Shaolin

This week began with Shaolin Monks and ended with them.  At the beginning of the week met with newly arrived Zhang en Song.....discussed with him matters concerning immigration.  There are now so many monks from Shaolin in the Bay Area.  He and his fellow monks are opening the first Shaolin Temple in the Bay Area....they have set up the Temple in the City of Fremont.  He will be teaching Shaolin wushu at the Fremont Temple.  Shaolin has changed so much....when I went to visit the Temple in Soongshan in 1980.......only eight  monks were living there there was no school and most of the Temple had been burned down when it had gotten hit by a lightning bolt during a thunderstorm.  In the intervening years, Shaolin has grown into a major tourist attraction and it is in the richest county in all of China.  Many monks now have gone abroad to school and have even gotten their MBA's...........they now know how to use the internet.......and often under their robes there is an Ipod...and Nike running shoes.  Somewhat hard to imagine a Monk with a business plan.......but the name of the Shaolin Temple has spread to all corners of the earth.. The Temple has tour buses stop every hour to deposit visitors, and Shaolin Wushu Teams performing all over the world.

Master Zhang en Song from the Fremont  Shaolin Temple.