THE SHAOLIN TEMPLE:
This unique temple, set in the vastness of the Chinese plains, has made its mark on the world in a way that few other places in the world have done. If this book were a history of Ch'an (or Zen) Buddhism, it would be just as essential to relate the religious history of the Shaolin Temple. It is perhaps most comparable to Athens in her most creative days, for Athens affected the thinking of generations of westerners, just as Shaolin affected the philosophy of the East, especially through the founding and spread of Ch'an (or Zen) Buddhism. The Shaolin Temple is situated in a powerfully auspicious place. Four of China's major mountain ranges are located at different points of the compass; the Songshan range is in the center, in Denfeng County in Honan Province. The Songshan or 'Central Mountain' is a range of modest peaks. In AD 495 the Shaolin Temple was built at the foot of its western slopes on the orders of the Emperor Hsiao-wen for an Indian monk, Batou, or Fo Tuo as he is known in Chinese. His statue is often seen in Chinese Buddhist monasteries, a huge-bellied, jolly monk, beaming at the world. The Temple's first buildings were a stupa, a round, domed structure built as a shrine, and a translation platform for Indian monks to concentrate on translating the holy sutras or Buddhist literary narratives, into Chinese. We describe in Chapter z how, during the sixth century another Indian monk, Bodhidharma, known as Ta Mo in Chinese, visited the Shaolin Temple where he taught a new approach to Buddhism that involved sitting for long periods in static meditation. His teachings became the foundation of a new school of Buddhist philosophy known as Ch'an in China and Zen in Japan. So that the monks could withstand the rigors of their religious life, he taught them breathing techniques and exercises that are thought to have been the basis of the modern martial arts. At the height of its prosperity, about 1,300 years ago, the Shaolin Temple had a complement of 1,500 monks, including- 500 fighting monks, together with the land and buildings to house and support them. The Emperor T'ai Tsung (Li Shih-Min) of the T’ang Dynasty endowed the temple with the right to train a force of fighting monk-soldiers. He asked for help from the Temple when he was in danger, and 13 monks went to his assistance. The incident was recorded on a tablet that can still be seen at the Temple today. The grateful Emperor attempted to persuade the 13 to accept official posts at Court, but they replied that their fighting arts were to protect the Temple and to keep the monks healthy: ‘Since the world is now peaceful we will return to our monastery, but if society needs us we will go to battle again'. The Emperor then pave permission for the Temple to train 500 fighting monk-soldiers. About 1,000 years later another Emperor asked for help. In r674 128 monks led by a former Ming partisan, Cheng Kwan-tat, went to the assistance of the Ch'ing Emperor k;'ang-Hsi. Cheng had fought against the Manchu Emperors of the Ch'ing Dynasty, but had retired to the Shaolin Temple to study the martial arts. His small army of monks pave great help to the Emperor, but at the end of the fighting they too rejected the titles he offered and returned to the Temple. This time, modesty did not serve them well. The Emperor was persuaded that it was dangerous to tolerate the existence of a center of independent people with such exceptional fighting skills. He sent an army, which was assisted by a renegade Shaolin monk. From details of` the attack which have survived in legends, it seems that the Temple was surrounded and burned down. Some 110 monks died, but 18 were protected by the Buddha's answer to their prayers, a large yellow curtain to keep the names from them. In the end, it is said, only five of these survived the attack. 'They are known as the Five Ancestors and they are the legendary founders of the Triads, one of China's notorious secret societies, whose roots are said to go back to the sixteenth century. In fact many more than five monks survived the attack, but they dispersed. Some continued to live neabry, and went secretly at night to practice at the Temple. Many went to other temple-monasteries. Some taught martial arts for a living, while others, it seems, joined the Peking Opera. Even today, the Peking Opera contains many spectacular scenes in which the martial skills of Shaolin are combined with acrobatic and dancing skills. The relationship between the martial arts and entertainment has a long history in China; their spread into kung fu films is a natural development, enjoyed by the Chinese. After the reign of the Emperor Kang Hsi, the Shaolin Temple was gradually re established. New buildings were erected and martial frescoes were painted on their walls. They were painted 200 to 350 years ago, and they show what the monks believed the Temple's past to be like. There are two large frescoes, one showing unarmed combat and the other illustrating armed and unarmed fighting. Although the frescoes obviously give an idealized picture of the Temple at, or near its founding, they were painted within its walls and intended to be seen by its students. They must therefore adhere family closely to reality, and give a fair indication of the atmosphere and scale of martial training at the Shaolin Temple. An elaborate organization is implied by the paintings, an impression that has been confirmed by other sources. There were clearly many classes of monks, including poets, masters of the martial arts, monks of dutiful obedience, and the gourmets, the followers of those monks who, in the eighth century consumed a gift of meat and wine from the grateful Emperor T'ai Tsung and who continued to do so thereafter, thus breaking with the vegetarian tenets of Buddhism. All visitors who have some knowledge of the martial arts find the frescoes overwhelming in their implications. They Impart an understanding of the venerable building. For 1,500 years the martial arts were practiced here; such a concentration of energy and talent for such an expanse of time must be unique in the history of physical activity. Apart from the frescoes there is another awe-inspiring relic of the centuries when martial arts were practiced at the Temple. There is a large courtyard with a brick floor, and in it are 48 shallow depressions worn by generations of feet that stood there exercising. The Shaolin Temple ceased to be a center of religion and the development of the martial arts in I928. It had the misfortune to figure in the plans of`warlords, who fought over it. One, Fang Chung-hsueh, used it as a base, but when he was attacked by General Hsi Yousan he evacuated it with the monks. Hsi Yousan, frustrated and angry, put the Temple to the torch. It is said that with it went the Buddhist documents and the secret texts of the martial arts, but the halls with the frescoes painted on their walls survived. It is difficult to believe that it was an accident. The martial artist who visits the Shaolin Temple today might find a few very ancient monks, although there is a rumor that young monks are being allowed to return. It is a place of spectacular beauty and great historical interest, but should its ancient function be revived, it can never again be what it once was.
The myth of Indian instructors and Chinese novices is carried into this painting, although it is highly unlikely- that Indians taught at the Temple at the time. The mural shows all but one group practicing in pairs. In the central group, one Indian instructor is coping with an attack by three opponents. He has thrown the one on his right to the ground and is holding down a second one by using a wrist lock. It is surprising that the mural does not show students practicing solo forms, since so much of today's northern and southern Shaolin Temple boxing centers around the use of forms. However, it seems likely that the artist has chosen to depict the most visually interesting and informative part of a class. Only one student, on the far right, is kicking; most of the others are practicing hand exercises. Some, such as those in the fore and middle ground, just to the left of the central group. are probably practicing blocks as only one arm of each student is engaged However, both arms of the students second from left in the foreground are engaged, and their postures are firmly planted on the ground, suggesting that they are doing the sticking hands training. The pair in the foreground, just right of center, are adopting the most famous Shaolin posture, the tiger stance.
There is a Chinese saving that 'all the martial arts known under heaven began in Shaolin' The saving is an exaggeration but, like many Chinese sayings, it contains a grain of truth. China is an immense country and for millennia it has had a vast population. The nation we know today is composed of a great blend of people from very diverse racial, linguistic and cultural traditions. Furthermore, for many centuries large groups of indigenous Chinese populations developed in isolation from one another. To suggest, therefore, that all China's martial systems are somehow the result ofthe tradition of one temple is clearly to oversimplify to the point of absurdity. Anyone who knows even a little about China's martial arts will agree that the wide variety of styles that exists today in Chinese Asia cannot be the product of only one fighting tradition. One leading authority, Robert Smith, estimated in the book Asian Fighting Arts, which he wrote jointly with Donn Draeger, that at least 400 distinctive styles exist in China. His estimate is probably conservative. The situation is further complicated by the fact that, over the last 1,500 years, several different temple-monasteries called Shaolin are known to have existed in different parts of China. Some of these survived for many centuries and may be traceable. Others have entirely disappeared. Whether these temple monasteries were called Shaolin because they were martial training centers as well as religious houses, or because their monks practiced the Ch'an (or Zen) Buddhism that the Indian monk, Bodhidharma, brought to China, or both, is unknown. It is known, however, that in more than one monastery the fighting arts were used as tools for spiritual advancement. Whether the various Shaolin monasteries were outposts under the tutelage of the one central Temple-monastery in the Songshan Mountains, or whether some were independent, rival institutions, is not yet known. . The fact that today two extremely different hard Chinese fighting systems are referred to as southern and northern Shaolin Temple boxing does suggest that the name of Shaolin has sheltered and nurtured different fighting traditions rather than attempting to unify all under one great system. A great deal more research needs to be carried out on this subject before any conclusions can be reached on the development and spread of Shaolin boxing. Whatever the complexities of its history whenever martial artists talk of the Shaolin Temple today they are referring to the great half-ruined Temple that still stands on the western foot of the Songshan Mountains.
SECRET SOCIETIES AND MARTIAL ARTISTS:Ch'an (or Zen) Buddhism and Shaolin Temple boxing were the Shaolin Temple's main legacy to the world, but it also had an important effect on the politics of China. The secret societies of the past had strong links with the Shaolin Temple; among them were the White Lotus, the Pa-Kua and the Boxers. Even today's secret societies, such as the Triads, have strong associations with the martial arts. It would take another book to try and disentangle the intricacies of these societies. Theirs is a particularly difficult story to tell since they were genuinely secret, and available material about them consists of little more than government reports written to aid or justify the processes of suppression. A number of historians have struggled to make the various movements clear, and their.work is very helpful. However, it seems to us that they have failed to understand fully the point that a martial art organization is not just a political movement. It has its central core of physical and mental training, to which is added its revolutionary intentions. That the members of the most famous societies were effective fighters is proved by the length of time it took armies of soldiers or police to defeat them, and the scale of the reprisals taken afterwards by the authorities. However, no book about the martial arts in China can avoid sketching the story of the secret societies. The first to be formed were the White Lotus and the White Lily societies. It is confusing that a religious sect formed at an earlier date uses the same names,-and it is not clear whether there are links between it and the later martial arts societies. Those two secret societies were formed about 1100. By 1315 they were a power in the land. Their beliefs were complex, a mixture of Buddhism. Taoism, and also Manichaeism. The White Lotus sect supported the man who became the first Ming Emperor in what was called The Red Turban Revolution (from the headgear of the rebels) against the foreign Yuan Dynasty founded by Kublia Khan, a Mongol. The members of the White Lotus sect gave their support to one of thier number but, when he was killed, they transferred their support to an ex-Buddhist monk, Chu-Yuan Chan, allegedly because he was also a Manichee. In 1368 he became the first Ming Emperor. Typically, in 1368, he published a decree against the very sect that had helped him to power. He was not the last Emperor to be nervous of the huge secret organizations in his Empire. Other secret societies grew out of or alongside societies such as the White Lotus. One, particularly interesting from the point of view of the martial arts, was the Pa-Kua. This was based on the I Chimg, or Book of Changes, the Chinese classic of divination. The Society is also known to have based the behavior of its members on the I Ching-, and to have practiced martial arts. There is therefore almost certainly a relationship between society and martial art. It is not clear which came first. There was a large Pa-Kua rebellion in the area where the Society was based, north of the Yellow River. It lasted from 1786 to 1788, and after it was over a decree was issued that the sect should be crushed, although nothing in its teaching was rebellious. The Pa-Kua Society influenced the formation of the I-He-Ch'uan, the Fists of Righteous Harmony, known in the West as the Boxers. All of these sects had similar practices. They met in secret at night, sang hymns, chanted, recited prayers, practiced martial arts and perhaps used breathing techniques to induce trances. The Boxers had a powerful belief in their immunity to death from any type of attack. The sects all hated foreign rulers, and during the long years of Manchu rule (the Manchu or- Ch'ing Dynasty lasted from 1644 to 1911) the societies used the motto 'Overthrow the Ch'ing, restore the Ming'. However, when the Boxers were active there were other foreigners in the country, from the Far West. The Boxer Rebellion was less an insurrection against the authority of the Chinese State than an attack against invaders from the other countries, the representatives, that is, of Britain, France, America, Japan, Russia and Germany, who had sunk their teeth into China and were sucking her wealth from her. The Boxers protested by attacking missionaries and their converts and killing several hundred. The elderly Empress of China did not know whether to crush them or to use them as allies to help her army expel the foreigners. The rebellion ended after a siege of the foreign legations in Peking by the official Chinese army was lifted by a relief` force. This released the diplomats to continue their pillage of China. The Boxers faded away and no more is heard of them, although it is known that many of them took refuge in Taiwan after the rebellion was crushed. Another organization known to the West is the Triads. This was related to the White Lotus and its offshoots, but developed separately in South China, possibly because the language spoken there was unintelligible to Chinese from other parts of the country. The English name derives from the title 'The Three in Accord Society. 'Three' or 'Triad' referred to the trinity of heaven, earth and man. The members of the Triads say their Society was founded in 1674 at the time of another rebellion to depose the reigning emperor of the hated Ch'ing Dynasty.
Appalling figures are associated with the ending of this rebellion: 700,000 people were executed in one month in one province alone; 100,000 fled to Taiwan (then Formosa). The Triads have always been opportunist, joining in with other organizations' rebellions, doing anything to attack the Ch'ing. In this way they captured Shanghai, holding it for 18 months while, at the same time, besieging Canton. The organization is far more profound than its modern association with crime would suggest. The Triads' beliefs include much that comes from Chinese folklore. Many of their ideas are based upon the Five Ancestors who survived the burning of the Shaolin Temple. A famous collection of Chinese folk tales, published in English as The Water Margin, was written around their adventures. In sentiment it is strongly reminiscent of the legends of Robin Hood, but that no longer seems part of` Triad practices. The initiation ceremonies have much in common with those of the Freemasons. There is ordeal by fire and water, the bared leg, the dreadful oath of secrecy. Finally they cross the little Chinese bridge into the willow pattern world of full membership, which, sadly, means the right to share in the profits of protection rackets, drugs, prostitution and all the gang crimes possible. Twentieth-century Triads are found in cities throughout the world, especially Hong Kong, Singapore, American cities with large Chinese populations, and London. In the past the Triads were strongly antigovernment and in the end they did manage to carry out the intention expressed in the first part of their slogan, 'Expel the Ch'ing'. Sun Yat Sen, the leader of the Chinese National Republic after the overthrow ofthe Ch'ing in I9II, was a member of the Triads. He used them to provide finance and propaganda for his revolution and after his success they had much power in China. For a few years, therefore, the Triads enjoyed legal recognition in Republican China, although the. were soon outlawed again by Chiang Kai-Shek. This ambiguous official attitude towards the legality of the secret societies was much the same as the attitude successive dynasties and their governments held towards the martial arts schools. On the one hand, maintaining a group of extremely dedicated and highly trained fighters would have had obvious advantages to men trying to control such a vast and politically unstable country as China. On at least two occasions emperors did indeed call upon the Shaolin boxers to save them from downfall. On the other hand, allowing essentially independent centers of fighting skills to flourish outside government control is a state of affairs few governments will tolerate. In China this position was compounded by the fact that government officials were, on the whole, Confucians who traditionally disliked Taoists and Buddhists. Shaolin monks were Buddhist, and we elaborate in Chapter 5 on the role of Taoism in forming the core of the internal Chinese martial arts. The history of these fighting traditions is thus one of oscillation between official favor and distrust, between honored cultural institution and unease haven of the rebellious sentiments and subversive activities of the secret societies. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the activities of the Chinese secret societies were symbolic of the need for fundamental change in the structure of Chinese society. The immediate future did not lie with the restoration ofthe Ming Dynasty, symbolic of an era of peace and prosperity in Chinese history, but with the eventual success of the Communist Revolution and the establishment of the People's Republic of China. This fundamental change in Chinese society seems to have changed the role of the martial arts on the mainland. During the early days of the Revolution the practice of the hard martial arts was not encouraged; and during the Cultural Revolution, which tool; place during the 1960’s, it was actively discouraged. However, it is difficult to discover what is happening in China today. It seems paradoxical in view of the official attitude toward the practice of the martial arts that every day at dawn throughout China millions of people practice health-giving t'ai-chi exercises. They appear to be following Taoist physical and martial teaching without, presumably, any belief in Taoist philosophy. For 2,000 years it has been possible for masters of Chinese martial arts to set up their own schools, even in the face of official disapproval. Many would have been a public front for some secret society, a system which operates in Hong Kong today, and many a master must have fallen under suspicion from the authorities. However, the traditional ways of teaching Chinese martial arts are not to be found on the Chinese mainland, but on its fringes, in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The number and variety of kung fu schools in Hong Kong alone is astonishing. It seems impossible to count all the different styles of kung fu that are practiced now; there are probably more than 100.
Although the martial arts have evolved into somthing different than what was originally practiced by the monks the spirit and the attitude for martial arts lives on.
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at newshaolin@geocities.com
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