Profiles

Abbot: Shaolin Temple needs to keep up with times

By Jessie Tao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-10-19 15:50

The Shaolin Temple, widely considered the birthplace of Chinese Kungfu, has frequently been in the spotlight following some headline-grabbing events, such as the super-girl-style Kungfu Competition, a luxury sports car awarded to the temple, and the latest Wushu festival, with Shi Yongxin, the abbot, at the core of it.

Shi Yongxin, abbot of Shaolin Temple, at the news conference for the launch of 'The stars of Chinese Kongfu Contest' in Beijing, China March 30, 2006. 108 contestants well-versed in the art of kungfu will be then chosen to act in the teleplay 'Shaolin Temple'. [newsphoto]

Shi was admitted to the Shaolin Temple in 1981, when the temple was in a stark recession with only a dozen monks living on 28 mu (about 1.86 hectares) of farmland. He began to act as abbot in 1987 at 22, five years after the internationally acclaimed martial arts movie 'Shaolin Temple', starring Hong Kong movie king Jet Li, which put Shaolin Kungfu as well as the temple in the international spotlight.

Ever since his inauguration, Shi has stressed the importance of cultural exchange with foreign countries, and has carried out a series of reforms to expand the influence of the temple, securing international renown for the temple and making it a pillar of the tourism industry in Dengfeng where it is located.

In spite of his success in gaining unprecedented attention for the Shaolin Temple, people are questioning whether the temple remains a holy place of Zen Buddhism or has become a commercialized tourist site, and whether the abbot is hero for his reforms or a temple CEO stinking with money.

So what's really behind the temple boss's actions?

During an interview on the program 360 Degree on CCTV News Channel on Tuesday, Shi Yongxin expressed his philosophy of keeping up with the times in running the temple with a commercial touch.

"I believe everything I have done in the past two decades is necessary and followed the trends of times. For example, in the past, one only had to deal with a small neighborhood in order to get something done. But now one has to deal with the whole world, which is closely connected through mass media, such as the Internet. As a result, we have to take the times and globalization into account, and try to keep up with them." said Shi.