The hometown of Zen is ancient Shaolin, and the ruins of the Dojo are covered with smoke. The mountains cover the stone feet and the sun sets early, and the clouds hinder the bells from going out of the valley. -[Song] Li Zhi

Many of us should be able to think of Shaolin Temple when choosing a destination, because Shaolin Temple not only has a very long history in China's history, it was established in the Northern Wei Dynasty, more than 1,6 years ago, and it is also the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and China Kung Fu, so it is a place that many martial arts fans yearn for.

and with the continuous development of China's tourism industry, many news about Shaolin Temple often appears in front of people, most of which are negative news, such as trademark case, the establishment of Shaolin Temple company, and large-scale demolition, etc. These news will attract many people's attention to Shaolin Temple every time. In order to attract people to visit Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin, the abbot of Shaolin Temple in Songshan, has done a lot for this, and more and more people have increased their understanding of Shaolin Temple.

As the most representative figure in Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin joined the Shaolin Temple at the age of 16, and three years later, he began to help the then host handle some things in Shaolin Temple. Later, in 1986, he began to host some things in Shaolin Temple, for example, he organized Shaolin Temple staff to sort out and find many secrets about Shaolin Temple martial arts, and also published them for sale.

Later, he established a research institute for Shaolin Temple, named Shaolin Temple Boxing Research Institute, and he served as the vice president. Later, in 1987, when the previous director died, he began to take charge of Shaolin Temple in an all-round way. Since then, he has been doing something to improve the influence of Shaolin Temple. There are mainly the establishment of the Red Cross Society of Shaolin Temple, the tour of Shaolin monks, the publication of related books, the establishment of magazines, and even the application of Shaolin Temple here as a human cultural heritage.

To some extent, the reason why Shaolin Temple is so famous now can't be separated from Shi Yongxin's efforts. He designed Shaolin Temple into a model with both religious characteristics and commercial and political characteristics, which set a precedent for China's religion, but many people are also worried about whether Shaolin Temple can keep the purity of Buddhism and the image of China martial arts in the future.

When each of us thinks of Shaolin Temple, the first thing we can think of is a man dressed in a cassock who sits in front of the Buddha and recites scriptures every day, looking like a master in the world. But most of this only exists in TV dramas. Now many monks in Shaolin Temple are also keeping up with the trend of the times. The biggest difference between them and us should be that they have to abide by some rules of the temple.

Shi Yongxin is a representative figure who closely follows the development of the times, but he is a very rich, famous and prestigious monk. It is rumored that he will definitely drive a luxury car when he goes out. In 1994, he had a lawsuit with a food processing factory, because a sausage in that factory was called Shaolin Temple brand ham sausage. Shi Yongxin felt that he was insulting Buddhism, but it was at this time that Shi Yongxin knew the importance of trademarks and succeeded in applying for the legacy.

Later, when the Internet was not very popular in 1996, it already had its own website and domain name, and published many martial arts secrets on it. These ideas all came from Shi Yongxin. When he started to work in Shaolin Temple, he had many ideas. He once said that Shaolin Temple would never refuse to use any high technology.

With the Shaolin Temple being known by more and more people, almost 1.5 million tourists come here every year. According to the calculation, a ticket costs 1 yuan, so it will cost 14 million a year. Shi Yongxin once said that 7% of the income will be used for construction, 2% for supporting monks and 1% for charity.

However, because these practices are divorced from people's inherent impression of Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin has always been very controversial, and many negative news about him came out, and some people reported that he violated the rules of Buddhism. However, these doubts are also very reasonable, because "there are not many people", Buddhism has always been a "clean place" in people's impression, but now it has been moving towards commercialization, which easily makes people feel some emotions.

In ancient times, temples actually had their own fields. They could cultivate their own fields to ensure the normal operation of the temples, and they could also donate surplus food to the society. However, due to some historical reasons, this activity gradually disappeared, which made the temples more mysterious. However, in fact, the temples were inevitably linked with the secular society, so it was difficult to restore their previous cleanliness.

Conclusion

Now Shaolin Temple has been continuously integrated into the modern society. Although it has been questioned and disputed by many people, its pace of commercialization will not stop. Therefore, the constant secularization of Buddhism is also to better adapt to the society. It has been difficult for it to return to its previous purity, which is in line with the development trend of the times.