhism. Shaolin Kung Fu was conceived in the Central Plains, nourished by the Central Plains culture, Songshan culture and Yellow River culture, and has been passed down in an orderly manner since its inception. At the same time, the spirit of great wisdom and courage manifested in Shaolin Kung Fu has become one of the most valuable components of mankind's civilization system.
Tourists visit the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan. Photo by Xu Hongxing, China News Service
Shaolin Kung Fu mainly includes boxing, equipment and stunts, rich in content and numerous routines, and there are more than 1,300 sets of traditions in history. Successive abbots and senior monks of the Shaolin Temple are all Shaolin Kung Fu masters, and the monk Zen master, the Xiaoshan Zongshu Zen master, the Haikuan Zen master, and the Xingzheng Zen master have all made positive contributions to the inheritance and promotion of Shaolin Kung Fu.
According to the Shaolin Temple's boxing records, there are 708 sets of Shaolin kung fu routines taught by Shaolin monks and Shaolin disciples in the past, 552 sets of boxing and instrument routines, and 72 sets of special skills, as well as 156 sets of unique techniques such as grappling, fighting, bone removal, point acupuncture, and qigong. The existing Shaolin Kung Fu routines include: 178 sets of boxing, 193 sets of instruments, 59 sets of pairs of exercises, and 115 sets of others, for a total of 545 sets. These contents, according to different categories and degrees of difficulty, are organically combined into a huge and orderly Shaolin Kung Fu system.
Shaolin martial monks practice Shaolin Kung Fu in the snow and ice. China News Service reporter Wang Zhongju took a photo
In ancient times, Shaolin Kung Fu was mainly used for military warfare, protection of monasteries, and physical fitness. With the development of society, Shaolin Kung Fu has evolved into a sport with unique functions. After years of dissemination and promotion at home and abroad, Shaolin Kung Fu has been recognized and accepted by people of different cultures around the world. According to statistics, there are currently more than 60 million people practicing Shaolin Kung Fu in the world.
Why did foreigners fall in love with Shaolin Kung Fu?
Nowadays, more and more foreigners fall in love with Shaolin Kung Fu and benefit from it by practicing Shaolin Kung Fu to strengthen their bodies and cultivate their health. More importantly, after the reform and opening up, Shaolin Kung Fu has continued to carry forward and go global.
Shaolin Kung Fu "going to sea" has gone through the following stages: First, restore the inheritance of Shaolin Kung Fu, form the Shaolin Temple Martial Monks, and promote the Shaolin Kung Fu application. In order to inherit the way of learning Shaolin Kung Fu, the Shaolin Temple comprehensively sorted out the complete system of Shaolin Kung Fu, continuously inherited and restored the shaolin Kung Fu tradition, and in 1987, the Shaolin Temple Martial Monks Group was established to engage in the promotion and dissemination of Shaolin Kung Fu. At the same time, the Shaolin Temple actively declared Shaolin Kung Fu as a national intangible cultural heritage. In 2006, Shaolin Kung Fu was included in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.
In February 2016, the "Culture Of China: Spring in all directions" art troupe performed in Houston, USA, and the Songshan Shaolin Temple Martial Monk Troupe performed martial arts performances. China News Service reporter Wang Huan took a photo
The second is to go abroad and hold Shaolin Kung Fu tour activities overseas. Shaolin Kung Fu belongs to body language, can overcome language barriers, avoids the prejudice of some people's ideological and cultural differences, and has the characteristics of "one look, one learning to understand, and quick effect". In view of this, the Shaolin Temple actively held Shaolin Kung Fu tour activities overseas with the promotion of Shaolin Kung Fu to the world as the starting point. Through overseas touring activities, Shaolin Kung Fu has been recognized, recognized and favored by the vast number of overseas people, and the number of practitioners has been increasing.
The third is to set up overseas Shaolin cultural centers to comprehensively disseminate and promote Shaolin Kung Fu. At present, the Shaolin Temple has established more than 200 Shaolin cultural centers around the world. These centers offer special courses such as Shaolin Kung Fu, Health Exercises, Tea Ceremony, Chinese, TCM acupuncture, etc., and also integrate activities representing traditional Chinese cultural symbols such as Spring Festival Lian and dumpling making into the living habits of Westerners. In order to test the practice of Shaolin Kung Fu by students of overseas Shaolin Cultural Center, the Shaolin Temple has also held Shaolin Cultural Festivals overseas many times, focusing on the launch of the "Shaolin Kung Fu Examination Conference". For example, the Shaolin Kung Fu practitioners of the Shaolin Boxing Federation in Japan and the Shaolin Boxing League in the United States have reached more than one million, and the audience is wider.
The cultural code behind Shaolin Kung Fu
Shaolin Kung Fu is sought after, in addition to the charm of Kung Fu itself, but also the cultural code behind it.
Shaolin Kung Fu originated in the soil of traditional Chinese culture, not only a variety of martial arts movements, but also contains a cultural spirit, with a deep cultural connotation. In a nutshell, the series of theories of Shaolin Kung Fu are more influenced by Chinese philosophy; Shaolin Kung Fu's method of self-defense and enemy control is more influenced by Chinese military science; Qigong and fitness techniques in Shaolin Kung Fu are deeply influenced by Traditional Chinese medicine and health care techniques; Shaolin Kung Fu is more obviously influenced by ancient martial arts dances in the form of exercises.
Shaolin Kung Fu inherits traditional Chinese culture and Buddhist Zen culture, with its holistic and unified concept as the criterion for exercise and application. The inheritors of Shaolin Kung Fu believe that the invisible will, qi, strength, force, and gong in the human body and the external tangible limbs are inseparable wholes, requiring the unity of mind, qi, strength, and form. At the same time, Shaolin Kung Fu, influenced by Zen culture, requires that meditation be integrated into the process of martial arts training, emphasizing "the unity of Zen and fist, both form and god". Shaolin Kung Fu emphasizes the harmonious unity of the four aspects of intention, qi, strength and form, reflecting the concept of "the unity of heaven and man".
The Shaolin boys who participated in the Zen Shaolin Music Festival practiced the Shaolin Luohan Formation. China News Service reporter Wang Zhongju took a photo
The profound cultural connotations expressed in Shaolin Kung Fu are given by zen wisdom. Practitioners of Shaolin Kung Fu first manifest themselves in a belief in Zen culture, including faith in wisdom and strength. The desire for wisdom and strength has always been the goal of Shaolin Kung Fu practitioners. This is the hallmark of Shaolin Kung Fu and the difference between Shaolin Kung Fu and other martial arts.
Shaolin Kung Fu enriches civilizations and mutual learning
Chinese martial arts is the treasure of the Chinese nation, broad and profound, with thousands of years of cultural heritage, it is countless generations of Chinese sons and daughters in the war, actual combat, constantly summed up the body strengthening and martial arts, the integration of ancient philosophy, health care, martial arts, Taoist thought, Buddhist thought, Confucian culture and medical theory. Western martial arts are more about actual combat and martial arts, especially represented by free fighting and sanda. Western martial arts advocate institutionalization, management, digitization, and quantification, and pursue "one move to defeat the enemy" and "win every battle". Chinese martial arts pay attention to step-by-step, attach importance to humanization, from the beginning of the basic skills to the training of boxing, the strength and body methods required for technical hitting are all sought in the fist, which is the so-called "punch a thousand times, the body method is self-spirited". In a nutshell, Western martial arts focus on challenging the limits of the human body, while Chinese martial arts pay more attention to humanization and the unity of body and mind.
Civilizations are enriched by exchanges and enriched by mutual learning. Shaolin Kung Fu has the content of promoting harmony and health, and the concepts of compassion, equality, harmony and rationality in Shaolin Kung Fu have attracted the attention and love of people around the world, and have also enriched the content of mutual learning among civilizations. Shaolin Kung Fu from home to abroad, through the Shaolin Kung Fu tour, Shaolin Cultural Center, Overseas Shaolin Cultural Festival and other forms, so that practitioners around the world from the practice of Shaolin Kung Fu to get physical and mental benefits, which in itself also promotes the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations.
In August 2018, more than 60 overseas Shaolin disciples from more than 20 countries, including the United States, Sweden, Germany, and Indonesia, returned to the mountains to worship the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan. Photo by Yue Long, China News Service
Nowadays, cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries are becoming more and more frequent. As one of the representatives of traditional Chinese culture, Shaolin Kung Fu plays a positive role in promoting the process of enriching the mutual learning of civilizations.
In 2018, CIPG released the "Overseas Recognition Survey Report on Chinese Discourse" for the first time, showing that among the top 100 Chinese words in terms of recognition, cultural words accounted for the largest proportion, the top ranking was Chinese kung fu, and the word "Shaolin" ranked first. This is inseparable from the spread and development of Shaolin Kung Fu overseas in recent years.
At present, China is promoting the "going out" of traditional culture, and the Shaolin Temple will give full play to the important role of Shaolin Kung Fu as a symbol of traditional Chinese culture in cross-cultural exchanges, and actively promote the Shaolin Kung Fu culture and Chinese excellent traditional culture characterized by the unity of Zen and martial arts overseas, and dedicate it to more sentient beings. (End)
About the Author:
Zou Xiang is a young writer, Shaolin cultural scholar, head of the Shaolin Temple website, and executive editor of Zen Lu of Shaolin Temple. He has been engaged in Shaolin cultural research for a long time, participated in Shaolin cultural exchange activities at home and abroad for many times, and has published works such as "Zen Heart Rhyme", "Bodhi Blossom", "Picking Flowers and Smiling" and so on.