Martial Arts Legend from a Historical Point of View – Shaolin Temple
Shaolin Temple is very famous in Wuxia novels, so everyone is curious about it. A brief introduction of the temple is provided below. The Shaolin Temple was established in 494 AD by Emperor Xiaowen for an Indian monk, Buddhabhadra, and not for Bodhidharma. From historical records, it appears that Bodhidharma never set foot in Shaolin Temple. Rather, it was the disciple of Duddhabhadra, Sengchou (the second abbot), that introduced martial arts into the Shaolin Temple. However, Zen Buddhism was not promoted and Sengchou did not practice Zen, therefore the concept of “Martial arts and Zen are unified”did not exist. Furthermore, the Northern Wei Dynasty was not stable, and numerous assets held in temples were sought after by bandits. Thus, it was common for temples to possess some capabilities in self-defense. The Shaolin Temple was significantly important in Buddhism and held a certain position, but we will skip this part for now.
