People, native or foreign, are easily amazed by Chinese Kungfu performed by Jet Li (李连杰）, a film star now active in Hollywood, or that is shown in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
Anyone interested in Kongfu has heard of Shaolin Temple (Shaolin Si), which is worshipped as the birth place of Kungfu.
Shaolin Temple, located on the south foot of Songshan Mountain (one of China's five most famous mountains), is 76 kilometres away from Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province.
Origins of the myth
Founded in 496 during the period of the Northern Wei (386-534), the temple is full of history.
In 527, an Indian monk, Bodhidarma (known to the Chinese as Da Mo), founded the Mahayana sect of Buddhism, which is known as Chen (or Zen).
He stayed there till his death in 535, and the temple has become the centre of Chinese Buddhism.
It is said that Da Mo, seeing monks becoming fat and lazy from long hours sitting in meditation, came up with the idea of walking meditation, which imitated the natural motions of animals and birds. Eventually, the imitation evolved into a form of unarmed combat or martial arts, which is known as Kungfu.
Kongfu worship
Unlike other temples such as Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou or Ta'er Temple in Qinghai, Shaolin Temple enjoyed much fewer worshipers with burning incense.
I was told that this was because people had shifted their expectations from meditation to physical martial arts practicing.
The layout of the temple is quite similar to other Chinese Buddhist temples. However, there are some differences. One of these variations is the numerous stone steles that line the main roads of the temple on which there have been left important records.
On the high stele in front of the Bell Building, people can see the carved autograph of Li Shimin, a Tang Dynasty (618-907) emperor.
Li granted the temple the status of "No.1 temple on earth", and gave the monks a high rank, after 13 martial monks saved him from the enemy - this is the plot of the movie "Shaolin Temple".
Afterwards, the temple became famous and attracted a lot of lay people to study Kungfu. In other areas of China, other schools were established with names such as Emei Shaolin and Guangdong Shaolin.
At present special organizations for imparting Shaolin Kungfu have been set up in more than 10 countries including the US, Holland, France, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, and Switzerland.
People from more than 30 countries and regions have come to the Shaolin Temple to receive Kungfu training. And delegations of Shaolin monks have visited many countries for cultural exchanges in Kung Fu.
Quietly wandering in the temple, you are sure to learn more about Shaolin Kungfu while listening to the monks practicing in the yard.
But to watch their performances, you have to pay 20 yuan ($2.5). [It is not sure how much is it now] For the price of a very small donation, you can beat the big bell by the side of Bell Building nine times as the most sincere and effective prayer for blessings.
Pagoda forest
In another part of the temple, you can see the unique "Forest of Dagobas" (Pagoda Forest), with its 243 stupas or dagobas each containing the remains of an abbot from the Shaolin Monastery.
They were built of either stone or brick. The first stupa at this site was built in 791 and the last in 1803. They range from seven stories (14.6 metres) to just a metre in height with many different styles.
Against the deep and far mountains, this forest looks more like a holy place. But most of the trees are badly weather beaten and require maintenance.
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