Interview with Yin Yan Monk at the Putian Shaolin Temple
14th November 2015.
As far as Yin Yan / 延因 (Shaolin Monk / 少林僧 at the Putian Temple / 莆田寺) knows there were a total of over 10 Southern Shaolin /南少林 sites in history. Six of these were in Fukien / Fujian Province / 福建省 and four in Canton / 廣州. In Fukien / Fujian Province / 福建省 they were located at Putian / 莆田, Fuqing / 福清, Quanzhou / 泉州, and Xianyou / 仙游县 but he could not remember the locations of the other two.
The Putian Temple / 莆田寺 was set up during the Tong Dynasty. This was shortly after 13 Shaolin staff monks saved the future Emperor Taizong of Tang / 唐太宗 (Li / 李 Shimin / 李世民)in 621AD, when he had been caught by an opponent warlord. After this incident, the Emperor sent 3 of the 13 monks to bring a force of 500 martial arts monks to defeat the pirates who were plaguing the Fukien / Fujian Province / 福建省 coastline. After they had subdued the pirates, with the emperor’s permission, some of them stayed to setup temples in Fukien / Fujian Province / 福建省.
In regard to the question of which temple was the first one. Yin Yan / 延因 states that he believes it is a meaningless question as all of these temples are promoting martial arts and the spread of Buddhism as a whole. Although he knows that some temples may have different views. In fact the Chinese government had agreed publicly that the Putian Shaolin Temple / 莆田少林寺 is the location of the Southern Shaolin /南少林 in the original history. The original temple was totally destroyed around two hundred years ago. After rediscovering the site in the mid 1980s, reconstruction of the temple began in the early 1990s.
The types of martial arts now practiced in the temple are the Five Ancestor Crane Sun Fist / Five Zuhe Yang Quan /五祖鶴陽拳 (which is a popular Fukien / Fujian Province / 福建省 style [1]), Fujian White Crane / 白鶴拳 [2], and Hung Kuen / 洪拳 [3].
For some time the temple was operated by the Song Shan / 嵩山 Shaolin / 少林. This was the case until only a few weeks ago, but now they have gone. The current abbot is the 30 generation of abbots. The temple was headed by Hung Sing / 空性和尚, Abbot up to now.
During our visit, the martial artists at this temple were away. They have gone to do a performance with the Abbot in another district.
Written by Low Shiu Lun / 盧紹麟 (Alan Low) who is the Head Coach of Hak Fu Mun / 黑虎門 in Hong Kong.
& written into English by Paul Burkinshaw (Head Coach of Hak Fu Mun / 黑虎門 in UK)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ancestors
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_White_Crane
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_Ga