Publish Date:2023-02-16
Shaolin Temple was built by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei Dynasty to accommodate the Indian eminent monk Bhadra over 1500 years ago. As the patriarch of Vinaya and Chan, Bhadra initiated the Vinaya tradition and Chan tradition at Shaolin Temple. At that time, the Songshan Mount, where Shaolin Temple is located, was subordinate to the capital city Luoyang and was the central area of the Central Plains’ culture. As a result, Shaolin Temple soon became a leading region in the Vinaya sect and Chan Sect of Buddhism. The vinaya lineage from Bhadra to Huiguang is the important source of Vinaya master Daoxuan’s teachings in the period of Tang Dynasty (618-907AD). The Chan lineage from Buhadra to Sengchou prevails throughout the Shaolin Temple’s 1500 years old history. In early Tang Dynasty, Master Xuanzang appealed many times to the imperial court to do Chan cultivations at Shaolin Temple. A few years after Bhadra’ s arrival, another eminent India monk Bodhidharma visited Shaolin Temple and his teachings of “a special transmission outside the scriptures” and “letting one see intonature and attain Buddhahood” initiated the mind-to-mind line of transmission and developed into the “Chinese Chan Sect”.These historical events and people are all restored on the book “Biograthies of Eminent Monks”. (From Shaolin Temple in My Heart)
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