Shaolin Temple [antikvár]

I have got the pleasure to invite you to the journey to magicai Shaolin Temple. Not necessarily the real one in Henan - Chinese province. It is rather the one existing in my dreams and imagi-nation, inspired by the dusty mystery refreshed by not much younger legends. I went to China to find this dream. What I found has been captured in the photo film. It is more difficult to kill the soul than the body, that's why the photographic journey was the trial to find and show this what still existed in the tradition of Shaolin. In spite of the developing secularization of life, the photos reflect the romantic image of temple. Astonishing abilities of monks are the heritage of many-epoch tradition, which epigones protect against discard. Perhaps The Shaolin temple is awaiting for Bodhidharma to come The famous Shaolin Temple was built in Songshang mountains near Zhengzhou city in the Chinese province Henan. It arose in 495 year A.D. and became a birthplace of Chan Buddhism and kung-fu - the most advanced and complete system among martial arts worldwide. It burnt down in year 1928 together with many priceless, classical Buddhist scripts, lost forever. The work of devastation was brought to an end by the Cultural Revolution during Mao times from year 1966. The symbol of certain philosophy has been ruined. The phi-losophy that marked the history and spiritual awareness of hundreds generations with a stamp, not only in China.The Temple is known to be founded at the end of V century. It was a seat of Buddhist monks who translated holy scripts into Chinese lan-guage. Yet it is famous for its tough relation with martial arts to such a degree that both names kung-fu and Shaolin became synonymous. The fact is that the Temple played significant and documented role in the social-political scene of China during one and half thousand-year period of history. But how its amazing history began and how the image of warrior-monks was born - remains a conjecture at best.According to the legend, which colorfully fills empty gaps of history, there would be no Temple as we know without Hindu Prince Bodhidharma. He came to China with mission to teach about the divine law - Dharma. India - the country where Buddhism was born - was in Chinese confidence the spiritual center of the world. Priests coming from India were highly respected and most estimated.After three-year journey from India, Bodhidharma reached China where he was called to face the Emperor Wu Di. Bodhidharma soon doubted if there was any reason he should have disputed with Emperor, since their Buddhism interpretations differed that much. He bowed to his host, turnéd back and moved to search for more "fertile soil" for his teachings. Finally he reached Shaolin Temple and stayed there, opening new chapter of history.