The location of the Berlin Shaolin Temple (2005). The temple is situated in a factory building in a backyard behind this mall.

The Zen Hole Experience

(3rd Feb. 2005) 

Like every temple (and every Chinese restaurant), the Shaolin Temple in Berlin (currently situated on Franklin str. 100) is guarded by two stylized lions which symbolize the strength of the Shaolin teachings and which are supposed to keep evildoers outside. Buddhists say that the Buddhist teachings, the Dharma ("the way things are"), will assault you with the force of a lion; they also say that Buddha, who was born as a human being, had been a lion several times before.

The Order of Shaolin is an order of cloisters / academies dedicated to Chan-Buddhism, a branch of the dharma which intends to bring Buddhism "back to the roots". Chan pursues the aim of ridding Buddhism of any element of pompousness or conceit, in order to re-establish the essentials of the dharma the way they were once taught. In some extreme cases, Chan may require a complete abandon of ritualistic ceremonies and of the objects of said worship such as statues. In the Shaolin school, however, such extreme reduction is not practiced; it may be discovered in Japanese forms of Buddhism, where said philosophy is known as Zen.

"Clear-cut" Buddhism gives great emphasis on Chan (the Chinese term for meditation); by consequence, the philosophy of "clear-cut" Buddhism is referred to as Chan.

Another name for Buddha is Fo; the stylized lions as shown left are referred to as Fo lions or Fo dogs. Shaolin means "convent of the forest", as the original Shaolin Temple had been founded in the woods.              

At the first glance, the Berlin Shaolin temple celebrates some intimidating form of "maleness"; however, seen from the inside, the Temple holds a big surprise. The walls in the entrance hall are decorated with weapons, and the side wall of the Temple is guarded by terracotta warriors, but to my personal experience, I felt greatly impressed by the humility of those truly and thoroughly gentle-hearted people who work there. While having green tea with temple visitors and inhabitants, I met some Chinese man who made an impression on me with his humbleness. The man was speaking poor German; judging upon his unspectacular grey clothes I probably considered him a janitor. When talking, we were quickly addressing each other with first names, using the colloquial "du" form instead of the more respectful "Sie". (Addressing a higher-up with "du" is a no-no if he does not explicitly allow it to you.) 

So, I asked the temple employee at my left side (a German) his first name, and then I asked the Chinese man, "And what is your name?" - "Master", he replied to me, all naturally. The guy I was having tea with was probably the abbot of the Temple! I was concerned that he might feel offended, as I didn't know whether it was rude to address a Chinese abbot so "disrespectfully". However, he reacted so unoffendedly and his reply came so humbly and naturally that I could only take it as a funny mistake.

The Shaolin concept is free from any proselyzing effort or pressure. The temple has poor public relation facilities, supposedly to attract only those who really want to get there. Shaolin monks do not pray but rather practice keeping silence. They hold collective chants of Buddha’s sayings but they do not pray the way theists do. As silence is the thing all traditions have in common, there’s always some feeling of recognition or welcome, even if you do not know the tenets or have never been there before.

Shaolin Monks are fond of the "Buddha of the West", named Amithaba, who particularly embodies the virtue of "equal sight" and prevents people from getting into quarrels over details. Broad-mindedness is the virtue brought to fruition by this  Buddha; Amithaba (or, as the Chinese say, Amida) especially fosters tolerance in general life.

Chan Buddhists favour large empty rooms to invite meditation. The largest meditation/training room in the Temple is a so-called Buddha Hall but every room contains a little altar and therefore every room, in coherence with the spirit of Amithaba, may be considered a "Buddha Hall".

An aspect (moral virtue) of Buddha is attributed to one of five 'directions' respectively; the "center" is considered a direction, too. Amithaba must have been given the right job to watch especially over the West, as people from the West are probably more likely to get into quarrelling over insignificant details.

I told a story of a friend of mine who engages into what political correctness requires to be called a "new religious movement". The reply I received was that affiliation to the "new religious movement" was the nature or the dharma of the person in question, and therefore it should be accepted regardless of personal preferences. Martial arts, for the sake of illustration, are an essential part of the Shaolin tradition; however, is not the purpose of such training to beat others to pulp.

There are also arts like Tai Chi (way of the fist) which is rather slow, and Chi Gung (working with your breath), which is even slower. The Chinese have a symbol of two fish (strength and weakness) chasing each other. According to some space opera I once read, these fish chase each other in the intent to bite each other, but, if you give some consideration to the training you can easily see that this is not the case.

Relaxation arts are slowed-down versions of actual fight movements; and each fish has the colour of the other one (black or white) in his heart.

Before training, incense is ritually burned on an altar to create some comfortable feeling; students and master make a little bow to each other saying "A MI to fo". I presume that "A MI to fo" is the Chinese pronunciation of Sanskrit Amithaba; according to the monks, however, it has some nice deeper meaning like "May the light of Amithaba shine to you". Is this where the saying "May the Force be with you" originates from? I don’t know, but this "Shaolin spirit" felt very genuine, and training in a place like the Shaolin temple seemed a bit as if this was indeed the case.

The class I took part in was especially designed for people of bad constitution, at the lowest level possible, meaning it was for people who were unable to walk. People took part in the class on chairs or sitting in the "lotus position", and the exercises seemed overall simple. The supposed abbot (the guy I drank tea with) was leading the class, and what impressed me was the sincerity and dignity with which he was conducting those "baby exercises". (By the way, doing movements SLOWLY is a considerable physical exercise!) Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chen/Zen - straightforward (meditative) Buddhism - is said to have developed the Kung Fu movements after nine years of uninterrupted meditation had left him with dystrophic legs.

The Chi Gung class focused on attentive breathing; the term literally means "working with the energy of life".

Breathing is in the heart of all martial arts training; training which unduly focuses on muscles misses that aspect of breathing and ignores what martial art is all about. To start with, breaths are visualised by hand movements; this training has a calming effect which is supposed to lower and deepen your breath.

One exhales rather fast and inhales rather slowly. Chinese philosophy is based upon "yang" and "ying".

Yang is the principle of "expansion"; it is activity and destruction, it symbolizes tension and creates heat. Ying is the principle of "gathering”; it embodies rest, preservation, relaxation and it causes cold. "Yang” are generally quick and powerful movements, together with exhalation; "ying” movements, in combination with inhalation, are often directed towards the centre of the body (the lower abdomen); they are soft, receding and slow. You can learn a lot about martial arts by simply harmonizing your movements with you breathing; by taking to heart this principle you will learn about the nature of martial arts intuitively, even if you should be clumsy and may not know many moves.

Half of the training session is taken by meditation; when I experienced this in practice, I seriously thought I had gotten into a wrong class. The Chinese take meditation for granted and by following this principle you will learn that martial arts are primarily a an exercise of the spirit, and not merely of the body.

That day, I suffered a car crash which marked me deeply as it had brought me to a point of considering life and death. Oddly, I got away with only a scratch; I ended up in the hospital with a concussion and a whiplash injury which made the muscles of my neck inflame and harden the next day, to the point where I could not turn my head anymore. However, a good deal of the exercises I had learned in the Chi Gung were about stimulating the blood circulation inside the head; one of them consisted of making deliberate cross-wise eye movements  with your eyes closed. I did that as I was lying in bed and rolling the eyeballs was probably the only exercise I could do unimpededly.

Two days later, I found out that this exercise of rolling the eyeballs cross-wise was scientifically proven to relax the muscles of the neck, and was recommended by a medical professor as a valid method of soothing whiplash injuries.

The sign of the Shaolin Temple and swearing-in ceremony of Shaolin monks (from a Chinese movie; special thanks to Darkmirage)

Contact author: e_complexus[at]yahoo.com

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