Kung fu fans, rejoice!
No, RZA hasn’t updated his Afro Samurai vlog.
Tomorrow night, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena is welcoming the Venerable Abbot Shi Yong Xin of China’s Shaolin Temple. The abbot is bringing with him a group of monks for a seminar and, you guessed it, kung fu demonstration.
Here’s a flyer that explains how to buy tickets.
What’s the occasion? Shaolin Temple USA just opened a brand new cultural center in San Francisco, so the abbot is in California for the grand opening festivities. With his Bay Area tour finished, he’s now spreading Shaolin love to the Southland.
Founded in 495 A.D. by the Indian dhyana master Buddhabhadra, the Shaolin Temple rests in the Song Shan foothills of China’s Henan province (50 miles outside of Zhengzhou), and is the birthplace of both Zen Buddhism and Shaolin kung fu.
Not bad for a scrappy little temple, eh?
Images: A Shaolin monk in action (top, photo by fab to pix) and statues of monks at the Shaolin temple outside of Zhengzhou (bottom, photo by Galvez).
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Mike Winder lives in the game grid of Los Angeles, where he's pieced together quality ruminations on pop culture since 2006. His work has appeared in LA Alternative, Los Angeles CityBeat, L.A. Metblogs, and other fine publications. He studied creative writing at UCLA. He shares his life with his wife, his beautiful daughter, and whoever's tapped his landline.
Shaolin Temple gone corporate, what’s the world coming to. What would
Master Po think?