Shaolin today

[Ensapa]

Here's an interesting update on Shaolin temple. It is considered to be one of the first temples in China and was founded by Bodhidharma, who is one of Dorje Shugden's reincarnations. It seems that the temple has built a brand for itself and its abbot has some rather interesting views and scandals attached to him...this is an interesting development as Shaolin has always captured the hearts of the Chinese with its emphasis on martial arts and has been the heart of many martial arts stories since its inception. Now, it seems that it continues to be a legend during modern times.

Mr. Buddhism Inc.: Shaolin Temple’s Shi Yongxin
Jul 30, 2012 1:00 AM EDT
Shi Yongxin has turned Shaolin into a thriving brand.

The Shaolin monastery—the birthplace of kung fu, immortalized by scores of martial-arts movies and the adulation of the Wu-Tang Clan—is run by the Abbot Shi Yongxin, a portly apparatchik with a flair for the spectacular. Since his appointment to the post in 1999, the abbot has built Shaolin into a multibillion-dollar brand, sending disciples to perform in Las Vegas and attracting more than 2 million visitors in 2010. Henry Kissinger and Vladimir Putin have visited (in 2005 and 2006, respectively). Shaquille O’Neal dropped by in 2009 and wrote in his blog that the trip made him feel “Buddha Blessed.”

 
Shi straddles many of China’s dichotomies: the sacred and the profane, the modern and the ancient, the party and the people. He is a portrait of success in modern China, standing at the intersection of the Communist Party’s control of both business and religion. Some see him as a brilliant visionary keeping the martial-arts tradition alive; others claim he’s a party huckster who has accepted millions in “gifts” and makes money by charging up to $14,000 for the right to burn incense in the sacred grounds of the temple. Shi has denied these allegations, but he continues to inspire both vitriol and adulation. In 2009 Shaolin’s website was hacked to display the message “Shaolin evildoer Shi Yongxin, go to hell.” Last March, as a delegate to China’s rubber-stamp Parliament, Shi made news by showing up in yellow robes, holding an iPad.

In an interview with Newsweek last year, Shi revealed little of the worldly touches that his detractors say dominate his thinking. Instead, he described himself as a simple monk carrying out his duty to enlighten the world about the compassion and harmony of Shaolin. “Us monks in temple, it’s like being in a family,” he said in his office, which was inordinately chilly despite the warm May day outside. “It’s all provided. Food, clothes, places to live. Every month we just get 200 to 400 renminbi [$30–$60] of pocket money. All of the bigger things, like cars, belong to the group. We basically don’t have personal possessions.”

The Shaolin temple was first built in A.D. 495 in central China and soon developed into a major pilgrimage site. Legend has it that the monk Bodhidharma founded the Zen school of Buddhism in the mountains near Shaolin, crossing a river on a reed and spending nine years facing a wall in silent contemplation. Shaolin now sits at the center of an ecosystem of tens of thousands of martial-arts students and monks. “There’s nothing here I don’t like,” says Shi Yanti, a monk in his late 20s who has been at the temple for 10 years. “The city with the cars is very chaotic.”

The temple also houses Americans; Niki Sligar, from Las Vegas, spent more than seven years training there. “The foreigners who come here, they want to believe the fantasy and legend, but there’s a guy on every corner trying to sell you beads. It’s very commercial and getting more so by the day,” she said.


A monk practices kung fu on the grounds of the ancient temple. (China Photos-Getty Images)

Others echo the sentiment that the temple may be skewing toward the profane. “Shaolin is a source of pride [for China], but it’s not a source of religious epiphany,” says Gareth Fisher, an expert on Chinese Buddhism at Syracuse University.

In 2009 the temple contemplated an IPO, a bold move for a natural treasure, yet the abbot says he does not see himself as a businessman. “Shaolin is just a temple; I’ve never thought about how to link it up with branding,” he said. On a trip to the U.S. for the 2011 Shaolin Summit of North America, he visited New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. “I fly economy. I’m used to it,” he said peacefully. Despite widespread reporting in the Chinese media that Shi has an M.B.A., including a 2010 interview with the Guangzhou Daily where he was quoted saying, “I studied for an M.B.A. in order to assimilate some good modern enterprise management techniques into the management of the temple,” Shi said that the reports were false. “That’s what they say online,” he said.

In a country where grassroots opinion plays a surprisingly large role in unseating public figures, Shi has had to deal with rumors about his alleged worldliness. One of the most pernicious claims is that Shi was caught visiting prostitutes in May 2011, and that a temple spokesman had claimed Shi met the women in order to enlighten them. About the scandal, Shi said, “it’s impossible for someone who’s been a monk for decades to have this thing happen.” Wang Yumin, a former travel agent who runs the temple’s foreign-affairs office, said the prostitution rumors were “delusional,” adding, “According to Buddhism, people who speak delusions will get their reckoning.”

Shi grew up in a little farming village in the poor province of Anhui, his martial-arts talents apparent from a young age. He joined the temple in his teens and quickly rose through the ranks, directing the temple’s management committee by age 22 and leading the monks on a martial-arts tour throughout China two years later. In the early 1990s, he became a local government representative; he stresses that he is not a party member because “party members can’t have religion,” but that on a whole, his people are “very approving of government policies.”

His temple, like all legal religious organizations in China, is overseen by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA). “Every year we have meetings with the provincial government and representatives from different religious groups, and everyone is very satisfied with the government’s policy towards religion,” Shi said. After the prostitute rumors, SARA released a statement: “We seriously condemn the rumor since it was not only defamation of Shi himself, but also harmed the image of the famous shrine and even the reputation of Chinese Buddhism.”

In October 2011 a second claim emerged, apparently from a former Shaolin disciple, that the abbot had a mistress and a child living in Germany, as well as a whopping $3 billion stashed away in a foreign bank. The temple called the allegations “pie-in-the-sky, fabricated, maliciously invented slander,” and online discussion of the mistress was censored in the Chinese media. In October, Shaolin offered a reward of almost $8,000 to help find the rumor’s source.

The abbot is probably the only nondissident Chinese who receives better press in English than in Mandarin. “What would the world look like politically and morally if nearly everyone adopted the Shaolin Kung Fu lifestyle?” asked martial artist Stacey Nemour in a particularly glowing Huffington Post interview with the abbot in June 2011. “The world would be more beautiful,” responds Shi. “The world would be more peaceful, more perfect.”

In China, netizens are inundated with tales of officials earning salaries of $1,000 a month (a relatively hefty sum in the country), sending their kids to expensive boarding schools abroad, and buying luxury apartments for their mistresses. So Chinese journalists tend to either marvel at or view skeptically the idea that Shi is someone who has access to so much power but says he is immune to its lures. Coupled with Shi’s emergence as a public figure, but not one high enough in the government to be fully protected, it’s led to ongoing fascination and rumormongering about the abbot among China’s newspapers and netizens. “We don’t like receiving media interviews,” the abbot said. “I find them annoying. They raise a lot of boring questions.” When interviewed, Shi would rather talk about Buddhism. “The goal of kung fu is to build peace,” he said. “After you learn Shaolin kung fu, [you know] it’s about defense. First defend and then attack.”

[Ensapa]

It is nice to know that Shaolin is finally catching up with the times, as expected of a temple that was opened by Bodhidharma, who is one of Dorje Shugden's previous lifetimes. It is good to know that a Chinese Mahayana temple is going towards a more modern approach while maintaining tradition.

New generation emerges at Shaolin Temple
Xinhua, Aug 16, 2012
ZHENGZHOU, China -- Tourists visiting the Shaolin Temple in Central China's Henan province were amazed to see Master Yanpei fix a crashed computer in just under two minutes.
Master Yanpei, 29, a 2005 computer science graduate from Chongqing University, became an acolyte in 2006 at the 1,500-year-old Buddhist temple after becoming disillusioned with his previous place of employment.

With support from Abbot Shi Yongxin, he went to the Buddhist Academy of China to further his study of Buddhism theory in 2007. Now he is a personal assistant to the abbot and a potential candidate to take up his mantle.

"I learned knowledge from college and gained an understanding of life from the Buddhist academy," he said. "The combination creates wisdom."

Master Yanti, a 28-year-old monk studying at the temple, has fused his own studies of Buddhism and martial arts with more disparate fields, such as psychology and English.

The man started his martial arts studies at the age of 16, leaving his school for the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chinese kungfu, just two years later. Yanti became a formal "fighting monk" in 2004, demonstrating his skills in countries around the world before returning to his studies.


 
Yanti studied at Nanjing University and Buddhist College Singapore in 2008 and 2009, respectively, supplanting his study of Buddhist theory with classes on calligraphy and sociology.

"Overseas study allows me to teach the essence of Chinese Buddhism to our western trainees, "he said.

He now teaches martial arts to 20 Italians who came to the temple after applying at the Shaolin Culture Center in Italy.

The Shaolin Temple has more than 40 overseas culture centers, mainly in Europe and the United States. The centers, as well as the practice of sending its monks to study foreign languages and religious theories, is just another way in which the temple has attempted to expand its reach globally.

"Training the monks is a tradition of Shaolin Temple," said 47-year-old Abbot Shi Yongxin.

"Overseas training is good for the inheritance and development of Buddhism in a globalized world," Shi said.

Only by broadening their knowledge and vision can Buddhists communicate well with their followers, he said.

Shi said more than 40 Shaolin monks are currently pursuing degrees at institutes of higher education both home and abroad, adding that every monk who wishes to study can be sponsored.

More than half of the temple's 300 registered monks were born after 1980. The younger monks are more educated and more likely to embrace the modern world, Shi said.

Master Yanzheng, a 27-year-old monk who dropped out of an economics program at Anhui Normal University in 2001, might be the temple's most studious monk. After studying for five years at Buddhist College Singapore, he was able to achieve a high score on his IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam. He plans to go to the University of Hong Kong to complete a master's degree in religion.

"The era of sitting in meditation by the light of an oil lamp has gone. We need to keep pace with the times," said Yanzheng, iPhone in hand.
Yanzheng opened a Facebook account in 2006 in Singapore and his own Chinese microblogging account last year.

"The Internet is a good tool with which to disseminate Buddhism," he said.
"If we are not well educated and do not know what's going on in the world, how can we preach to our followers?" he said.

[Tammy]

The current abott had taken Shaolin Temple into new heights, he commercialized the offerings, ie the famous Shoalin KungFu, making it accessible to anyone and everyone who can afford to pay to learn in the temple. This has not only attracts local Chinese who send their children to Shaolin temple to learn KungFu mostly in the hope to gain fame, much like Jet Li and Bruce Lee! Many people came from around the world too!

This is one of the ways to make sure the temple enjoys continuous financial support to maintain its operations and I can totally understand this, provided this decision was made out of pure motivation of spreading dharma, using modern ways.

[Galen]

I was at Shaolin Temple a few years ago and was in awe to see the temple for myself. The main temple complex is well kept and there were many visitors. And before we went to the main complex, at the bottom of the hill, there were many many kung fu schools around and lots of students. It is for sure that shaolin kung fu is world famous.

If I have not read the history of the temple, I would not have known that the temple was burnt down years ago. Now everything is rebuilt back to it's former glory. Thanks to the current abbot, he has made shaolin temple even more widely known. And in this day and age, making money to sustain the temple and spread dharma is a good way. Even Buddhism have to move with time and do not need to only depend on sponsorship to sustain the temple.

Well Done!

[Jessie Fong]

Quote:
"The era of sitting in meditation by the light of an oil lamp has gone. We need to keep pace with the times," said Yanzheng, iPhone in hand.
Yanzheng opened a Facebook account in 2006 in Singapore and his own Chinese microblogging account last year.

"The Internet is a good tool with which to disseminate Buddhism," he said.
"If we are not well educated and do not know what's going on in the world, how can we preach to our followers?" he said.


A modern monk knowing the importance of the Internet in disseminating Buddhism.


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Here's a little info on the Temple:

The Shaolin Monastery or Shaolin Temple (Chinese: ; pinyin: Shàolín Sì; Wade–Giles: Shao-lin Szu, pronounced [??l?n sî]; Cantonese Yale: Siulàhm Jí) is a Chán Buddhist temple at Song Shan, near Zhengzhou City, Henan Province in Dengfeng, China. It is led by Venerable abbot Shi Y?ngxìn. Founded in the 5th century, the monastery is long famous for its association with Chinese martial arts and particularly with Shaolin Kung Fu, and it is the Mahayana Buddhist monastery perhaps best known to the Western world.
The Shaolin Monastery and its famed Pagoda Forest were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010 as part of the "Historic Monuments of Dengfeng.

[sonamdhargey]

The Shaolin tradition today arming themselves with education and knowledge of current times to keep up with the times is an excellent idea to attract the younger generation into Buddhism. Religion that based on understanding and adapting to the current era is a religion that is flexible which can bring it's teaching far and wide to the current world. The world at this time is fast paced and social media platform is the current and fastest media dissemination tool, with these tools Buddhism can reach more and more people in a short time to benefit others.

What Yanzheng Said is very true.

"The Internet is a good tool with which to disseminate Buddhism," he said.
"If we are not well educated and do not know what's going on in the world, how can we preach to our followers?" he said."

[kris]

There are many rumours and juicy news about Shaolin Temple. There are many fascinated stories about the martial arts of Shaolin Temple, and it has caught the world crazy.

There are also many movies about the Shaolin Temple and talked about the martial arts. I always have thoughts that why monks need to learn martial arts and fight with others, but in one of the movies, it said that martial art is just another way to practice Dharma. It is same as using drawing arts, doing charity work or other ways, to calm our mind to learn Dharma. Martial arts requires a lot of perseverance, patience, 

I personally quite like the explanation and cleared my doubts. What do you think?

[rossoneri]

Quote:
"The era of sitting in meditation by the light of an oil lamp has gone. We need to keep pace with the times," said Yanzheng, iPhone in hand.
Yanzheng opened a Facebook account in 2006 in Singapore and his own Chinese microblogging account last year.

"The Internet is a good tool with which to disseminate Buddhism," he said.
"If we are not well educated and do not know what's going on in the world, how can we preach to our followers?" he said.


A modern monk knowing the importance of the Internet in disseminating Buddhism.


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Indeed Jessie, we mustn't sit around and refuse to change. In this era, everything happened too fast and the way Buddhism in approaching Dharma have to be in and updated too. I am not saying the essence of Buddhism should change but the way of spreading. Monks and nuns should all be equipped with computer knowledge and the importance of internet should be share in one of their classes so that it could inspire them to spread the Dharma teachings with a technology which can reach millions of people without having to be physically there and it's cost effective as well. 

[Poonlarp]

It's for sure that the educated and modern management team will bring the historical temple to the next level. I rejoice for that.

Bodhidharma was an Indian prince. He was ordained, then followed his Guru's instruction to go to China after his Guru passed away. He began Chan Buddhism in Shaolin Temple after spending years of meditation in a cave. 

From the post, Shaolin Temple is one of the famous place in the world who preserve Buddhism well which is also the founder place of Kung Fu that fancy a lot of Westerners. I hope the team will continue their good works well and let the world come to know the benefits of Buddhism.

But, it's my first time to read about Bodhidharma is one of the reincarnation of Dorje Shugden. Do you have any supporting information for this? I am very curious to know.

[DSFriend]

I've come across a few people who mentioned that they came to know about Buddhism through watching Shaolin fighting movies! Well, we all got onto Buddhism from various ways and for various reasons and hearing people interested in Buddhism through the Shaolin martial arts is just refreshing!

The dedication of the Shaolin practitioners have my utmost respect. It truly is inspiring to watch them! What is so fantastic is they have perfected the art to such a world class standard and are able to awe just about anyone all over the world.

Just with any establishment, funding is greatly needed.. but people are quick to criticize when religious organizations strive to progress and grow, sadly. If we can't do what they do, then refraining from criticizing and spreading rumors  is only right.



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Source : http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131157&page=1#.UDoH4Gge4U8

Kung Fu Is Big Business at China's Shaolin Temple

By Mark Litke
S H A O L I N, China, March 26
The warrior monks of the Shaolin Temple have been perfecting and passing on their martial arts skills for 15 centuries. But not even the wisest of monks could have foreseen how the temple would spawn such a lucrative kung fu training industry.

Shaolin village, which surrounds the temple, has become a veritable kung fu factory. Today it has 50 schools and nearly 50,000 students.

The village grew exponentially after a revival of interest in Shaolin kung fu sparked by the 1970s television series Kung Fu and films like 1982's The Shaolin Temple. The phenomenal success of this year's big Oscar winner, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will no doubt feed the frenzy.

Students from all over the world travel to Shaolin to uphold the ancient traditions, enduring years of discipline and a lot of pain for their dreams of perfection. Masters of the Shaolin tradition can break iron bars with their heads.

American Ruselis Perry paid several hundred dollars for the privilege of being repeatedly thrown to the ground during a grueling four days of boot camp. "This is our roots: to be able to work with the masters…It's a rare thing," he says.

Tourism and Trinkets

But in today's Shaolin, it's about much more than upholding tradition. As with so many other aspects of modern China, this is about making money.

The revival of interest in Shaolin kung fu over the past 20 years has coincided with the growth of commercialism and profit-making as a new religion in China.

Shaolin, in China's central Henan province, is now one of the richest little villages in the country. It caters to armies of kung fu fanatics and 1 million tourists a year, who spend hard cash on tours of the temple and souvenirs.

Fame and Fortune

Chinese students also flock to Shaolin. Most come from extremely poor families, and success in Shaolin can bring fame and riches. Students dream of opening their own schools, becoming bodyguards for wealthy VIPs, or, if they're really lucky, being in the movies.

Some worry that Shaolin has become too greedy and too showbiz. But 71-year-old Master Liu Baoshan, who runs one of the schools, disagrees. "This is the cultural heritage of China. It needs to be nurtured and promoted, or it will die off," he says.

With the legions of disciples in Shaolin today, there seems little chance of that.

[brian]

i've always admired shaolin kungfu, used to watch those movies from the Bruce Lee eras when i was a kid. Me dad used to love those too. I never wondered why they can be so strong even when they are on a strict vegetarian diet. When i got older, i soon realised that you do not need to eat meat in order to beat the bad guys (haha) and still maintain your strength. The practice of martial arts in Dharma is interesting as i believe it is purely for health reason rather than self defence.

[Galen]

I've come across a few people who mentioned that they came to know about Buddhism through watching Shaolin fighting movies! Well, we all got onto Buddhism from various ways and for various reasons and hearing people interested in Buddhism through the Shaolin martial arts is just refreshing!

The dedication of the Shaolin practitioners have my utmost respect. It truly is inspiring to watch them! What is so fantastic is they have perfected the art to such a world class standard and are able to awe just about anyone all over the world.

Just with any establishment, funding is greatly needed.. but people are quick to criticize when religious organizations strive to progress and grow, sadly. If we can't do what they do, then refraining from criticizing and spreading rumors  is only right.



----
Source : http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131157&page=1#.UDoH4Gge4U8

Kung Fu Is Big Business at China's Shaolin Temple

By Mark Litke
S H A O L I N, China, March 26
The warrior monks of the Shaolin Temple have been perfecting and passing on their martial arts skills for 15 centuries. But not even the wisest of monks could have foreseen how the temple would spawn such a lucrative kung fu training industry.

Shaolin village, which surrounds the temple, has become a veritable kung fu factory. Today it has 50 schools and nearly 50,000 students.

The village grew exponentially after a revival of interest in Shaolin kung fu sparked by the 1970s television series Kung Fu and films like 1982's The Shaolin Temple. The phenomenal success of this year's big Oscar winner, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will no doubt feed the frenzy.

Students from all over the world travel to Shaolin to uphold the ancient traditions, enduring years of discipline and a lot of pain for their dreams of perfection. Masters of the Shaolin tradition can break iron bars with their heads.

American Ruselis Perry paid several hundred dollars for the privilege of being repeatedly thrown to the ground during a grueling four days of boot camp. "This is our roots: to be able to work with the masters…It's a rare thing," he says.

Tourism and Trinkets

But in today's Shaolin, it's about much more than upholding tradition. As with so many other aspects of modern China, this is about making money.

The revival of interest in Shaolin kung fu over the past 20 years has coincided with the growth of commercialism and profit-making as a new religion in China.

Shaolin, in China's central Henan province, is now one of the richest little villages in the country. It caters to armies of kung fu fanatics and 1 million tourists a year, who spend hard cash on tours of the temple and souvenirs.

Fame and Fortune

Chinese students also flock to Shaolin. Most come from extremely poor families, and success in Shaolin can bring fame and riches. Students dream of opening their own schools, becoming bodyguards for wealthy VIPs, or, if they're really lucky, being in the movies.

Some worry that Shaolin has become too greedy and too showbiz. But 71-year-old Master Liu Baoshan, who runs one of the schools, disagrees. "This is the cultural heritage of China. It needs to be nurtured and promoted, or it will die off," he says.

With the legions of disciples in Shaolin today, there seems little chance of that.

THe Shaolin Temple is definitely a famous place worldwide where when people refer to Shaolin, kung fu comes to mind and vice versa. And of course throughout the years, the Shaolin Temple has spread Buddhism world wide too.

THe question is whether the Shaolin temple has become too commercialised that the original essence/intention is to spread Buddhism is watered down to making money? You can read from the article above that poor families send their children to temple to learn in hopes that they will be discovered to be in movies etc. So, it is not for BUddhism that parents send their children to the temple.

What the new abbot is doing is really great to bring Buddhism to the 21st century and suit society now. No longer people can just sit down to meditate in the caves. Technology definitely can support the growth of Buddhism and all should embrace it, just like Shaolin Temple.

[Barzin]

Shaolin Kungfu is definitely world famous.  Since young, I admired those with Kungfu and bring down the bad guys.  They looked so cool.  I know for a fact that Shaolin Temple is producing thousands of students and but I do not understand besides kungfu what else do they do.  When reading this post, it shocked me to find it was actually built by one of Dorje Shugden's reincarnation!!! 

Isn't it just say much more about Dorje Shugden's relationships with the Chinese?  I suppose the Chinese has a strong affinity with the Chinese...  The time has come again, the Chinese will receive the King in this current time.

[Ensapa]

And Shaolin keeps progressing. The monks in there are learning new ways and subjects so that they can make the Dharma more relevant to people and also to increase their knowledge of the ways of the world. This is a nice improvement on this really old monastery! Lets hope that the new generation of Shaolinites will be able to bring Buddhism and the Dharma to more people in China!

Shaolin Temple’s identity quandary
By Xu Ming, Global Times, Sept 17, 2012
Berlin, Germany -- If the word "Shaolin Temple" comes up and you picture monks ringing bell and chanting scriptures in a reclusive temple removed from the secular world, your image needs an update. Shaolin temples, home of Shaolin Kungfu, are spreading Shaolin culture abroad by relating to modern society.
The 2012 European Shaolin Culture Festival, held in Germany and Austria on September 7, was organized by Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Henan Province and the World Shaolin Association.

The first of this kind in Europe, Shaolin Kungfu institutions and practitioners across the globe participated. Lectures about Shaolin tradition, Kungfu performances, Shaolin Zen philosophy and medicinal sciences were introduced.

The festival is a test of Shaolin popularity abroad. But some worry that Shaolin tradition is becoming overly commercialized. 

Revamping an image


 Shi Yongxin, the Shaolin Temple abbot, told Xinhua News Agency that Shaolin is an easy way for Westerners to learn about Chinese traditional culture.
"We hope more foreigners learn about Chinese culture and religion through the festival," said Shi.

According to Shi, over 1,000 people attended the conferences. Among them, over 400 were apprentices of Shaolin Kungfu, from 20 countries.

Shaolin Kungfu is one of the most recognizable aspects of Shaolin tradition, popularized through movies, attracting thousands of apprentices to the 1,500-year-old culture.

Six-year-old monk Shi Xiaosong, the youngest warrior monk in the temple, performed traditional Shaolin Kungfu at the festival.

Li Xudong, his father, told the Global Times that two years ago, Shi fell ill. Doctors suggested the child practice Wushu to gain back his health.

Though Shi doesn't have a typical education or childhood, Li said that Shi is content and takes courses at the temple, in lieu of normal study at school.

Shaolin Temple emphasizes educating its monks and disciples. Half the monks at the temple are born in the 1980s. Though Buddhist disciples were once isolated from the outside world, modern monks study in Buddhist institutions and universities while teaching Buddhism, religion and philosophy.

"Times have changed. Monks must learn communication and technology skills, study foreign languages and study abroad," Shi Yongxin told Xinhua.

Overseas notoriety

There are around 10 Shaolin temples in China. Shaolin Temple, in Songshan Mountain, Henan Province, is the oldest and most influential.

The first overseas culture center was established in 1995 in New York. Shaolin culture centers are now found in German, France, Russia and Australia, providing information about Buddhist culture and Wushu.

There are Shaolin Kungfu teaching institutions and organizations in over 50 countries and regions, boasting over 3 million foreign apprentices. Shaolin Kungfu courses are offered at universities overseas.

In the 1970s, the temple accepted visits from Buddhist, Wushu and cultural institutions from Japan, South Korea, Europe and the US. Meanwhile, monks from the temple gradually left China, participating in religious forums and related activities abroad. Since 1987, Kungfu performing groups were sent overseas, in over 80 countries and regions. In 2004, California set aside March 21 as the commemorative "China Songshan Shaolin Temple Day."

Shaolin Temple has a magazine, film company and office for Wushu promotion. Shaolin tradition is promoted through performances, films, TV series and Buddhist activities.

Shaolin temples accept foreign apprentices who study Kungfu, accepting hundreds each year.

Shi told Beijing News that before 2000, Shaolin culture popularity relied on Kungfu. Following it, Zen culture spread.

Commercial aspects

With Shaolin culture spreading abroad, some worry an inaccurate portrait is being painted in the West. In recent years, the temple has been scrutinized  for its bold commercial moves.

In 1989, the establishment of Warrior Monks Group, a tour performance group, was criticized as a pure commercial movie. In 1996, Shaolin Temple became the first temple in China to utilize the Internet. Shi Yongxin set up Henan Shaolinsi Television Co. In 1997, then Shaolin Temple Industrial Development Company in 1998.

In 2006, a Shaolin food company was established. The temple opened a medicinal company in 2007, taking advantage of ancient Shaolin medicinal sciences. And in 2008, the first online shop to sell products related to Shaolin Temple opened on taobao.com, a step towards the  e-business and commerce industry.

At a forum at Peking University last year, Shi Yongxin said that Shaolin Temple opened over 40 companies abroad and had nearly 130 martial arts clubs. The temple profits abroad mainly through three channels: tuition from apprentices, performances and film production.

Many find this contradictory to traditional images of temples as reclusive shrines with monks living off donations. Some criticize Shi's attempts to popularize Buddhist culture, calling it exploitative.

Shi said that criticism is understandable. But monks need food and electricity, and the temple has expenditures.

"Times have changed. We need to adapt and earn a living, otherwise, we could be eliminated," Shi told Beijing News, "We commercialize some parts to support our livelihood and spread Shaolin culture."

"Shaolin is known world wide. It will be tarnished by others if we don't spread it ourselves. We need to take initiative before the commercial tide takes us over," Shi said. He added that they will never cater to the mass market.

Ren Liang, a modern Buddhist expert, told the Global Times that the commercial activities aim to spread Shaolin and Buddhism culture, and this follows a natural course.