Shaolin Temple

This morning we hopped in the van to head out to the Shaolin Temple complex. I said good morning to our driver in my best Chinese that I picked up by listening to some podcasts. My good morning was followed by a whole bunch of words from him. To which I replied, again in my best podcast Chinese, "I am sorry, I do not understand, I do not speak Chinese, do you speak English?". To which he met me with a stare that seemed to ask "Are you kidding me?" Then he laughed and said "No." Later I relayed my account, and my podcast phrases, to our Chinese speaking Kazakhstanian guide and she said that I have a very good Chinese accent and when you speak like that they expect that you know the language. Way to go podcasts.

Then I wonder, does my Chinese really sound like this?

The Shaolin area holds a few distinctions. Namely the birthplace of Kung Fu and Zen Buddhism. The legend is that a man went up on the mountain and meditated for 9 years in a cave and during that time he discovered the fundamental forms for Kung Fu by observing and imitating nature. We climbed up about 1000 steps and this is the entrance to the cave. No pictures were allowed inside.

This man is much venerated, so much so that they built this statue to him. We have statues of our own heros as well, however these are places of worship to the man. I suppose some take their adoration for people to a worshipful extent but with a different expression.

Buddhism, if it can be summed up in a word, might be this, nothingness. The Buddhist seeks to divorce himself from all things. Christ on the other hand condemns asceticism on the one extreme and over indulgence on the other. He created all things for us, the crown of His creation, to take dominion over and for our enjoyment.

We climbed down the mountain and toured the Shaolin Temple. This again is a nested courtyard structure in the styles we have seen already. Each one of the structures houses a Buddha and its guardian gods.