A Photographic Tour of the Songshan Temple Before 1928
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Songshan Shaolin Temple A journey through the past By: Uwe Schwenk (Ying Zi Long) Songshan Shaolin Temple: A journey through the past Songshan Shaolin Temple: A journey through the past 1 The Shaolin Temple The original Shaolin Temple, located on Songshan Mountain in Henan Province, China, is legendary for its kung fu. Throughout history, many famous martial arts heroes have come from this temple. About this Special Edition This special edition is the result of extensive research and has become a one of a kind document. This document contains a photographic tour through the temple with detailed descriptions. It is a document in its own and was therefore not included as a chapter in any of the manuals and books written by the author. Design In the back of each page you will see the shadow of a dragon. This design is meant to reflect the Chinese name Ying Zi Long (Shadow Dragon) given to the author by the Shaolin Temple (The Abbot Shi Wang Heng). Finally, this particular edition does not contain a table of contents, because it is meant to be read as one continious journey. This special edition contains: • A detailed description of the Songshan Temple Note: All black and white images in the section of the Songshan temple are from before 1928, when the fire destroyed the temple. The color images in the Songshan Temple section are from July 2001. The color images without a date stamp are courtesy http://www.russbo.com. This special edition contains a large number of historical images. The Shaolin Temple: About this Special Edition 2 The Songshan Shaolin Temple The original Shaolin Temple, located on Songshan Mountain in Henan Province, China, is legendary for its kung fu. Throughout history, many famous martial arts heroes have come from this temple. Introduction There is a Chinese saying that goes: “All martial arts under the sky, started in Shaolin”. This is somewhat of an exaggeration, but like many Chinese sayings it does contain a grain of truth. China is a huge land and has since long an enormous population. The land that we know today consists of a mixture of people with many different linguistical and cultural traditions. For centuries they developed indepe- dently from each other. If we say that all the martial art systems in China come from one single tradition or temple. But we can't deny that the Shaolin temple did have a big influence on the development all Chinese martial arts. Many say that Buddhism and boxing don't combine. This is true and it is not true at the same time. Buddhism forbids damaging all living beings, but this is contradicted by an edict that teaches tolerance. Tolerance has been one of the biggest strengths of Buddhism for centuries. And this tolerance let to the fact that the martial arts training of the Shaolin temple, including weapontraining, was accepted for over a thousand years. Although the annals talk about many famous martial monks, its very likely that they were boxers first and lived between the temple monks, like so many other laymen. But still it is strange that Buddhism, know for it's peaceful character, accepted the martial arts and that the Shaolin temple, birthplace of Chan Buddhism, is best known for its martial arts. The temple was, and still is, located on the countryside and is was important that one could defend oneself in remote areas. Only if you're healthy and strong could you survive; meditation alone was not enough to survive! The monks went so far as to use weapons to defend themselves. How can they train themselves in killing human beings, when generally speaking monks lead an peaceful and quite life? Some say that the ones that were killed by the monks weren't humans, but demons in the shape of human beings. In many Buddhist legends, monks, or Buddhists kill dozens and dozens of demons, and they use martial arts to do this. In one story the Heavenly Prince Dharmapala kills demons and monsters with his powerful pestle. If one looks it at it that way, than the monks of the Shaolin temple are doing nothing wrong and are the martial arts for them just as important as practicing Chan, some say they ARE one. The Shaolin temple is situated in Henan province, 13 kilometers outside the village of Dengfeng. It was build in 496 at the foot of Songshan Mountain, under edict of Emperor Xiao Wen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). Songshan Mountain has many peaks and hills. The temple is located at the foot of Wu Ru Feng (Five-breast Peak), North of Shaoshi Mountain. The temple faces the south. The Songshan Shaolin Temple: Introduction 3 A map showingfeng City, the Shaolin temple and the surroundings Eastwards lies Taishi Mountain, and to the North one can find the Huanyuanguan path, which was a important passage before the modern road were paved. In front of the entrance of the temple flows the Shaoxi river (of Shaoshixi), this protects the temple according to the rules of Fengshui against bad influences. The temple is build on the spot were once was a “young forest”. Many say that that's the reason why the temple is called Shaolin Si, which means “Young Forest Templ”. A different expla- nation for the name says that it stands for the monks living in the temple; like young trees they bend when forced, but they won't break. Yet another explanation can be found in the book “Songshan Mountain” of Jing Rizhen, dating from the early Qing Dynasty: “Shaolin means woods on Shaoshi Mountain inside Songshan Mountain Area”. Stamps from the Shaolin Temple. First edition from 1995. The four monks Four monks who lived in or around the temple when the people's republic was founded, returned to the temple when Buddhism was reestablished. They were, if I'm not mistaken: Shi Wanheng, Shi Dechan, Shi Suxi and Shi Xingzhen. Shi Suxi is of the 30th generation of monks in the Shaolin temple. The Songshan Shaolin Temple: The four monks 4 It is from them that the present day fighting monks get their pedigree. A statue of the four monks inside the Chuipu Hall (Kung Fu Hall) in the temple Shaolin Si Shan Men - The entrance to the Shaolin Temple The Entrance to the temple consists of a main gate and two side gates flanking it. The main gate is constructed on a brick terrace (2 meters above ground) with single eaves and an exquisitely modified gable roof. It was build in 1735, in the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty. The entrance at the turn of the century. Notice the white colored windows and the absence of the entrance sign. The Songshan Shaolin Temple: Shaolin Si Shan Men - The entrance to the Shaolin Temple 5 The Entrance today The Shao Lin Si Sign In the early Qing Dynasty a sign board was hung on the outer wall with six chinese characters meaning 'Genuine Birthplace of Buddhism'. Another board with characters, Shao Lin Si (Shaolin temple), written by Emperor Kang Xi, was put up in 1704. It is now above the Entrance of the temple. According to the History of Shaolin Temple, this board used to hang above the front door of the Tianwang Dian; it was removed to the present place after the hall was burnt down. On careful observation, one finds that the brushwork on the present board for the lower parts of the characters 'SHAO' and 'SI' are not harmonious. This is the result of later renova- tions. That the board survived the fire is already a wonder. The Songshan Shaolin Temple: Shaolin Si Shan Men - The entrance to the Shaolin Temple 6 The statue of Maitreya Passing the Entrance one sees Maitreya smiling his welcome. This clay statue of Maitreya is kept in a shrine behind glass and has a gold color. Up to a few years ago it had lifelike colors. The statue of Wei Tuo (Skanda) Behind Maitreya is a figure of Wei Tuo (Skanda) as a principal guard of Buddhism. He too is now enshrined behind glass. The Songshan Shaolin Temple: Shaolin Si Shan Men - The entrance to the Shaolin Temple 7 The Stone Lions On either side of the Entrance is a 1.67 meter high stone lion crouching on a 1.75 meter platform. Adding ancient flavour to the place. Next to each lion is a flagpole. The two gateways In front of the Entrance, on the left and right side, stand two gateways constructed in the Ming Dynasty. These two gateways, standing homologously, look the same in appearance. Each has one arch and two pillars, 5.85 meters high and 1.95 meters wide. The tops of both gatewayes are decorated with carved ridges and tile furrows. Beneath the eaves four modified birch leave shaped brackets support the tops. The stone horizontal laths, square columns and thresholds imitate the style of wooden structures. The main laths are decorated with relief of 'two lions playing with silk balls' and 'two phoenixes greeting the sun', very popular in the Ming and Qing The Songshan Shaolin Temple: Shaolin Si Shan Men - The entrance to the Shaolin Temple 8 Dynasties. The front and back sides of the horizontal laths and columns are carved with inscriptions and antithetical couplets related to the history of the temple. The image shows the archways at the turn of the century: no splay walls yet. The Eastern part of the archway On the eastern part of the eastern archway are in horizontal inscriptions 'Fountain Head of Zen'.