Where India Meets China

THE WEEK reports from the Shaolin temple in China, where an Indian king is revered by millions. The legendary Bodhidharma gave up his throne to become a monk and propagate Zen Buddhism that he founded. He gave physical training to the monks of Shaolin, from which kung fu and other martial arts evolved

- Anirudha Karindalam

It was a different world, a different India and a different China. When we set offto Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan province in central China last January, the Covid-19 virus was yet to upend our lives. Although China had reported a few cases, life remained largely uneventful and there were hardly any travel restrictions. We landed in Zhengzhou on a freezing morning, with temperature dropping to minus five degrees Celsius.

We were on our way to the famous Shaolin temple, the original home of kung fu and Zen Buddhism. It was popularised by the legendary Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk born to a Pallava king in south India. Bodhidharma, known as Damo in China and Daruma in Japan, is revered as the founder of the Zen school of Mahayana Buddhism.

Zhang Lifei, our guide and translator, was waiting for us at the airport lounge. “Call me Levy,” he said, steering the car out of the airport to the highway that leads to the Shaolin temple. “Everything about the temple revolves around Bodhidharma. Shao comes from the Shaoshi mountain and lin means forest. Hence, the name Shaolin,” said Levy.

Zhengzhou is one of eight ancient capitals of China, and the Shaolin temple is the economic centre of the entire province. The temple is 92km away from the city and on the way we saw many martial arts schools, run mostly by former monks of the Shaolin temple.

We had to get down near the main entrance of the temple complex and board a bus to the temple. The area around the temple had recently been taken over by the government to promote tourism. Local house owners were sent away to nearby villages. As it was not the tourist season, there were only a few visitors. Levi said the locals were happy to see us as we were from India, the land of Bodhidharma.