Why do Shaolin Temple monks have a tradition of practicing martial arts?
We Chinese all know that the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan, where monks have a tradition of practicing martial arts.
But in fact, this in itself is a very unharmonious thing, because Buddhism itself is anti-violence, monks are monks, compassionate, let me ask how the monk who should be gentle and elegant, how can it be related to the martial arts of fighting and killing?
In fact, the answer is not strange at all, it is completely logical, two words:Self-defense
First of all, let's start with the origin of Shaolin Temple.
The origin of this Shaolin Temple, that's what happened:
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Henan was ruled by the Xianbei people at that time, and the emperor at that time was also a Xianbei person, called Emperor Xiaowen, this emperor, believed in Buddhism, but he knew a little about the Buddhist scriptures, and he had a lot of doubts in his chest, and he was suffering from no one to solve the doubts.
At this time, a high monk came from India, named "Bhadra".
This Indian monk Batuo, came to Henan, to promote Buddhism, Emperor Xiaowen met him, listened to him explain the Buddhist scriptures, Batuo said so, unbelievable, one by one, solved all kinds of mysteries about Buddhism in the heart of Emperor Xiaowen, Emperor Xiaowen is simply, Daigo empowerment, reborn, the master is wood, it is simply late to see each other.
So, Emperor Xiaowen liked this Indian monk Batuo very much, and built a temple for him in the mountains and forests of Shaomu Mountain in the Songshan area, because it was a "temple" temple built in the mountain "forest" of "Shao" Room Mountain, so it was later called "Shaolin Temple".
So later, this Indian monk Batuo died, and Emperor Xiaowen also died, but the Shaolin Temple was passed down.
Later, to the Sui Dynasty, during the period of Emperor Wen of Sui, Emperor Wen of Sui also respected Buddhism, he gave Shaolin Temple a hundred hectares of land, and other assets, Shaolin Temple became rich, you must know that in ancient times, a hundred hectares of land, rented to others to cultivate, rent that is simply to receive a soft hand, which is why in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, Shaolin Temple became a very wealthy temple, a lot of land.
We all know that the Shaolin Temple is rich, but we now know that the original Shaolin Temple is rich, it has been rich since ancient times, not today.
Then, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and a group of males swarmed, and bandits began to come to Shaolin Temple to rob.
Although the Shaolin Temple is rich, but it is not robbed, it has been robbed several times, the abbot and the monks have learned from the pain, and the big guy has a total: if it is robbed like this, the temple will soon be robbed, and everyone will wait to eat the northwest wind.
So, the abbot and the monks, the big guys began to buy **, and everyone began to practice martial arts, why? is to make a final plan: if the bandits come again, the big guy will fight with them, anyway, starvation is death, it is better to fight to death, and death will be a happy death!
We have a saying in China, called putting death and then rebirth, by the way, when you muster up the courage to fight with people, the world often suddenly becomes gentle to you, and as a result, the bandits came a few times, and they were all repelled by the abbot and the monks.
As a result, the reputation of Shaolin Temple as "able to fight" has spread.
After that, the Shaolin Temple made up for the loss and set up a rule: the monks of the temple insisted on practicing martial arts and passed it on from generation to generation, in case of another robbery by bandits in the last years of the Sui Dynasty.
This is the historical origin of Shaolin Temple's martial arts.
It is also the origin of Shaolin martial arts.
The "Chu River Han Boundary" of Xiangqi is in Henan
We have been playing chess since childhood, and we are very familiar with the "Chu River Han Realm" on the chessboard.
However, few people will ask: What is this "Chu River Han Realm" in? Which river is it?
Chu River Han Boundary", in Henan Province.
During the Warring States Period, King Wei Hui of Wei, in order to connect the Huai River and the Yellow River, he sent people to dig a canal, this canal, flowing through today's Zhengzhou, Xingyang, Zhongmu and other places, after King Wei Hui asked people to dig it, this canal is called "chasm".
Yes, we later said in Chinese that there is a "gap" between you and my three views, and this "gap", the origin of the etymology, is the Grand Canal back then.
After the chasm was dug up, the Huai River and the Yellow River were connected, and it was roughly in a north-south direction.
Later, there was a war between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, known as the "Chu and Han hegemony" in history, and in 203 BC, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang negotiated peace, and agreed: with this "gap" in Henan Province as the boundary, the east belongs to Western Chu, and the west belongs to the Han Dynasty, and both sides agreed at that time.
Therefore, this "gap" became the boundary between the Han Dynasty and Western Chu, and later generations called it the "Chu River Han Boundary".
However, this negotiated line did not end the war between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, and later, the two sides fought again.
So, later Xiang Yu died, Liu Bang also died, this Grand Canal, the "chasm", is it still there?
The answer is this: in later history, China appeared the Tongji Canal, the Bianhe River, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal...And so on and so on a series of canals, the role of this "chasm", smaller and smaller, the people who use it, less and less, gradually, no one dredged, after a long time, the silt is blocked, the river is silted, and then later, the river disappears, only a ravine and ravine, overgrown with grass.
That is to say, the river that was once called the "Chu River Han Boundary" in history did exist, but today, it has disappeared and become a ravine, and the ruins are in Henan Province.
The former capital of Henan was Kaifeng
We all know that the provincial capital of Henan today is Zhengzhou.
But, you know? In fact, Zhengzhou has not always been the provincial capital of Henan, and in fact, Zhengzhou has only been the provincial capital of Henan for 67 years.
Zhengzhou's "promotion" to the provincial capital of Henan has only a short history of 67 years.
In the long history of China, the administrative center of Henan has always been not Zhengzhou, but Kaifeng.
Yes, the thousand-year-old capital, Kaifeng Mansion.
In the more than 3,000 years of recorded history of China, Kaifeng has always been the administrative center of Henan, even in the Qing Dynasty, the administrative center of Henan, it is still Kaifeng, and Zhengzhou has always been just an ordinary small county in Henan Province.
So, since the provincial capital of Henan was Kaifeng in history, why did it later become Zhengzhou? When did it become Zhengzhou?
It's kind of funny to say, it turns out like this:
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Minister Zhang Zhidong proposed to build the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and build it to the Henan section, which was originally to set up a station in Kaifeng, the provincial capital, and set Kaifeng as a hub, but at that time, the engineering team of the Qing Dynasty encountered a very real problem, which was: crossing the Yellow River.
Yes, the railway has to cross the Yellow River and build bridges.
At that time, the engineering team looked around and found that this section of the Yellow River in Kaifeng was not suitable for building bridges.
However, the engineering team found that this section of the Yellow River in Zhengzhou is the most suitable for building a railway bridge.
As a result, the engineering team was forced to build a bridge in Zhengzhou, and as a result, the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway turned to the city of Zhengzhou, and a railway station was set up in Zhengzhou.
After decades of development, Zhengzhou, a small county that used to be inconspicuous, has been transformed into the largest transportation hub in the Central Plains.
Yes, once a place becomes a transportation hub, it will soon become an economic center as well.
As a result, over the decades, the economic center of Henan Province has also moved from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou.
Later, Chiang Kai-shek went to Taiwan, and our people in Henan Province originally followed the habit of being located in Kaifeng, but our civil servants found that a problem was getting more and more serious, what is the problem? Inconvenience.
The traffic is not convenient. As a provincial **, send personnel on a business trip and do something, first take a train from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou, and then transfer from Zhengzhou to various places.
This is just one of the examples, the tip of the iceberg, the administrative center at that time was in Kaifeng, the transportation hub, the economic center were in Zhengzhou, and many things were inconvenient.
So in 1954, the country made up its mind: to move the provincial capital of Henan Province from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou.
That's why Zhengzhou was transformed into the capital of Henan province in 1954.