Northern Shaolin Temple Visit 2002 Part 5...

[Guest]

It was time to move on...

<img src="http://www.wahnam.com/Discussion/dansimages/13.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

It was time to move, where or why I did not know.

<img src="http://www.wahnam.com/Discussion/dansimages/14.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

We were heading back towards the main gate.

<img src="http://www.wahnam.com/Discussion/dansimages/15.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

And across to the left hand side of the Temple (if you were looking at it from the main gate)

<img src="http://www.wahnam.com/Discussion/dansimages/16.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

Through and arch and past a Shaolin cat, who was practcing the closest thing to Zen I saw the whole time I was there.

<img src="http://www.wahnam.com/Discussion/dansimages/17.jpg" style="border:0;"/>

Here you can see Shi De Cheng and Zhou Yang leading the way, to where though?....

All will be revealed in the next part !

[Guest]

Did anyone notice what is wrong with the first picture (im not talking about it being slighly blurred)

Think about what is in the photo; it is supposed to be a in the Northern Shaolin Temple, behind the "Fang Zhang" or Abbots Chamber, and showing two Shaolin monks, the one on the left the disciple of the one on the right.

Anyone ?

[Guest]

The third picture reminds me of an ancient Shaolin adage in Chinese:

"Shaolin Si you mei you ce suo?"

Though it is difficult to render the poetry and profundity of this adage into English, I will do my best. Roughly translated, it means:

"Does Shaolin Temple have a toilet or what?"



A<

[Guest]

Greetings.

Aren't those fans with an electrical box in the background?
This is the wall behind the abbotts chamber?
It is interesting to see how modernized things have become at the Shaolin Temple.
It must get very hot in the summer time. Air conditioning is a nice luxury during those hot days of meditation and training.

Did I get it?

Anton

[Guest]

Anton,

Yes you are right, various buildings in the Northern Shaolin Temple now have air con. Most seem to have electrical services.

The Abbots chamber was interesting because it was not open, not even to look in, yet the air con was on. I say interesting because the Abbot does not live there, or reside there. He lives else where, in Dengfeng city (which is the city about 15 minutes from the Shaolin Temple, where all the training schools run by the monks are.)

You have seen the other modernisations; toilets, toilet signs, bins, and 4 shops playing music, a picnic area and of course the restaurant.

I saw the Abbot once, leaving a hotel in his chauffer driven Mercedes, with an entourage of armed and highly visible body guards. Very different from how I expected the Abbot of the Shaolin Temple to behave and very different from what I expected him to be like.

When we went for lunch at the Shaolin Temple restaurant, before we went in Zhou Yang was instructed to call the Abbot by his master Shi De Cheng. After a short conversation with the Abbot on his mobile (cell) phone (yes; Zhou Yang, Shi De Cheng and the Abbot have mobile (cell) phones) they arranged for us to go through the restaurant and out to a private room for a complementary meal. Thankfully it was vegetarian. Although by that point I would not have been too surprised if it was not. It was a large meal, very large and was served by young what seemed to be novice monks, or at least they were dressed that way.

Along with the entry fee (45 Yuan), the large car park in front of the Forrest of Pagodas and the many small stalls right outside the temple gate selling food and drink and beads and Wushu weapons, CDs and VCDs, you can get a feel for how modernised it is.

They also mentioned on a ‘good day’ in the summer they can get over 30,000 visitors!

So regardless of the temperature, there is no meditation going on, and no Kungfu, except maybe by the only Zen practitioner I saw:

The Shaolin Cat.

<img src="http://www.wahnam.com/Discussion/dansimages/16.jpg" style="border:0;"/>