Shaolin Monastery, Buddhist monastery in Dengfeng, China
Shaolin Monastery stands at the foot of Wuru Peak on Mount Song in Dengfeng, Henan. Its red-walled halls with dark tiled roofs and green-trimmed eaves are arranged along stone stairways and courtyards; the central hall has a plaque above an open doorway where incense burns, and a stone lion sits before a lattice window of the main monastery hall.
Emperor Xiaowen founded this monastery in 495 during the Northern Wei Dynasty as a center for translating Buddhist scriptures. Later centuries brought expansions and the gradual development of the martial arts traditions now associated with the site.
The name Shaolin comes from the grove (lin) on Mount Shaoshi. The temple's four pillars are Chan Buddhism, martial arts, Buddhist art and traditional Chinese medicine, and these still shape daily monastic life. Since the 1982 film "Shaolin Temple", many young novices have joined, and commercial martial-arts schools around the site teach foreign visitors.
The site is reached by road from Luoyang or Zhengzhou, and the grounds open from morning until late afternoon. Sturdy footwear helps when walking the long paths and staircases that connect different sections.
The Pagoda Forest within the complex gathers hundreds of stone towers of varying height that serve as burial sites for past abbots. These closely spaced towers form a separate area that many visitors overlook, though they represent centuries of monastic history.
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