Life of a Shaolin Monk

Inside the Life of a Shaolin Monk

Since the beginning of the sixth century, Chinese Buddhists living in the Shaolin monastery, have been inextricably linked with physical perfection and martial arts. That is why, Shaolin monk is considered as one of the most skilled and talented warriors this world has ever had the privilege of beholding.

Most martial artists are familiar with the extraordinary powers of the Shaolin monk. They train to use 36 weapons, and each monk picks two animal movements and styles to specialize in. Monks devote their whole day to intensive spiritual and physical training, which in the end, either brakes them or produces masters of Kung Fu with a steel spirit.

These guys do iron groin training…sounds like time for an image search, eh? That is not the only thing they train, so let’s look into the life of a Shaolin monk little closer.

Day of a Shaolin monk begins at 5:00 am. After waking up, all the monks gather in the courtyard of the main temple and for 2 hours they meditate, regardless of the weather conditions and age. Only the oldest(wisest) monks are permitted to meditate indoors. 

10 rangers consisting of senior monks are responsible for keeping the beginners awake.

If anyone from the beginners falls asleep, caretaker gives him two strikes on the shoulders. Fellow newcomer must thank his superior for helping him with meditation. If rookie disobeyed and did not express gratitude, he again would get two strikes on the shoulders.

After the end of the meditation session monks move on to complex gymnastic exercises aimed at developing the flexibility of the body.

Shaolin stretching session includes a set of very heavy exercise that an untrained person will be unable to bear.

By the way, the monks are preparing for such pressures since the childhood.

After stretching session, monks are obligated to go main temple and listen to some sort of lectures on religion, the life and enlightenment.

When done with spiritual development, the monks go to intense physical training. They perform a variety of exercises to develop muscle and tendon strength.

Some of the endurance exercises are beyond reason, and for us mortals may seem as mission impossible.

Once finished with long exercises, the monks start working on one more important skill,the martial arts.

Usually beginners learn 5 styles Shaolin Quan: Dragon, Tiger, Snake, Leopard, Mantis. Each of these styles is aimed at the development of certain qualities in students. After three years of studying the above styles of martial arts of Shaolin, monk receives the degree of spiritual warrior and matching belt – similar belts we see in karate.

After morning workouts (approximately 2:00 PM) the monks begin to receive food. Typically,vegetables and sometimes fruit.  At this point monks receive one hour of personal time, after which they again start to train.

Training that comes after lunch is even more cruel and extreme. At this point Shaolin monk is facing intense,tough sparring that often includes different weapons. Also weak spots on human body are being tested at this session.

After a long training warrior monk needs to do theoretical tests. In the theoretical part of the training Shaolin monk is tested for knowledge of the customs and rules of the monastery, knowledge of medicine, physical training, and knowledge of martial arts.

At 7:00 PM comes the dinner, after which the monks can do their business and relax. But almost all the monks continue their education and training until late in the night. All in order to become even better warriors tomorrow.

Source: xtremefight.ru   Image credits: Tomasz Gudzowaty