Interesting question about Shaolin

[Ryu]

I figured I'd ask here. The meditation done by Shaolin monks (I don't know much about them, so forgive any stupidness) does anyone know if they use mantra (chants)? and if so what are they?
Prana you might be of help here. :)

Thanks

Ryu

[Mister Hansome]

I thought that the monks in the temple (including shaolin) used the chants for spiritual forfillment. I doubt that they include it in any form of fighting. And i think Prana should beable to help, that guy is hooked on this stuff. But seriously, yeah i think they only use that for the meaning of the words as a lesson. It's so that the monks can learn about the message of buddha and his lessons, remember that shaolin is mainly a temple. If the shaolin monks had to give up either kung fu or buddhism, they would give up kung fu. Why? Because they are buddhist and that's what they do, they chant, they were buddhist before they even began praticing kung fu.

[Ryu]

No no, not for fighting!! :D

I meant for meditation of course.

Ryu

[Xebsball]

The Shaolin monks do Chan Buddhism, so i think yes, there is mantra.

I wouldnt be able to tell you wich ones specifcly.

[Silumkid]

From some of my limited study, I have found that the Pure Land school of Buddhism uses the "Amitabha" chant during meditation. The idea of it, as I have gathered, is by chanting the name of the Amida Buddha this causes the attributes of the Buddha to come to you because it causes mindfulness, a key ingredient to Buddhism as noted in the Noble Eightfold Way.

That's about all I got. :)

[David Jamieson]

The Shaolin meditative practice is known as "chan"

Chan in Japanese terms is Zen. The thought transmissions involve Kung An (koan in Japanese zen) but the meditative process does not involve mantra chanting.

In chan, the goal is to empty the mind. A mantra is counter productive to this end.

So, in short, no, there are not mantras used in Chan or Zen meditation. But Chants are used for other purposes such as ceremony and recital of buddhist sutras.

peace

[Chinwoo-er]

"In chan, the goal is to empty the mind. "

Strange.......this sounds more like theravada buddhism to me.

The old strand of buddhism could be split into to main branchs, the mahayana and the theravada. Both of which aims towards Nirvana.

To reach Nirvana, one must empty their minds of desires and free themselves from the Samsara (sp?). Or this world which is believed traditionally to be suffering. Yet there is a paradox in this. Cause when one approaches Nirvana, they need to rid themselves of the desire to go to Nirvana. When this happens, they back away from it.

This is the part where Zen/Chan comes in. They take away the distinction between Samsara and Nirvana. so basically, there is no point of reaching Nirvana. The fundamental philosophy of Buddhism is kind of like.......... Buddhist-athetism. Cause it take away the very fundamental ideas of Buddhism of Nirvana.

But this does not mean they don't believe in enlightment. But they approach this is a very different way. Instead of "believing in" meditation, they believe more in the practice of meditation. Zen believes that enlightment could be achieved through any activity. Meditation is more like just one of the many activities which could be used to do this.

So getting back to your quote Kung lek, The way I see Chan meditation is not to empty one's mind, but more like....... complete self absorption which is kind of like the daoists.

[David Jamieson]

Chan is considered common to the Mahayana systems.

it's aim is the discovery of reality from within the inner recesses. The reality is the mind or the buddha nature that is present in all sentient beings.

Chan teaching regards this reality as "sunya", empty or void.

In order to appehend this, one must calm the mind and have no concious thought. Concious thought is ego at play which begets karma which in turn ties you to the endless cycle of birth and death and breeds attachment to external things.

Chan teaches that concious efforts such as heeding the teachings of the Buddha, reciting sutras, worshipping images and performing rituals are of no avail and hence should be abandoned.

Instead, Chan teaches that the mind should be free, spontaneous and natural in it's operation. This led to the chan Master I hsuan to state to his disciples:


"kill everything that stands in your way. If you should meet the buddha, kill the buddha. If you should meet the patriarchs, kill the patriarchs. If you should meet the arhats on your way, kill them too."

The word kill is meant metaphorically and denotes that one should not attach themselves to these things as a way of achieving enlightenment but that enlightenment will come when one has cast off his/her attachments to teachings and those who teach.

The Chan master Hsuan Chien said "drink when you're thirsty, eat when you're hungry, pass water, move the bowels and when you are tired, rest."

also-

"There are neither Buddhas nor patriarchs, Bodidharma was only an old bearded barbarian. Sakyamuni and Kasyapa, Manjusri and Samantabhadra, are only dungheap coolies, Nirvana and bodhi are dead stumps to tie your donkeys. The twelve divisions of the sacred teachings are only lists of ghosts, sheets of paper fit only for wiping the pus from your boils"

Pretty harsh to the uninitiated and seemingly a write off of all teachings, but, this is not so. These statements point toward the idea that apprehension is not the aquisition of something new it means only that you realize the something that has always been present within you. We are unaware because of our own ignorance and folly.

In the state of awakening when the mind is calm and when the concious self is eliminated, the inner mind takes over and actions are performed automatically and spontaneously. This state can be repeated over and over again throughout one's life.

So, now that I've said it you can truly see that it means nothing.
hahahahahahahahaha.

ahhh, the perplexities of buddhism.

peace

[GeneChing]

In China, few things stay "pure" (which alsways leads me to endless amusement when people discuss purity of style.) Pure Land and Chan schools have a lot of overlap, and probably the biggest case and point of this is the amitoufo (amitabha) chant which is used as a common salutation at Shaolin. Shaolin, being the cradle of Chan, is dominently Chan, yet this amitoufo chant is fundamental to pure land. It should be noted that while Shaolin is certainly significant to Chan, it is not as important as say Guanxiao, Nanhua or others.

But back to the orginal question, they do chant quite frequently at Shaolin temple. The most common is the amida amitoufo pusa chant, but I guess that's par for the course in China. I couldn't recognize the others, but there where plenty.