Shaolin Warrior Monk Operates from an L.A. Storefront Master Shi Yan Fan, Shaolin warrior monk (Simone Paz/Laweekly.com)
The Shaolin temple in China is 1,500 years old and one of the nation's most ancient sacred treasures, the source of all martial arts. The Shaolin temple in Los Angeles is 3 years old and is located in a Sherman Oaks storefront next to a pet store.
It is, however, no less sacred to those who seek refuge here from the modern world. Here, the warrior monk known as master Shi Yan Fan, or "Powerful Sky," teaches Zen Buddhism and Shaolin kung fu. "Shaolin means young forest. Shaofor young. Lin for trees. It means you can live forever," he'll say to those who wander in.
(Hellfil2e) The official ordination of the first Western Caucasian disciple to receive JieBa at Shaolin Temple in Henan, China, in centuries
The temple wasn't always there, at least not in the physical sense. When the master first came to Los Angeles from China, he would train students in community centers, gyms, parks, and forests. Eventually, the students got tired of carrying their weapons everywhere. They opened the temple, donating its rent, furnishings and upkeep.
Master Shi Yan Fan wasn't always a kung fu master. Actually, he wasn't always Shi Yan Fan. For all of his youth he was Italian-born Franco Testini. Though he has trained his entire life, only recently did he become an official Shaolin warrior monk, the first to do so in 300 years. He was branded on the head with nine incense sticks for five minutes. The last two minutes, when the incense burns through your skin, he says, "are very painful."
The ceremony was performed in 2007 at the Shaolin Temple in China when the Chinese government lifted its centuries-old ban on the practice. There was much fanfare. Preparations lasted a month. There were arduous training sessions and equally arduous lectures. Knees and foreheads became bruised from bowing for five hours a day. Some monks fainted from exhaustion. In the end, 100 monks were scheduled to receive the burn marks, but only 43 went through with it. "They got scared," Testini shrugs.
Testini has given his life to Shaolin. His mission is to share it with as many people as he can, and by share he means teach them compassion (a noble endeavor), to exercise every day (preaching to the choir) and to be happy without material possessions (good luck with that).
Training American disciples in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles
Testini speaks quickly and with a thick Italian accent. His assistant, Cindy, occasionally serves as unofficial interpreter. She also has given her life to Shaolin and, by extension, to her master, or as she calls him in Chinese, shifu. Training in Shaolin, the master taught her, isn't about tournaments and color belt systems and trophies. It's about learning to be Zen. More
"What it Takes to be a Shaolin Monk" - Shaolin Kung Fu is among the oldest institutionalized styles of Chinese martial arts. It originated and was developed in the Mahayana Buddhist Shaolin temple in Henan province, China, for over 1,500 years. But what did the historical Buddha teach about warrior-celibacy that is still practiced in Theravada Buddhism?
Shhh, I can't give up hand-to-hand combat.
This sutras, addressed to monastics, deals with the battle to maintain celibacy to be victorious in practice. The Buddha compares the victor to a warrior, an analogy likely to appeal to masculine pride (AN 7.48).
In this analogy, a celibate is a warrior of the highest degree not a wimp. Because trying to maintain celibacy involves attraction to females, females play the role of first-line adversary for the purpose of this discourse.
The same would go for men, who are the vexation of female celibates as is dealt with in the BhikkhuniVinayatexts.
Discourses in the Pali language canon depict nuns successfully maintaining their celibacy when confronted by men in the wilderness. A prime example is the Psalms of the Nuns (Therigatha XIV). There are other examples of nuns resisting temptation in the Bhikkhuni Samyutta.
But ultimately, of course, the "adversary" exists within not without the individual. This is shown by the fact that the monastic in this discourse has to set off alone to make an end of the defilement (outflow/inflow) of obstructive sensual passion in the mind before becoming "victorious."
(Hard Shaolin 04) Stay hard with chi gong (qi gong) techniques to control breath (prana) energy
SUTRA: The [Spiritual] Warriors
Theravada preserves what the Buddha taught
[Thus have I heard. The Buddha taught:] "Meditators, there are five types of warriors in the world. What five?
"There is a warrior who, on seeing a cloud of dust [stirred up by the adversary's army], falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the first type of warrior found in the world.
"Then there is a warrior who can handle a cloud of dust, but on seeing the top of the adversary's battle banner, he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the second type of warrior in the world.
"Then there is a warrior who can handle the cloud of dust and the top of the adversary's banner, but on hearing the tumult [of the approaching forces], he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the third type of warrior in the world.
"Hand to hand"? Huh huh huh, huh huh huh...
"Then there is a warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, but who in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. [Hand to hand?] Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the fourth type of warrior in the world.
"Then there is the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. On winning the battle, victorious in battle, he comes out ahead in battle. Indeed, some warriors are like this. This is the fifth type of warrior the world.
"These are the five types of warriors who can be found existing in the world.
"In the same way, meditators, there are five warrior-like individuals who can be found existing among the monastics. What five?
How shall Shaolin monks train to be like the "spiritual warriors" of which the historical Buddha spoke?
[1]
"There is a meditator who, on seeing a cloud of dust, falters, faints, fails to steel him [or her]self, and cannot continue in the high life. Declaring this weakness [and inability to continue] in the training, that meditator leaves the training and returns to the low life [of ordinary uninstructed worldlings].
Don't make me come in the wilderness for you.
"What is the 'cloud of dust'? A meditator who hears, 'In that village or town there is a female who is shapely, beautiful, charming, endowed with the foremost lotus complexion.' On hearing this, one falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life. Declaring this weakness, that meditator leaves this training and returns to the low life. That is the cloud of dust.
"This individual, I say, is like the warrior who on seeing a cloud of dust, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the first type of warrior-like individual found existing among the monastics.
[2]
"Then there is the meditator who can handle the cloud of dust, but who on seeing the top of the adversary's banner, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life. Declaring this weakness, that person leaves the training and returns to the low life.
"What is the 'top of the banner'? There is the meditator who not only hears about a beautiful female, he sees her for himself. But on seeing her, he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life.
"Declaring this weakness, he leaves the training and returns to the low life. That is the top of the banner. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, but who on seeing the top of the adversary's banner, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the second type of warrior-like individual among the monastics.
(National Geographic) Amazing feats by Shaolin Buddhist monks undergoing Qi Gong training
[3]
"Then there is the meditator who can handle the cloud of dust and the top of the adversary's banner, but who on hearing the tumult, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life.
Declaring this weakness, he leaves the training and returns to the low life. What is the tumult? There is the meditator who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a quiet tree, or to an empty building. A female approaches him and giggles, calls out to him, laughs, teases him. On hearing her giggle, being called out to, hearing her laugh, and being teased by her, he falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot continue in the high life.
"Declaring this weakness, he leaves the training and returns to the low life. That is the tumult. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, but who on hearing the tumult, falters, faints, fails to steel himself, and cannot engage in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the third type of warrior-like individual found existing among the monastics.
[4]
Theravada Buddhism lives on in the Thai Forest Tradition, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia...
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"Then there is the meditator who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, and the tumult, but who when in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. What is the hand-to-hand combat?
"There is the meditator who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty building. A female approaches him and sits down next to him, lies down next to him, throws herself all over him. When she does so he -- without first renouncing the training, without declaring his weakness to continue in this training [which would absolve him of the rule and, because he would no longer be a monastic, would avoid a defeat offense that entails immediate expulsion] -- engages in sexual intercourse.
"This is hand-to-hand combat. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, and the tumult, but who when in hand-to-hand combat is struck and falls wounded. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the fourth type of warrior-like individual found existing among the monastics.
[5] "Then there is the monastic who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. On winning the battle, victorious in battle, he comes out ahead in battle. What is victory in the battle?
"There is the meditator who has gone into the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling. A woman approaches him and sits down next to him, lies down next to him, throws herself all over him. When she does so he extricates himself, frees himself, and goes off where he will.
"He resorts to a secluded dwelling place -- the wilderness, the foot of a tree, a mountain, a glen, a hillside cave, a charnel ground, a forest grove, the open air, a haystack. Having gone into the wilderness, the foot of a tree, or an empty building, he sits down, crosses his legs, holds his body upright, and brings mindfulness to the fore.
The Five Hindrances to Meditation
"Abandoning craving (covetousness) with regard to the world, one dwells with awareness free of craving. One cleanses the mind/heart of craving.
Abandoning ill will and anger, one dwells with awareness free of ill will, sympathetic to the welfare of all living beings. One cleanses the mind of ill will and anger.
Abandoning laziness and drowsiness, one dwells with awareness free of laziness and drowsiness, mindful, alert, perceiving light [the nimitta or "sign" that develops with persistence]. One cleanses the mind of laziness and drowsiness.
Abandoning restlessness and worry [with regard to the world], one dwells undisturbed, the heart/mind inwardly still. One cleanses the mind of restlessness and worry.
Abandoning doubt and uncertainty, one dwells having crossed over doubt, free of perplexity with regard to skillful mental states. One cleanses the mind of doubt.
"Having abandoned these Five Hindrances, corruptions of mind that weaken wisdom -- withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful states [of mind] -- one enters and remains in the first absorption (meditation, jhana) with rapture and blissborn of withdrawal, accompanied by applied and sustained attention.
"With the stilling of applied and sustained attention, one enters and remains in the second absorption with rapture and bliss born of serenity, unification of mind [coherence, composure] beyond applied and sustain attention -- with internal assurance.
"With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, and alert, and experiences refined pleasure in the body. He enters and remains in the third absorption, of which the noble ones [those who have entered the stages of enlightenment] declare, 'The one who is equanimous and mindful has a most pleasant abiding.'
"With the abandoning of both pleasure and pain -- as with the earlier fading away of elation and distress [pleasure and pain] -- he enters and remains in the fourth absorption with purity of equanimity and mindfulness, surpassing pleasure and pain.
"With mind/heart thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free of defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines the mind to the knowledge of the passing away of the mental defilement.
Four Noble Truths
"He knows in line with truth that:
'This is suffering (disappointment, woe, ill)...
This is the origination of suffering...
This is the end of suffering...
This is the way leading to the end of suffering...
These are mental defilements... This is the origin of defilements... This is the end of defilements... This is the way leading to the end of defilements.' His heart thus knowing, thus seeing is released from the defilement of sensuality, the defilement of becoming [rebirth], the defilement of ignorance."
"With this release comes the knowledge, 'Released!' One knows, 'Rebirth is ended, the high life is fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'
"This is victory in battle. This individual, I say, is like the warrior who can handle the cloud of dust, the top of the adversary's banner, the tumult, and hand-to-hand combat. On winning the battle, victorious in battle, he comes out ahead in battle. Indeed, some individuals are like this. This is the fifth type of warrior-like individual found existing among monastics.
"These are the five warrior-like individuals who can be found existing among monastics."
TORONTO (Reuters) -- They went to kick butt and gain enlightenment, but what the men in the new documentary "Real Shaolin" found in China was loneliness, pain, bad food, and angry kung fu teachers.
For aspiring martial artists, movies about kung fu fighting are the stuff of which screen legends are made. The stars' names are well-known: Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan. But the reality, as told in "Real Shaolin," which debuts at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, has little to do with flying fists and more with hard work.
"The difference between movies and the reality I try to show is that in the movies when they experience hardship, it's romanticized," director Alexander Sebastien Lee told Reuters. "In China if you go to a master and tell them I want to learn to beat someone up and kill somebody they'll tell you to go somewhere else," he added.
"Real Shaolin" follows two Chinese and two Westerners who journey to the Shaolin Temple in central Henan Province, inspired by the mythical feats from film heroes Li and others. Glorified images of warrior-monks effortlessly breaking spears with their throats and withstanding brutal body blows inspire many to learn the deadly art form at its birthplace.
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A Korean-American, Lee decided to make his documentary after venturing to Shaolin to see if he could survive the excruciating training. Lee, 29, a black-belt in tae kwon do and a first-time director who wrote, produced, and shot the film, found something else.
Since hardly anyone actually studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple (it is mostly a tourist attraction now after surviving 1,500 years of wars and revolutions), Lee follows the four students in the nearby rural city of Dengfeng, dubbed "Kung Fu City" for its 40,000 students and 100 martial arts academies.
He spent about 18 months filming two Chinese, Yuan Peng and Zhu Hao Shan, American Orion Lee, and Frenchman Eric Guillou, as they spent 8 to 10 hours-a-day kicking, punching, stretching, and just as importantly, praying and meditating.
But their initial excitement and dreams -- Eric wants to become the first non-Chinese Shaolin monk -- are tempered with squalid living conditions, isolation, and not always training with strong rivals but with children. "I was almost mystified by the kung fu warriors, by the Shaolin monks, training in the mountains and being in this beautiful temple where people have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of kung fu and Buddhism," said Orion Lee, a blond-haired and blue-eyed man from Connecticut, who was just 19-years-old when the documentary was filmed. "The lesson I learned was really to appreciate everything you have and everything that you stand to lose."
For the two Chinese subjects, one 9-year-old Yuan Peng who was abandoned by his parents at the Shaolin Temple, their path is equally trying but it can transform their lives.
Martial artists in China can hope to escape poverty with a career as a policeman, soldier, kung fu coach or bodyguard -- and if they're really lucky, a chance to work in the movies.
"The Real Shaolin" documentary director Alexander Sebastien Lee poses in this undated handout photo (Bull in a China Shop Productions/Handout/Reuters).
When it comes to fighting or avoiding a fight at all costs, we have to look at our friendship bracelet that read "WWBLD?" Of course, that stands for "What would Bruce Lee do?" Following the Zen way of the Tao, noninterference with the flow of nature, we'd go around trouble and pick the path of peace. But, y'know, as Kwai Chang Caine found out so many times, sometimes trouble finds you. Then in that case, redirect the violent opponent's own energy against that person.
Shaolin kung fu (Chinese 少林功夫, Pinyin Shàolín gōngfū, Shaolin Wushu, 少林武術, Shǎolín wǔshù, Shaolin quan, 少林拳, Shàolínquán), is the largest and most famous style of the martial art of kung fu. It combines Mahayana Buddhist, Chinese Chan (Zen) philosophy, and martial arts [1]. It was developed in the legendary Shaolin Temple (monastery) in Henan, China during its 1,500-year history [2]. In Chinese folklore there is a saying, "Shaolin kung fu is the best under heaven." It indicates its superiority among the martial arts. "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin," which indicates its influence on other martial arts. The name "Shaolin" is also used as a brand for the external styles of kung fu. Many styles in southern and northern China use the name Shaolin. More
Best known as "Andrew Golota," Andrzej Jan Gołota (born Jan. 5, 1968) was a Polish professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title, by all four major sanctioning bodies, and as an amateur won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1988 Olympics. Despite his accomplishments and more than 40 professional wins, Golota is perhaps best known for twice being disqualified against Black American boxer Riddick Bowe for repeated low blows to the groin in fights that Golota was winning. On Oct. 4, 1997, he became the first Pole to challenge for a heavyweight boxing crown when he fought WBC champion Lennox Lewis at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. He had a bout with Mike Tyson in 2000, which he first withdrew from, but afterward was ruled no-contest. In Nov. 2016, Golota was inducted into the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame. Favorite music? Probably brutal Polish death metal band Vader? More
The Shaolin monks of China are ancient warriors who defend the Dharma and preserve physical-spiritual traditions through rigorous meditative concentration (ch'an, zen) and bodily training.
NEVER call the practice of classical Shaolin kung fu a “performance,” says American photographer Justin Guariglia, whose new book, “Shaolin: Temple of Zen,” takes the reader into the cloistered world of the monks who uphold the tradition in China’s 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple.
The correct term, says Guariglia, is “demonstration.”
“The monks are not entertainers,” says the 33-year-old photographer, who spent five years building the trust of the monks to gain access to their life inside the monastery.
Photos from the book, published by Aperture in October, are featured in a traveling exhibition, on display at the Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design through March 29.
“When the media shows up, they want to be entertained,” Guariglia continued in a recent conversation at Otis College, joined by Shaolin monk Shi De Chao, who had flown in from China to demonstrate – not perform – kung fu at the gallery recently. “They are overwhelmed and bombarded. A lot of people want to exploit them.”
Most pilgrims to the Shaolin Temple, Guariglia says, come looking for the drama of kung fu as seen in movies starring Jackie Chan or Jet Li, or the flying fight scenes of Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Jet Li’s skill, Guariglia explains, is actually the modern competitive martial art wushu, not traditional Shaolin kung fu.
The “warrior monks” don’t fight, Guariglia says. “They did 100 years ago, but there’s no warlords running China anymore. If you ask a monk why he practices kung fu, he’ll say that kung fu is a vehicle for Zen, meaning it’s a form of meditation.”
Guariglia’s exhibition, which includes stills from the book as well as videos, captures the active and the contemplative sides of the monks’ existence, mixing serene black-and-white portraits with vibrant color shots of the monks executing kicks, poses, jumps and spins, practiced out of view to visitors.
The photographer also turns his lens on the tourist’s effect on the peaceful surroundings, including a gaggle of visitors paying for a look through binoculars at a stone statue of the founder of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma. Another shot shows cartons and plastic bottles strewn outside.
Guariglia’s wife, visual artist Zoe Chen, 33, contributed to the project by creating assemblages of photographs of the monks in practice. Formerly a fashion designer for Issey Miyake in Tokyo, Chen has created designs that often involve intricate knit patterns that seem reflected in the photo assemblages.
As explained in the book in an essay by scholar Matthew Polly, an Indian Buddhist missionary named Damo – Bodhidharma in Sanskrit – brought to the temple the idea that the key to enlightenment was “not merit (i.e., good works) but a dawn-to-dusk practice of sitting meditation.”
Problem was, sitting meditation also resulted in some very flabby monks, so Damo introduced a series of calisthenic exercises much like yoga. The practice, Polly writes, “introduced the idea that action could also be spiritual.”
To protect the real monks’ practice from exploitation, Guariglia says, Shih Yong Xin, abbot of the Shaolin Temple, often calls upon students from the many nearby martial arts schools to provide a show for the tourists. “The kids dress up as monks and give performances; not many people see anything beyond that,” he says.
Though a few schools are run by monks, most are led by folk masters. And, Guariglia adds, “most of the kids have no Zen training at all; they are not trained in Buddhism. At the temple, you have monks that only pray and monks who do kung fu, and some do both – but all are trained in Buddhism.”
It is perhaps telling that, at his gallery demonstration, De Chao spent more time on the meditative than the martial aspects of his practice.
De Chao briefly exhibited his skill at wielding the “monk’s spade” or “Bodhidharma spade” – a pole with two curved blades of hardened steel flashing wickedly on each end. “You might want to stand back,” suggested Guariglia with a grin.
But then the massive monk took an unexpectedly passive stance: In the next portion of the presentation, the martial arts master allowed inexperienced visitors to hit him, inviting 18 randomly selected onlookers to make three selfless wishes, then slap the back of his hand as hard as they liked.
As with most actions of a Shaolin monk, there was a spiritual purpose: To channel the qi, or energy, of those who would strike him into a work of calligraphy, another aspect of De Chao’s practice.
The blows included the hesitant tap of a preschool child and ringing slaps from strong adults. Through it all, De Chao stood like a stone. Then, still smiling, he crouched and slammed the back of his thick-wristed hand against the gallery’s polished concrete floor, a harder strike than any that had been wielded against him by the others. De Chao says that, by hitting the floor, he “is gathering energy from everyone on Earth, and all of their wishes are being transmitted through the brush … to be preserved in the calligraphic painting forever.”
With the collective qi gained from both, De Chao was ready to set to work on two 4-by-6-foot sheets of white paper, weighted to the floor with smooth river rocks. With large brushes dipped in pots of black ink, he fills one white sheet with the Chinese character “Fo,” for Buddha, and the other with “wu,” for martial arts.
To the question of how he chooses the characters, De Chao responds through translation from Mandarin by Guariglia: “It comes from my heart.”
De Chao and Guariglia both laugh as they note that the three days Guariglia spent as De Chao’s kung fu disciple were a dismal failure, but De Chao says – this time with Chen as the interpreter – that he believes fate led Guariglia to the Shaolin Temple.
“Everyone has their own kung fu, and his is photography,” De Chao says, the heavy prayer beads around his wrist clacking softly as he fingers them. “The photographs show his spiritual side.”
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"A rare glimpse of Zen" by Diane Haithman, LA Times, February 13, 2008
PHOTO 1: book cover. PHOTO 2: Shi Yan Ao, a 34th generation Shaolin monk, practicing a move called "Qi Mei Gunn" or Equal Eyebrow Staff. PHOTO 3: Shi Yong Ji, a wenseng (praying monk), meditates as part of his daily practice.
Wisdom Quarterly investigates. Buddhists, like most people around the world, love sports. It's a natural, human way to gain coordination and social cohesion and cardiovascular health. While some may take it too far in the West, there can be no denying that sporting activities are popular worldwide. When one ordains (particular for Buddhist novices), those advantages continue.
Bhutanese Buddhist monks play volleyball at Rabdey Dratsang in the southeastern district of Samdrup Jongkhar, Bhutan, 9/3/09. Five decades ago, Bhutan -- the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom -- was a feudal, medieval place with no roads, proper schools, or hospitals and scarcely any contact with the outside world. Today education and healthcare are free and life expectancy has risen to 66 years from less than 40. Rather than GDP, it is unique as a nation in measuring GDH ("gross domestic happiness") as its main indicator of progress (Reuters/Singye Wangchuk).
Few people seem to be aware that Buddhist monks invented chess. Who? When? Where? Chess is a Chinese invention. Modern Chinese are sometimes surprised to realize that modern the game of chess -- as well as agriculture, shipping, astronomical observatories, decimal mathematics, paper money, umbrellas, wheelbarrows, multi-stage rockets, brandy and whiskey, and much more -- all came from China (chineseculture.about.com).
That's not to say that other cultures didn't aid in its development and give it those great medieval game pieces for example. Pastimes are that way, subject to regional embellishment.
A famous sporting tradition from India, which is still practiced vigorously in Tibet, is the sport of debating. Far from an intellectual exercise in calm reasoned argument, it's more oratory and style with inextricable paradoxes and showmanship, stereotype texts and logical hoop jumping. Players (who are all in training) slap their hands together as if to say, "Ha, try to get out of that one!" to which the other player either admits defeat or shoots back: "Ha ha, burn, now let's see you try to wriggle out of that answer!"
Then there's the famous performance art of Tibetan tradition (still extant at Hemis Gompa, Ladakh, in Buddhist northern India) near the Tibetan/Chinese border.
Not only in mountainous regions, but throughout the plains, silk route, frontier lands, and cities, hiking and walkabouts are a favorite undertaking of monastics. The monk Huan Tsang famously went from China by foot throughout the Buddhist world of his time and brought back one of the few written records of what he found. Perhaps engaged in more out of necessity and need of exercise than enjoyment and show, trekking is still widely practiced.
The Buddha often undertook arduous journeysin the company of many monks. He travelled by foot throughout the Middle Country of northeast India.
Equestrian pursuits are still popular in rural areas. Young novices (samaneras, who may look like monks, are only bound by ten precepts, rather than 227 Vinaya rules) are seen here in Laos going horseback for almsround. It's not about galloping and showing off, but more about noble Sakyan (who were from the warrior caste) dignity and good sportsmanship. In areas with few roads and many hazards, the equines can be of great help. Siddhartha Gotama (who became the Buddha) had a horse, a gorgeous white stallion named Kanthaka.
The Sakyan (the name of his extended family or ruling clan) was very much caught up in warrior training activities (not unlike the modern American practices in Shambhala's version of Vajrayana, which try to capture the same sense, bringing "Tibetan mysteries" to these shores). They included archery, feats of strength and bravery, horseback riding, and games of skill performed to win the affection of young women. Siddhartha often bested Devadatta, whose poor sportsmanship is legendary.
With great care, one may sneak up on monastics engaged in sporting activities that do not at first blush appear staid and sedentary. Here novices are seen enjoying the most popular sport in England and Asia, cricket. Most time is spent engaged in spiritual pursuits, it's true, but the body is a vehicle to spirituality, not an obstacle. Meditation is torture without yoga, which makes the body flexible and limber and was originally invented in order to enable and prolong sitting.
There are, of course, martial arts. These sporting diversions were invented in Asia and refined in monasteries throughout China, Japan, and Korea. In medieval times, they were necessary to protect the teachings and lineages. Many monasteries (famously Shaolin) would certainly have been ransacked and ruined had the incumbents not developed the "skillful means" (upaya) to repel, avoid, and outmaneuver attackers.
There's longhorn blowing, cooking, sewing, levitating, water gathering... Believe it or not, there are even "blood sports." These are usually played with young soldiers whose coaches yell instructions from inside parliamentary buildings and paramilitary barracks. The soldiers themselves, well armed and in proper game attire, are almost never hurt.
The lightly clad Buddhist monks, nuns, and novices however are not so lucky. With scores frequently in the 100:nil range, matches are increasingly viewed around the world but growing less fair by the day.
Images (widely available on the Net) are too gruesome to show here, but may be hinted at in this cartoon about a 100-yard dash with live rounds in Burma and Tibet (both prompted by government-sponsored Chinese League opponents).
Fresco at Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet showing men with "nine skills," traditional sports including horseracing, archery, wrestling, carrying stones, tug of war, yak racing, acrobatics, and so on, 17th century (Tibetdaily/China-Hiking.com).
Sri Lanka cricket promoting religious discrimination? Buddhism has nothing to do with the British invented sport of cricket. Further, Buddhism does not plead to God or gods for divine intervention in their favor.... (Daily Mirror).
Jazz music great Sonny Rollins ...though Jazz St. Louis' press program informs of his "legendary sabbaticals," one of which involving the study of Zen Buddhism in Japan and yoga in India... (The Current).
Shaolin monk demonstrates pain tolerance by breaking bricks with his head using a sledgehammer, indicating that most of us live nowhere near our human potential (Reuters).
Ahmet gave up the trappings of suburbia for the good life.
He's the ordinary north London boy who became a Chinese warrior monk. And his story is as astonishing as it is inspiring.
Matthew Ahmet is 20 and he's hard, very hard. His head is shaved, and his body bears the ravages of a violent life. A mark on his forehead shows where a metal bar came crashing down on his skull. His forearms have been sliced repeatedly by razor-sharp knives, and his left arm has a "punishment" burn from boiling water.
So when he sits down, flashes a beautiful smile and talks about spreading happiness and peace, it comes as a great surprise. Matthew left his home in Enfield, north London, at the age of 17 to become a Shaolin Buddhist monk in China. In doing so, he renounced all the worldly belongings that are the staple diet of teenage life and entered upon a grueling regime of training, sacrifice, and punishment. Each mark on his body bears testament to this new and extraordinary life. Ahmet says:
Publicity poster for Ahmet's Shaolin show
"Recently, I went to visit an old schoolfriend of mine, who is at Manchester University. I met him at the digs he shares with his friends and I was stunned. There were dirty clothes everywhere, unwashed dishes and belongings just thrown around. In China, I wash my own robes in a bucket of cold water, which I also use to bathe in. I sleep on a bunk bed with no mattress, lying directly on a plank of wood. Everything in my new life is so neat and disciplined that I can't imagine being a typical student now."
Does this earnest young man, who looks like a feral youth but who is in fact gentle and thoughtful, miss anything about his "old life"? He says with a brilliant smile, "Hot showers. When I do go home, I love the luxury of being able to have hot water running over my body." More
(Shaolin Kung Fu via Fight Light) First, here is the best wrong way to fight. It is better not to fight. If there is fighting, it is best to fight the following fight:
Exercise and self-defense are the martial arts.
The Supreme Teacher, the Buddha, taught the world. He did so with compassion for all worldly beings. Nevertheless, the world goes on like this (fighting).
To be wise the wise should look into this and select those things that are of true value.
The Buddha, as a warrior prince (kshatriya) trained in the various arts of warfare. But he saw that these things are not really useful. They are limited to the world with its fighting and aggression.
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But Israel/CIA/USA attack us.
Therefore, in training ourselves as those who have left the world, we must learn to give up all forms of harm (wrongdoing), giving up all those things that are the cause of enmity.
Instead, we conquer ourselves. We don't try to conquer others. We fight. But we fight only the defilements: If there is greed, we fight that. If there is aversion, we fight that. If there is delusion, we strive to give that up.
Should we fight? - Yes, the defilements.
This is called "Dharma fighting." This "warfare of the heart" is really difficult. In fact, it's the most difficult thing of all.
We become wandering ascetics (Buddhist monastics) in order to contemplate this, to learn the art of fighting greed, aversion, and delusion. This is our primary responsibility.
This inner battle is fighting with defilements. But there are very few people who fight like this. Most people fight with other people and things. They rarely fight defilements. They rarely even see the defilements.
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