Editing Shaolin Monastery (section)

==Shaolin culture==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2022}}
{{original research section|date=May 2022}}
}}
[[File:四睡图 少林寺石刻.png|thumb|Shaolin Monastery's "Four-legged sleep" ({{lang-zh|[[:zh:四睡图|四睡图]]}}) engraving]]

===Heritage culture===
Shaolin Temple has developed numerous complementary cultural aspects that permeate and mutually reinforce each other and are inseparable, when it comes to presenting the temple's material and intangible cultural heritage. The most prominent aspects are those of Chan ({{lang-zh|labels=no|c=禅|p=chán}}), martial arts ({{lang-zh|labels=no|c=武|p=wǔ}}), traditional medicine ({{lang-zh|labels=no|c=中医|p=zhōngyī}}), and art ({{lang-zh|labels=no|c=艺|p=yì}}). Shaolin culture is rooted in Mahayana Buddhism, while the practice of Chan is its nucleus and finally, the martial arts, traditional medicine, and art are its manifestations. Thanks to the efforts of the abbot Shi Yongxin, the monastic community, and the temple's disciples from all over the world, Shaolin culture continues to grow. During its historical development, Shaolin culture has also integrated the essential values of Confucianism and Taoism.

The contemporary temple establishment offers to all interested individuals and groups, regardless of cultural, social, and religious values, the chance to experience Shaolin culture through the Shaolin cultural exchange program. This program offers an introduction to Chan meditation, Shaolin kung fu, Chan medicine, calligraphy, art, archery, etc. Chan practice is supposed to help the individual in attaining calm and patience necessary for living optimistically, meaningfully, wisely, and with compassion. Ways of practicing Chan are numerous, and they range from everyday activities such as eating, drinking, walking, or sleeping, to specialized practices such as meditation, martial arts, and calligraphy.

[[File:Shaolin Temple Kick Statue.jpg|thumb|Statue depicting [[Shaolin kung fu]], outside the gates of the Kung-Fu Show theater]]

Shaolin kung fu is manifested through a system of different skills that are based on attack and defense movements with the form ({{lang-zh|labels=no|c=套路|p=tàolù}}) as its unit. One form is a combination of different movements. The structure of movements is founded on ancient Chinese medical knowledge, which is compatible with the laws of body movement. Within the temple, the forms are taught with a focus on integration of the principles of complementarity and opposition. This means that Shaolin kung fu integrates dynamic and static components, yin and yang, hardness and softness, etc.

The Shaolin community invests great effort in safeguarding, developing, and innovating its heritage. Following the ancient Chinese principle of harmony between heaven and humans, temple masters work on the development of the most natural body movement in order to achieve the full potential of human expression.

Shaolin has developed activities related to the international promotion of its cultural heritage. In 2012, the first international Shaolin cultural festival was organized in Germany, followed by festivals in the US and England. Official Shaolin cultural centers exist in numerous countries in Europe, the US, Canada, and Russia. Every year, the temple hosts more than thirty international events with the aim to promote cultural exchange.

===International promotion of Shaolin cultural heritage===
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2023}}

Shaolin Temple is an important religious and cultural institution, both in China and internationally. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and especially since the 1970s, cultural exchanges between Shaolin Temple and the rest of the world have continuously improved in terms of content, scale, frequency, and scope. The temple has been visited by European and American dancers, martial artists, NBA players, Hollywood movie stars, but also renowned monks from traditional Buddhist countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Also, a number of political leaders, such as Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, British Queen Elizabeth II, Spanish King Juan Carlos I, Australia's former prime minister John Howard, South Africa former president Nelson Mandela, Russian president Vladimir Putin, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, and Taiwanese politician James Soong have met with the temple's abbot.

Currently, there are more than forty overseas cultural institutions established by the temple's leadership and its disciples in dozens of countries around the world.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} Shaolin monks come to the centers to teach Buddhist classics, martial arts, meditation, etc. Another way of promoting Shaolin's intangible cultural heritage in the world is through Shaolin Cultural Festivals, the first of which was held in North America. These festivals and similar events convey the spiritual connotation of Chinese culture and Eastern values to societies internationally.

===Myths of Shaolin===
{{More citations needed|section|date=December 2022}}

Asian monks are typically portrayed in Western culture as being knowledgeable, at peace, as well as spiritual individuals. Additionally, they are depicted as wise mystics who offer spiritual advice. This stereotype's beginnings can be traced to the 19th century, when Western explorers and missionaries first started to come into contact with Buddhist monks in Asia. The monks were typically romanticized as otherworldly, enigmatic individuals who had achieved a profound spiritual perception of reality. Despite being a poor oversimplification of the variety of beliefs, practices, and experiences among Buddhist monks, the stereotype has persisted. Jane Iwamura calls this phenomenon "virtual Orientalism" and states that it "declares an independence from the real but also co-opts or colonizes the real".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Iwamura |first=Jane |title=The Oriental Monk in American Popular Culture: Race, Religion, and Representation in the Age of Virtual Orientalism |publisher=University of California |year=2001 |location=Berkley}}</ref>