Shaolin days

[The Willow Sword]

The Morning mist clings to the mountains as the rays of the morning sun are diffused, making an errie but calming effect on the morning. a gentle breeze ushers through the valley and the smell of jasmine permeates the halls of the shaolin temple.

all is quiet,,all is still,,,the little monks sleep on thier bunk beds.
dreams of da mo and rice cakes sprinkled with seaweed flakes fill thier heads.

slowly the little monks begin to awake,,,,yawning and stretching,,,,,,life begins to stir and the little monks in thier rooms,,wake up and turn on the TV to catch syndicated reruns of Regis and cathy lee.

the kitchen awakes and the smell of eggs and sausage and pancakes begins to fill the halls of the serene shaolin temple.
the morning laughter echoes as they watch the slapstick comedic jibes from regis. a monk goes to his mini fridge and pops open a coke.

at 10 am the bell is rung and a shout echoes through the halls.
"the american tourists are here! the american tourists are here!"

frantically the little monks scurry to put on thier robes and dab thier bodies with essential oil of patchouly,,and frustration mounts as two monks struggle to untangle thier buddah beads.

"quick they are here,,turn off the TV hisses one of the monks"
" LAM,,,,,finish your Soda,,,,put on your patchouly" commands another.
The shaolin day begins.

MRTWS

[GeneChing]

Some observations

I've never noticed jasmine on Songshan.

Shaolin is in the mountains so they don't eat much seaweed.

There are a few TV's in the temple in the private quarters, but Regis hasn't made it to China to my knowledge.

Venerable Abbot Shi Yongxin went won a bitter lawsuit against a private company that was marketing a sausage product that used the Shaolin name. You can find Coca Cola at Shaolin. In fact, one of my senior disciple brothers was the first to bring a case in back in '93.

Shoalin sees over 2 million tourists annually (Songshan sees 10 million.) The amount of foreigners are only a few thousand a year. The amount of Americans is even less, far less than one percent of of the tourists who visit Shaolin.

There's no patchouli at Shaolin. It's more sandalwood.

EVen when the temple is filled with tourists, you might see a monk drinking soda - Buddha never set up a prohibition against soda. And you might even see a TV on. Often the security guards or tourist vendors might have a little set by their station.

Truth is stranger than fiction. It certianly isn't as silly. :p

[The Willow Sword]

You are spoiling all my fun.:mad:


MRTWS

[GeneChing]

The reality is actually funnier that any fiction. I mena really, Shaolin sausage? Then the Abbot has to sue them to stop them? Too wacky.

[The Willow Sword]

but is the shaolin temple a vegetarian temple in accordance with buddhism or is there a steak or two being cooked in secret?

MRTWS

[GeneChing]

The temple itself is vegetarian, of course. But there used to be a great meat restaurant right across the street. The last time I was there, it had already been torn down as part of the reconstruction. There still remained some meat restaurents in the area, but they are slowly coming down.

Part of me regrets that I never scored a shaolin sausage label for my collection of shaolin oddities.

[The Willow Sword]

i wish that i had the funds or the sponsorship to go to china and see the temple for myself. i joke of course in my first post.
what i would like to know Gene is this......if you become a memeber of the temple or you pay to stay there or however you get in,,,do you have a choice in what they teach you? i mean can you say, " i would like to study tang lang" or hsing i chuan. or is there a set curriculumn that you have to follow. see when i joined sd in '94 all i was looking to learn was hsing i and pakua and tai chi..but i had to go through all this other stuff just to get that teaching. now i know that hsing i and pa kua are not shaolin persay but it seems as though it was later put in the temple curriculumn, course i could be wrong about this.
what insights do you have on this?

Many Respects,,,TWS

[GeneChing]

First of all, only a few ever get to really train in the temple. It's not a member's thing at all. It's more about who you train from. There are over a hundred private schools in nearby Dengfeng and that is where you train. Many of those schools are run by former monks, most by folk masters, and the training is excellent if you stay long enough to really train. Generally, most people who walk into Shaolin want to train walking on rice paper and don't have a clue. They will be given a standard curriculam, usually the short xiaohong, maybe baduanjin, or tongbi. When I went, I had specific things I wanted to learn - Tamo cane and Yinjinjing - and my master was delighted that I had such specific requests. Now when I visit him, he asks me what I want to learn. I've learned to ask for easy stuff, since the hard kicks my butt.

[David Jamieson]

Gene, was the whole "shaolin cigarettes" thing for real?
I heard of the sausage, but I also heard of this and was stupified that the marketing of the name shaolin had become so ... well, weird.

Just musing the trivial :)

peace

[GeneChing]

KL: I never saw Shaolin cigarettes, but it wouldn't surprise me. One of the main commodities of that region is tobacco. Did you read me Fighting Pipe article in the Sep/Oct 2002 issue? It discusses tobacco in China.

SF: You know, I've never eaten in that restaurant. The last time I was there, it looked closed down, but it might have just been that day. To the best of my knowledge, it's all vegetarian, not vegan - most of the Shaolin Buddhist do eat eggs.

They have been moving some of the artifacts around - the weapons in particular - but at the same time they have been doing a lot of restoration. The rebuilt the chamber for White Garment Hall and are constantly touching up the paint. I doubt they will ever be free from the gift shops, but then, such is the state of so many temples.

[fiercest tiger]

Ive been to shaolin 4 times since 1990, i can still feel the chi from the trees out the front and can see monks fighting out the front in spirit.

Did you stay next door at the wushu gwan, i partied with the monks and sang karokae with them too. lol there is shaolin beer!!:)

I will take students with me next time, to just feel the energy of this beautiful temple and mother of kung fu.

FT:)