If you have ever seen Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee’s film, you will be impressed by their Kung Fu; or if you are extremely crazy about Chinese Kung Fu, Shaolin Kung Fu will be always your top selection.

Shaolin Temple (Shaolin Monastery) is crowned as the center of Zen ideology of Buddhism or Taoism and the first most-famous temple on earth. During the era of Southern and Northern Dynasty (420-581), a monk from India visited China. He crazily loved Zen and was highly respected by Emperor Xiaowendi, who was one of most famous Emperors for its cultural enthusiasm of China and took a reform in many aspects to adapt to the need of agricultural civilization and cultural exchange. In 496, he ordered to build a temple for this Indian monk on Shaoshi Mountain and served him the living resources. Due to its address, so it is called Shaolin Temple later from generation to generation.

Nearby the temple, there was a Pagoda Forest. The pagoda forest in Shaolin Temple was a concentration of tomb pagodas for eminent monks, abbots and ranking monks at the temple. A rough count shows more than two hundred fifty tomb pagodas of various sizes, making it the biggest pagoda forest in China. The forest stands at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain about half a kilometer west of Shaolin Temple and is composed of pagodas dating from 791 to 1803. Most are stone and brick structures of one to seven storeys, under fifteen meters high--much smaller than pagodas for Buddhist relics--but they all carry the exact year of their construction and many carvings and inscriptions. They are in a variety of styles, but are mainly multi-eaved and pavilion-style. Their shapes are varied, including polygonal, cylindrical, vase, conical and monolithic, making the pagoda forest an exhibition of ancient pagodas, carvings and calligraphy of various dynasties.

Shaolin Kungfu is originated from monks’ daily life. It is said that Huiguang, the student of Batuo, was able to kick shuttlecock in reverse 500 times on the edge of the well at the age of 12. It is very dangerous for commoners to kick shuttlecock, the player generally fall into the well if his Kungfu is not good. In fact many detailed performances of Kungfu are from monks’ daily work or behavior such as shouldering the buckets full of water, sweeping the ground, collecting the firewood and cooking. They were inspired by those jobs. So the most complicated Kungfu is the commonest one in life. So in many performances, Kungfu Shows and films, the characteristics of Kungfu is hardness. Exercisers are strong and powerful to turn against the invasion of the swords and knives. The performers can smash the stones and break the steel into two pieces with their fist, head and body. That is true!

This is Shaolin temple and Shaolin Kungfu. They both make people strong and powerful in body and mentality. It is a wonder as well as mystery. The level of Kungfu is identical to the exercisers’ mental, moral and philosophical cognition.

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