1. They first began to practice military weapons sometime prior to the 7th century in an attempt to protect their monastery's treasures from mountain bandits.
2. They became famous when they aided Li Shimin in defeating his enemies, which allowed his family to found the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
3. During the anti-Buddhist pogroms of 845, the Emperor Wuzong left Shaolin alone because of their past service to his family.
4. They were defeated by Red Turban bandits during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), which caused them to create a legend to hide this fact. The legend states that their patron deity Vajrapani defeated the bandits and passed on his knowledge of pole fighting to the monks.
5. They helped the Ming emperors combat Japanese pirates causing havoc on the eastern coast of China.
6. They did not begin to practice boxing until the Ming to Qing Dynasty transition. This is when they also combined Daoist breathing and stretching exercises (qigong) with boxing to create a new form of spiritual enlightenment.
7. The monks chose the wrong side in a political dispute between the men who filled the power vacuum left by the fall of the Qing Dynasty. This lead to the monastery being burnt in 1928.
For more, see Prof. Meir Shahar's book The Shaolin Monastery (2008).
Shaolin priests are ordained Buddhist monks at the Shaolin Temple in Mt. Song of Henan Province, China. There is a religious class and a martial class of monks. The martial monks are famous throughout the world because they are highly proficient in Chinese boxing.
From what I know monks like in the shaolin temple have daily chores and activities, they are also renown for knowing kungfu, (36th chamber of shaolin is a good movie) they also do things like cook and clean.
unlike Japan, China did not have a specific warrior class
Tradition is that kung fu was developed in China. The Bodhidharma is believed to have created it to teach the Shoalin Monks. Since he was from India, it is believed he combined the arts he learned there with new insights.Second answer:The indigenous martial arts that normally fall under the umbrella term "kung fu" were indeed created in China. However, they developed independently of South Asian fighting arts. The legend of Bodhidharma teaching medicinal breathing and stretching exercises to the monks comes from the 17th-century. Stan Henning has shown in his paper "Ignorance, Legend and Taijiquan" that the idea of the Zen patriarch teaching the monks boxing didn't come about until the 20th-century.For a broad overview of Shaolin martial history, see Prof. Shahar's book The Shaolin Monastery (2008).
The monks resides either at Vihara or Monastries.
Shaolin monks are still around today. if you go to the shaolin monastery in china then you'll see that there are plenty of monks.
The shaolin monks are people who are trained at kung fu they are also buddists
Yes there are. There are monks that train at branches of the shaolin temple in their own country
Shaolin monks live in Shaolin temples. These were traditionally found only in China, but now there are some in other countries, such as the U.S.
In a way. The shaolin temple in china trained the monks living there. Hence they were the shaolin monks not the Buddhist monks. While they both believed in peace and not fighting they were not the same religion.
Shaolin priests are ordained Buddhist monks at the Shaolin Temple in Mt. Song of Henan Province, China. There is a religious class and a martial class of monks. The martial monks are famous throughout the world because they are highly proficient in Chinese boxing.
There are many different styles of kung fu, the Shaolin monks: * Dragon * Tiger * White Crane * Monkey * Cobra
no
They are vegeterian, maybe vegan!
Yes, they are known as nuns.
Yes, Buddhist Shaolin monks are celibate. They are also abstain from eating meat and alcohol. They are also bound not to kill any living creatures.
The Shaolin Monastery is a Buddhist temple located in Henan province in China. The Shaolin monks are probably most known for their style of kung fu, which has featured significantly in American and Western popular culture.