What I’m going to try to do here is explore the myth of the Shaolin Temple and try to put Chinese martial arts into context.
The only place to start is to address the Shaolin Temple myth.
Later others would also translate Shaolin to mean “Young forest” or “Little forest” but the original name of the Temple was a description of its location.
The emperor offered to build Bodhidharma a Temple of his own but the monk told him that contrary to the belief of the wealthy, the Buddhist concept of “Nirvana” could not be purchased through good works, such as building temples, but rather had to be earned over years and years of disciplined study.
The Shaolin Temple was very famous throughout China for the work the monks did in translating the Buddhist religious texts from Sanskrit to Chinese.
Upon arriving at the Shaolin Temple the abbot Batuo quickly branded Bodhidharma a “Troublemaker”, but he decided to let him stay at the Temple as was the custom.
Bodhidharma lived in the Temple for a short time but was not well tolerated by the other monks due to his straightforward nature and overall efforts at reformation.
Bodhidharma then went to live in a cave which overlooked the Temple and resided there for 9 years.
The legend of the reclusive wise monk became so popular the abbot Batuo felt he had no choice but to ask him to come to live at the Temple, and soon Bodhidharma became the Temple’s abbot.
No matter which version you go with, from there it is said that from the Shaolin Temple martial arts spread across China and the monks of Shaolin were known for the utmost mastery of all things martial.
The monks of the Temple became so skilled that they made the emperor nervous so he sent his army to destroy the Temple.
The monks did their best to fight off the army but the Temple was eventually burnt to the ground.
The true role of the Shaolin Temple in the Chinese martial arts has been thoroughly researched by both western and Chinese scholars such as the legendary author and Chinese martial arts historian Tang Hao.
6.) As soon as the myth that the Shaolin Temple was the birthplace of marital arts started to be spread, many serious Chinese martial artists fought the myths but few people would listen.
What’s more is that when Tang Hao researched Bobhidharma he concluded that it was extremely unlikely that he was trained in any martial art, and of course if he had been then martial arts would have to predate the Shaolin Temple.
In order to see the Shaolin Temple in proper context we should discuss what relationship these organizations had with the public and Chinese social structure.
Shaolin Temple would have been no different from any other Temple in that it would have owned a large amount of land and had its own small army to protect it.
Any wealthy family, business, Temple, village, or warlord would have its very own private army to protect its interests and maintain order.
These small private armies and militias were often asked or conscribed by the emperor to assist the regular army in fighting or even fight in their stead. So Shaolin Temple, like every other Temple, would have had their own security force that practiced martial arts, protected the Temple and its interests, and sometimes these security forces were asked to fight alongside the regular Chinese army to battle invading forces.
The real fighting monks of the Shaolin Temple would most likely not have been monks at all but rather people hired by the Temple to protect its interests.
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