shaolin history

Shaolin Temple is the original place of Ch'an Buddhism and Shaolin Gongfu, one of the most famous temples in China . It was built in the year 495 A .D, and was regarded as the number one temple under heaven. It was the ancestral home of Ch'an Buddhism.

In the northern Wei dynasty, many Chinese people believed in Buddhism, including the emperor Xiao Wen; he was a sincere Buddhist and he had many Buddhist temples built in China where Buddhism was already very spread. China had an abundance of; however there were no Buddhism teachers, therefore the emperor Xiao Wen invited an Indian monk Batuo from India to come to China to teach Chinese people Buddhism. In order to provide a place for him, he had a temple built. The temple was situated behind Shaoshi mountain and in the forest. It was given the name of Shaolin Temple , “Shao” meaning Shaoshi mountain and “Lin” meaning forest, literally the “forested mountain temple.”

Then Batuo began to teach Buddhism in the Shaolin Temple , but the Buddhism he taught was the earlier form of Indian Buddhism, (advocating self-extrication). It was not fit for China , so it was not warmly welcomed here, and he left for India . In in 527 A .D, another Indian monk was invited to come here; he was Bodhidarma and he taught Ch'an Buddhism. “Ch'an” means meditation and Ch'an Buddhism is in fact originated from the historical Buddha from India and was developed in China later. In order to set an example for the Chinese people, he first sat in meditation in a mountain cave behind Shaolin Temple for 9 years and then he introduced Ch'an Buddhism. He blended Chinese culture so ch'an could be practiced by the Chinese people, and thus he became the first patriarch of Ch'an Buddhism.

from http://www.shaolinwugulun.org/