Songshan Shaolin Temple Day

[ShaolinDan]

Where in the vows are Tv & videogames banned?

Where in the temple are they banned?

[GeneChing]

In a press briefing with Chinese journalists this week, Shi talked about the virtues of the information age. He also touched on a few subjects such as video games and TV. According to Shi, video games can be addictive and television shows limit people so both forms of entertainment are completely off limits to the Shaolin monks.

This is just what this reporter reported. So who knows?

I will say that when I was first there in '95, there were a ton of videogame parlors surrounding the temple to cater to that huge population of kids. Now, I'm not a videogamer at all, but some of the other laowai training alongside me convinced me that they were videogamers and noted that the videogames around Shaolin at the time were some of the newest fresh-off-the-boat games from Japan, all in the wrong cabinets. They theorized that these were some sort of out-the-side-door bootlegs being manufactured in PRC and getting leaked. Those videogame parlors are long gone, vanished with the great relocation purge when Yongxin took office.

As for TVs, I took my disciple vows in a private room of a senior monk inside the temple. He had a TV. I made note of it in my book because it had this surreal little TV cozy covering it up. Of course, I took my disciple vows in 96, before Yongxin became abbot.

Meanwhile, check this out:

Moment of Neti-zen: Wi-Fi for Shaolin monks start of bad habit?
Global Times | 2014-4-21 22:43:01
By Global Times

Are you up on what the hundreds of millions of Chinese netizens are talking about? Take a moment and get the rundown of what's hot, what's trending, and what's drawing the most buzz on the Chinese blogosphere.

Wi-Fi for Shaolin monks start of bad habit?

At the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, those seeking inner peace can now search for it online.

Monks can finally connect to wireless Internet on their smartphones after offices at the 1,500-year-old temple were recently equipped with Wi-Fi, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

No signal is available in the monks' chambers, as not to disrupt their regimented lifestyle, said the report.

Shi Yongxin, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple, championed the move for Wi-Fi access, explaining it provides a gateway to preserving and sharing Shaolin culture.

The monks are forbidden from playing online games or watching soap operas.

Shi led a delegation to the Google and Apple headquarters in California in mid March, where he praised the connectivity the Web provides.

Ironically, Net users were quick to type out their dissatisfaction over the idea of Shaolin monks with Wi-Fi, saying Internet access would provide too much of a distraction.

"With Wi-Fi at the temple, how can monks achieve inner peace with all the noise on the Internet?" posted Huangwenzheng.

Others saw the move as progressive.

"Old ways are not always flawless," said Mubairuoying, "During the information age, keeping the temple offline would stop Shaolin and Zen Buddhism from spreading.

[GeneChing]

Shoot. What happened last year?

Los Angeles celebrates 1500 years of Shaolin Temple's cultural heritage



Mar 10, 2016
LOS ANGELES, CA - Los Angeles Chinatown Business Improvement District brings 1500 years of Shaolin Temple's cultural heritage to Los Angeles in celebration of Shaolin Temple Day LA. Twelve years ago, the California State Assembly proclaimed March 21st 2004 as China Songshan Shaolin Temple Day. A full zodiac cycle later, Los Angeles Chinatown commemorates the special day with an evening of Shaolin martial arts, meditation studies, cultural workshops, and vegetarian cuisine showcases.

The festival will showcase the four pillars of Shaolin teachings - the study of Zen Buddhism, Martial Arts, Wellness and Medicine, and Classic Arts. Shaolin Masters will perform the highest levels of Kung Fu and offer group lessons of basic forms to the public. Attendees will have the opportunity to join workshops in meditation, Traditional Chinese Medicine and therapy, and try their hand at the classic Chinese art of calligraphy. Curious attendees can even experience a day in the life of a Shaolin warrior monk by participating in a traditional training drill and sampling vegetarian cuisine.

WHEN: Saturday, March 19th, 2016
5PM - 8PM - Event

WHO: Master Shi Yanxu, Shaolin Temple Cultural Center USA
Members of the Shaolin Temple Cultural Center

WHERE: Los Angeles Chinatown Historic Central Plaza
943-951 N. Broadway, Los Angeles CA 90012

[GeneChing]

In honor of Songshan Shaolin Temple Day, MartialArtsMart.com is offering up to 60% OFF on select Shaolin gear. Offer ends at midnight EST tonight.

amitoufo!

[GeneChing]

Mao bu = cat stance.

Shaolin monk is bringing more than kung fu to Chinatown

Master Shi Yanxu teaches children kung fu outdoors at the Far East Plaza in Chinatown. Yanxu ran away from home at a young age to train as a monk at the Shaolin Temple. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Frank Shyong

On the second floor of Far East Plaza in Chinatown, six kung fu students assume warlike expressions and ball their hands into fists.

Shaolin Master Shi Yanxu bellows a command:

"Mao Bu" — Chinese for "cat stance."

The kids twist into an ornate crouch, their shouts mingling with the rap soundtrack of Chego, chef Roy Choi's downstairs rice-bowl restaurant.

It's one of the first classes in Chinatown's new Shaolin Yanxu GongFa Center, a kung fu school that Yanxu hopes will help him complete his official mission: bringing the culture of China's Songshan Shaolin Temple to a more diverse, modern audience.


Master Shi Yanxu adjusts the stance of Issei Sundius, 5. The Shaolin philosophy is not about a name or a person, Yanxu says. It's about what you have been able to learn. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

The Chinatown Business Improvement District will commemorate the opening Saturday with a daylong celebration featuring martial arts demonstrations, Buddhist vegetarian food and meditation.

Yanxu's mission involves establishing more learning centers like the one in Chinatown, clarifying Shaolin precepts for other instructors and raising money for a temple he hopes to build.

But sometimes it's as simple as teaching a 5-year-old the difference between left and right.

"Whoa, what's up?" Yanxu reaches down and taps the leg of one of his students "This is your left leg." The student giggles and incorporates the correct limb into his stance.


Master Shi Yanxu teaches the martial art of kung fu to children at the Far East Plaza in Chinatown. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Born to farmers in Dengfeng, China, a few miles away from the Shaolin Temple, Yanxu ran away from home at a young age to train as a monk. He eventually became Temple Abbot Shi Yongxin's personal assistant, and on a 2006 trip to America, Yongxin asked him to stay behind and spread Shaolin culture through the United States.

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At 28, Yanxu had never driven a car or owned a cellphone or computer. He arrived in Los Angeles to find that Shaolin, thanks to Jet Li films and Wu-Tang Clan rap songs, had become an industry.

Yanxu slept at a Buddhist temple in Monterey Park and cooked vegetarian food to earn room and board. He took English classes at Pasadena City College and taught a kung fu class at Griffith Park to raise money.


Max Moreno, 7, gets a hand up from Master Shi Yanxu. The master's mission involves establishing more learning centers like the one in Chinatown and raising funds for a temple he hopes to one day build. He teaches 300 students at three centers in Southern California. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

When he went to apply for a business license using the name "Shaolin Temple," he found more than 200 other businesses using the name, Yanxu said. The temple had provided documents certifying that he was an official Shaolin monk, but counterfeiters replicated them so perfectly that they looked more authentic than the real thing.

When he opened his first center in Temple City in 2008, attorneys from the more established kung fu academies told him that he had to stop using the name of Shaolin, Yanxu said with a laugh. He kept using it, and they never followed up with the lawsuits.

Yanxu said he doesn't mind that so many are using his temple's name. And besides, it's not a monk's habit to bad-mouth other people.

"The Shaolin philosophy is not about a name or a person," Yanxu said. "It's about what you have been able to learn."

These days, Yanxu, a monk with an iPhone 6 and a Facebook page, drives a leased Ford sedan to teach classes at centers in Temple City, Walnut and Chinatown.

He has about 300 students over three centers. There are larger Shaolin kung fu academies around Southern California, but his students say Yanxu doesn't just teach martial arts.

"Most of the shifus I had in the past, they teach the moves, and I thought that was kung fu," said Julian Nara, one of his students and an instructor. "With Master Shi, he teaches the meaning behind the move."

Stephan Hambsch's 7-year-old daughter, Ryan, is one of Yanxu's first Chinatown students.

Hambsch, like many Shaolin fans in the U.S., first heard about the martial art through the Wu-Tang Clan, who released several rap albums and a video game that mentions Shaolin kung fu.

His Netflix queue is full of kung fu films, and he's been eagerly waiting for his daughter to be old enough to enroll in classes. He was particularly excited for her to learn from an official Shaolin monk.

"I think I might start taking the class," Hambsch joked.

Yanxu said he moved to Chinatown to encourage more people like Hambsch to take up the robes. It takes 10 years to fully learn Shaolin, Yanxu said, and many of his students in America are casual learners. But as long as they're having fun and getting exercise, he is spreading Shaolin and completing his mission, Yanxu said.

"Shaolin cannot be a closed community," Yanxu said. "We want to be open to people of all kinds."

[GeneChing]

We've covered Songshan Shaolin Temple Day since its inception in 2004. Songshan Shaolin Temple Day was officially declared by California State Assembly's Speaker pro Tempore, Dr. Leland Yee, on March 21st, 2004. For the whole story, see my article Shaolin Temple in San Francisco Venerable Abbot Shi Yongxin, California’s “Songshan Shaolin Temple Day,” UNESCO and a Buddhist Music Concert in our July/August 2004 Shaolin Special.

Well, we all know what happened to Leland Yee.

Anyone doing anything for Shaolin Temple Day 2017?

[GeneChing]

Here we are, the day after equinox, March 21 2018, the 14th anniversary of Songshan Shaolin Temple Day.

And nothing. I don't see a single thing on the newsfeeds. This is why we can't have nice things. No follow through.

I even forgot to wear a Shaolin shirt today.

[GeneChing]

A Shaolin Festival was held in Rosemead CA last Sunday in honor of Songshan Shaolin Temple Day.

They had a facebook page.

Shaolin festival
Date: MARCH 18, 2018 TIME: 1PM
LOCATION:
Rosemead Park 4343 Encinita Ave,
Rosemead, CA 91770
We will have Event “shaolin festival ” on 3/18 (sun) this year. Bring your friends and family to come join.
Featuring
• Martial arts demostration brought to you
by all SoCal Shaolin Kung Fu Schools.
• Meditation Sessions
• Wellness Exhibits
• Interactive Kung Fu Lessons and Games
• Tea Ceremony and Tasting
• Incense Ceremony
• Guqin, Guzheng Performances
• Gift Bags
• Gift Lottery
Organizer:
美國少林寺文化中心
Shaolin Temple Cultural Center USA
www.shaolinus.com
洛杉磯少林寺文化中心
Shaolin Temple Cultural Center Chinatown LA
www.shaolinus.com
少林武士學院
Shaolin warrior academy
https://www.discovershaolin.com/
聖地亞哥少林寺
Shaolin Temple San Diego
www.Shaolintemplesd.com
美国橙县少林寺文化中心
Orange County Shaolin Temple Cultural Center
www.shaolinyq.com
美國少林功夫中心
U S Kung fu center
www.uskungfucenter.com
少林寺禪武中心
Shaolin temple Kung fu center
www.shaolinabc.com
少林功夫院
Shaolin Kungfu Yuan Arcadia School
www.usshaolinkungfuyuan.com
拉斯維加斯少林功夫禪
Shaolin Kungfu Chan Las Vegas
www.KungFuChan.com
核桃市少林寺文化中心
Shaolin Temple Cultural Center Walnut
www.shaolinus.com
奇諾崗市少林寺文化中心
Shaolin Temple Cultural Center Chino Hills
www.shaolinus.co

Here's a participant vid.


Now I feel really bad about my lack of Shaolin attire today.

[GeneChing]

Monday, March 18, 2019
Songshan Shaolin Temple Day celebrated in Los Angeles
CGTN



Shaolin Kungfu Chan Academy in Los Angeles hosted an annual workout event Sunday in Hacienda Heights, a suburban area east of downtown Los Angeles, in celebration of California's Songshan Shaolin Temple Day.

Hundreds of local residents and Chinese Kungfu fans took part in the event at Thomas Burton Park, where a variety of interactive sessions were prepared to allow them to experience Shaolin culture, including Chan meditation, martial arts and more.

"I attend (the) Shaolin Temple Day event every single year," said Jacob Fletcher, a local resident. "Chan philosophy is good for my body and mind. I love it, and want to know more about it."


The gate of Songshan Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, June 13, 2009. /VCG Photo

"We have hosted Songshan Shaolin Temple Day celebrations here for five years in a row," said Shi Yanyue, head of the academy. "The event is widely welcomed in the community. Our goal is to share Chan culture with American people."

In January 2004, the California State Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to designate March 21 as "Songshan Shaolin Temple Day." On March 23, 2009, the California State Senate also passed a similar resolution to set the celebration day in recognition of the 1,500-year-old Shaolin cultural heritage.


A Shaolin martial arts display at a cultural event held by a shopping mall in Los Angeles, January 28, 2018. /VCG Photo

"Shaolin Kungfu is more than martial arts," proclaimed the Senate resolution. "It is a discipline that helps people achieve better physical and spiritual balance. And the Shaolin teachings enable many Californians to find common ground in our diversity."

Shaolin Temple, a Chan Buddhist temple in Henan Province of China, is famous as an ancestral monastery of the Chan sect, "mecca" of Kungfu and medical practices of Buddhism.

Shaolin Kungfu combines Zen meditations from the Buddhist sect Chanzong (one of the most important branches of Buddhism in China) with martial arts, and it is known for its sharp, powerful and accurate movements and efficient skills in defense and attack.


(Shaolin participants perform at a show in Chania, Greece, August 10, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Glad to see LA is still observing this. I haven't heard of anything happening here in the SF Bay Area. We have Berkeley CMAT this weekend, and I hear they are doing special Shaolin divisions akin to what we started last year with the Songshan Shaolin division at the Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championship. I understand Shi Yanran is pushing for that, so perhaps it's in honor of Songshan Shaolin Day. We shall see.

[GeneChing]

I just searched the web and the article above is all that I could find. Kudos to Shi Yanyue for remembering.

[GeneChing]

Is anything happening for 2021? I haven't heard. But I'll burn some incense to celebrate.

[GeneChing]

I assume nothing happened last year since nothing was reported. What do you think tomorrow might bring? Anyone still remember?

[Djuan]

Is anything happening for 2021? I haven't heard. But I'll burn some incense to celebrate.

Songshan Shaolin Day is everyday !! lol

Amituofo !!

[GeneChing]

Shoot. I missed it again this year.

Shaolin Temple Day was yesterday - it is observed on March 21st.

I did not see any festivities. I only remembered because it was one of annual reminders that came up on Facebook.