/kloc-There was no concept of "Wulin" in China in the 20th century. Since ancient times, "Wulin" is either a mountain name or a place name, and there is no other reference. There is only one "green forest" related to rivers and lakes. However, there are only thieves among the fugitives, not chivalrous people. This is why Gong, a martial arts novelist, got inspiration from Lin Wen (generally referring to the cultural circle) and created a new word "Wulin" to refer to the martial arts circle. Martial arts novels rose accordingly. Among many martial arts novels, Shaolin Temple has a strong sense of existence. Although it does not unify the rivers and lakes, it is also the number one sect. Longsheng Wo first gave the setting of "Nine Schools of Wulin", and Shaolin was the first one. This became the "seven schools" in Gu Long's novels, with Shaolin as the head, Jin Yong as the "six schools" and Shaolin as the head. There are two main considerations for Shaolin to be a leader. First of all, Shaolin is famous for its martial arts. Secondly, Shaolin is located in the Central Plains, surrounded by sects, and is regarded as the orthodox Wulin. However, in many martial arts novels, although Shaolin has a lofty position, there are not many plays, and most of them are important supporting roles. Perhaps because monks can't fall in love, Liang Yusheng doesn't even like to write about Shaolin, but likes to find a lay disciple of Wudang as the protagonist. The real deity of Shaolin Temple is here in Jin Yong. The most talked about is the famous sweeping monk in Eight Dragons. An old monk who lives in seclusion in the Buddhist Scripture Pavilion in Shaolin, whose daily homework is sweeping the floor, easily subdued the old monsters Xiao Yuanshan and Murong Bo at the Shaoshishan Wulin Conference, and was able to see through the flaws of everyone's acrobatics, so he ranked first in the list of Jin Yong's martial arts figures selected by major netizens.

In Tian Long Ba Bu, sweeping monk can make people vomit blood just by thinking.

With the remake of Jin Yong's novels into various movies and TV series, people are more and more keen to talk about Shaolin Temple's martial arts. Needless to say, as long as you learn the Yijinjing, you can be firmly ranked in the top ten in the rivers and lakes. Needless to say, Shaolin's seventy-two stunts have almost become the quantitative standard of martial arts. The legend of Shaolin's seventy-two stunts was created by Dharma. Dharma is naturally the first person in the world, followed by sweeping monk. He swept the floor in the sutra depository all day, read the secret books of martial arts for decades, and naturally knew a lot of stunts. Jue Yuan written by Jin Yong is also the beneficiary of the sutra depository. In "The Condor Heroes" and "The Dragon Slayer", Jue Yuan in the book is the librarian of the Buddhist Scripture Pavilion in Shaolin Temple and the master of Zhang Sanfeng.

Jue Yuan, a monk in the TV series "The Condor Heroes"

Note that the sutra depository in Jin Yong's novels is a place to collect all kinds of magical martial arts secrets. Therefore, it is a great job for Jue Yuan to manage books here. Even if he doesn't know the most basic martial arts, he can recite the classics every day, and inadvertently practice profound internal skills to defeat He Zudao, the "Three Saints of Kunlun". The content of the Shurangama Sutra recited by Jue Yuan before his death has also become a unique school of Wudang in Emei. In all kinds of film and television works about Shaolin, the martial arts of Shaolin Temple are also strongly emphasized. The shaolin soccer team in shaolin soccer won the championship with kung fu; Fang Shiyu in Fang Shiyu, relying on the martial arts of South Shaolin, went to the execution ground alone to rescue his parents. Even in the seemingly unrelated "The Best of God", there will be eighteen bronze men in Shaolin Temple. After defeating the hero, they will also teach him advanced martial arts to cook. ...

Stills from the movie shaolin soccer.

As a result, in people's eyes, martial arts has become the majority of Shaolin Temple.

Shaolin monks

Shaolin Temple in history should first be the place where monks live. The world thinks that in a quiet and elegant place like a temple, it is good to meditate every day. I didn't know monks had to eat. Where does the meal come from? Relying solely on donations from believers does not guarantee food for every meal. But monks are not professional enough to farm. Therefore, at the beginning, the temple enjoyed the national tax exemption policy, and farming was very cost-effective. If you don't plant it yourself, you can also find a tenant to plant it. In Dragon's Eight Branches, Qiao Feng's adoptive father, Qiao Sanhuai, is a tenant of Shaolin Temple. Their family lives in Shaoshi Mountain and rents the land of Shaolin Temple, so they have a close relationship with Shaolin Temple, so Shaolin Temple wants to give Qiao Feng to them for adoption.

Joe Sanhuai in the TV series "Dragon Eight Branches"

Since it is tax-free, there is still a lot of room for operation besides letting tenants farm. People who have land around the temple will "leave" the land in the temple and donate money to the temple regularly, so the land will not be taxed. When the temple gets the money, with the primitive accumulation of capital, it can buy land, shops and so on. Therefore, monks practice martial arts not only to keep fit, but also to protect temple property. After "Thirteen Women Save the King of Tang Dynasty", Li Shimin gave a lot of land to expand Shaolin Temple. The more real estate there is in Shaolin Temple, the more monks there are. At that time, there were as many as 2000 monks in the temple, including more than 500 monks, who were called "five hundred arhats" by folklore. After the Tang Dynasty, temples were either exempted from local taxes or from Ding taxes (personal taxes that every adult man had to pay). In short, there are many restrictions. Therefore, the maximum number of monks in Shaolin Temple is 500, which is not much compared with the 20,000 monks in Hanshan. But these are not romantic enough and too realistic, so they are directly ignored by film and television works. Film and television works do this only to cater to the tastes of the public. Imagine, do you want to see a young man fight all over the world, hook up with girls, make bad friends, make trouble everywhere, and become a generation of heroes, or do you want to see a monk chanting in the temple, cooking with a fire, thinking alone, discussing Zen with others, resolving conflicts in Wulin with compassion, becoming a host, and making a success?