The Shaolin Downfall

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The monks of the Shaolin Temple did not cloister themselves from the surrounding world.  It was very much part of their spirituality to take part in that experience.  They were part of their community's culture, art, politics, and defence.  Combat becoming an ultimate experience to test philosophies of illusion and reality, and to learn of life, courage, and death.  Fighting left no room for self-images and by accepting death the monks appreciated life.

The Chan monks believed that the study of warrior-ship lead to a better understanding of violence.  Their style had to be practical and combat helped remove any illusionary applications.  Self-defence was natural, while denial of self-protection was seen as not harmonious, even suicidal.  The Bramajala Sutra forbids killing, but it also commands Buddhists to save all living things from death and suffering.  The sixteenth precept commands them to give up their own flesh, if necessary, to feed tigers, wolves, lions, and hungry ghosts!  The highest level of this knowledge was the ability to refuse an attack, even with the ability to bet it.  Harder attacks led to parrying; the force used increasing only with the opponent's aggression.  The Shaolin did not see themselves as responsible for hurting the attacker but merely refusing the delivery of intended harm.

After 1500 years the three treasures that constitute the true essence of Shaolin Kung fu had developed--Chan philosophy, internal and external qi and health development, and martial arts skill. However, the first teaching in Buddhism is that all life is changing and impermanent, and the second is that this leads to suffering; so dramatic changes that were to come to the Shaolin Order may have been foretold.  None-the-less, history changed in 1644AD when the Manchu, to the north, took advantage of unrest in Northern China. The degeneracy of the Ming court in the latter years of the dynasty, corrupt officials, draught, famine and poverty eventuated in a peasant, Lei Ji Sing, to lead a 200,000 army across the north and into Beijing.  After the last Ming Emperor hung himself at the back of the Forbidden City, General Wu San Gui, the commander of the Chinese forces, allowed a foreign Manchu Tartar army to cross the Great Wall.  This was in what was seen as a desperate effort to squash the peasant uprising.  Taking advantage of the turmoil the Manchu launched a total invasion, starting of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911AD). Officials and supporters of the deposed dynasty fled south and sought refuge within the Shaolin temples.  General Wu San Gui went on the serve the Qing and continued his career hunting down Ming royalty and officials.  Unrest and dissent rained as the Manchu were seen as foreigners: unfit to rule China.  So many Ming supporters gathered at the Southern Temple that it became a headquarters for uprising and rebellion.  Because of this, in around 1800, the Qing Imperial Army finally attacked. Zen Master Gee Sin was the last Abbot of the Southern Shaolin Temple.  Some say the name is a metaphor for a series of teachers as the words translate to 'extreme compassion'.  He was famous as a martial arts genius because he helped organise the 36 chambers of Shaolin, the 18 wooden Luohan dummies, and was the teacher of many monks and famous laymen.  These include names such as Hung Hei Gung (Hung Gar founder), Luk Ah Choy and the infamous traitor Ma Ling Yee. While Hung Hei Gung was completing his training at the Shaolin Temple, the Qing Army had discovered the rebels' secret base and planned a full-scale attack.  The Manchu were very cunning, and knew about the high level of skill the monks possessed: they were hesitant in attacking. This was until they found their advantage--a disgruntled former monk named Ma Ling Yee.  He resented his difficult training at the Temple and decided to seek revenge by informing the Manchu of the Temple's secret escape tunnels.  Some claim that it was actually the white-haired priest Bak Mei, (famous for the White Eyebrow style), and not Ma Ling Yee that was the treacherous monk.  Others claim that the later was an alias.  Bak Mei originally infiltrated the Qing Imperial Palace as a spy for the rebels but on discovery, to escape certain death, changed allegiances.  Another theory was that the Qing used the Wudang Tiger Temple's monks as hired mercenaries against the other competitive Shaolin Orders.

However the advantage was gained, when the attack came, the 20,000 monks were severely outnumbered by the heavily equipped soldiers, some of which were armed with rifles.  Once the monks realised that defeat was eminent, they retreated down the escape tunnel, only to be ambushed by more waiting troops.  In the chaos that followed, monks escaped in all directions, only to be hunted down for years by the Manchu.  Gee Sim, Hung Hei Gung, Luk Ah Choy and others managed to hide out on the red boats, which belonged to the Chinese opera companies that travelled all over China.  By practising on the top decks the art gained the low, wide stances needed for river stability, as well as weapons such as the rope-dart used to fight between boats.

During the final attack, much of the monastery was burned to the ground.  Many other temples and monasteries were destroyed.  Some monks were forced to flee and hide in other parts of China--teaching others their skills.  Today's secret societies, whom the British dubbed the 'Triads', are actually descendants of self-help and mutual aid brotherhoods set up during the cruel Qing rule.  These went on to become political and military groups opposing the instabilities of the Qing Dynasty in the South. These societies, after losing in major open battles, and with cruel punishments such as the 'nine relative involved in crime' rule--where generations of relatives would be killed as punishment--lead to the societies becoming more secretive.  Oaths based on patriotism, brotherhood, loyalty, bravery, and secrecy became common.  The Qing Government tried to portray these groups as criminal, which is probably justified due to their strong ties to the resistance movement.  This secrecy is still seen today with resistance to teach complete styles overseas; and swords made for export with their guards on backwards, enabling the weapon to be caught by a proper master’s blade. As the years passed the common techniques of the monastery were revised and modified as different monks put emphasis on their own strengths and specialities.  As practitioners had little contact with others learning the same skills, separate styles started to develop.  Hundreds of styles have now developed, mainly due to tastes and ability, atmosphere and geographical conditions.  Many new animal forms were created.  From China the monks travelled to Japan, Korea, Indonesia and other parts of the world, leading to the creation of many of the non-Chinese styles that exist today. The monastery continued to suffer repeated sackings.  Most recent episodes were in 1928, when a local warlord, Shi Yousan, touched almost all the Temple's buildings at the Shaolin Si, and later in the early 1970s, courtesy of the Red Guard. Traditional Chinese religious beliefs, like the Qing Dynasty, took a battering again during the Cultural Revolution.  In 1949 after civil war, Mao Zedong (1894-1976AD) head of the Communist Party declared the People's Republic of China.  Many Chinese fled China, some two million to Taiwan.  Soon after this, increased social controls led to many monasteries being disbanded, temples destroyed and monks sent to labour camps or killed.  Today there is greater religious freedom.  Theatrical, meditative, wushu and Olympic martial arts are the encouraged styles today in China.  The more traditional fighting kung fu, however, has continued to be taught by many old masters that have immigrated outside the communist influence, to other countries around the world.