In the early 1980s, Shaolin became a household name in China, mainly through the success of a film called "Shaolin Temple" that launched martial arts film star Jet Li's career.
The impact of the film was immediately felt by tourism. The number of visitors to Shaolin climbed from 200,000 a year in late 1970s to 3 million by 1985.
But the internal situation of Shaolin was not favorable. Before Abbot Shi became director of the management committee of Shaolin in 1987, there were only a dozen permanent monks in the temple. Adding to the woe was the boom of martial arts schools, which posed a challenge to the temple.
"We were short of both people and space. Everything waited to be improved," he recalls while sipping a cup of tea.
With a pragmatic mindset, the monk was determined to make reforms to the ancient temple by adapting to the rapidly changing era.
Initially, he expanded the surrounding area of Shaolin by tens of thousands of square meters and enlarged the ranks of Shaolin to more than 200 monks.
After this, Abbot Shi pondered the cultural essentials of Shaolin.
"During its 1,500-year history, the very livelihood of Shaolin has always relied on its openness to other cultures, as the temple itself is a product of dynamic cultural exchanges. We must let the guests in, while walking out of our domains with courage," he says.
In his mind, Shaolin has been supported by three pillars: Zen, martial arts and medicine.
"Preaching the 'empty' concepts is meaningless, and these values must be represented by concrete cultural products," he says.
Abbot Shi turned his boldness into a flurry of actions.
The first experiment was the establishment of a fighting monk team, which has since toured extensively at home and abroad. In 2002, Abbot Shi applied for intangible cultural heritage for Shaolin kung fu.
"We must turn to the intellectual property rights for the preservation and promotion of Shaolin culture," says the 43-year-old abbot, who holds a master's degree in business administration.
In the next few years, the Shaolin Pharmacy was reopened to the public and an outpatient department was established.
In 2008, Shaolin stepped up the pace of its commercialization. On May 12, Shaolin opened Huanxidi (State of Joy), a business complex comprised of a shop, a restaurant and a meditation center. It is actually a subsidiary of Shaolin Intellectual Property, a fully owned company of Shaolin.
"I try to combine the traditional culture of Shaolin with modern elements so that the seeds of Shaolin are accessible to the greater public, especially the young people," says the chief designer, Mi Xiong, from Taiwan's Kaohsiung City.
For instance, students of Taiwan's Shu-Te University of Science and Technology will soon have a boot camp in Shaolin and their artistic creations will be turned into commercial products, explains Bonus Wang, executive manager of Huanxidi.
Abbot Shi hopes that more people will come to Shaolin to experience Zen, but they have to pay a price. Earlier last year, Shaolin held four sessions of walking meditation catering to businessmen and CEOs, with a charge of 2,000 yuan for two days.
Promoting walking meditation will be one of the main tasks in 2009, and Huanxidi may extend its business footprints globally if the initial operation runs well, says Wang.
"We must keep alive and boost our own culture to counter the negative impact of globalization on traditions, and Shaolin has proved to be successful in its model of cultural development," says Abbot Shi with pride. "Commercialization or industrialization, whatever term you use it, is a path leading up to the truth of Zen. My vision is that Shaolin will eventually become a source of consolidating Chinese people's confidence and wisdom."
But his ideas and acts have generated wide criticism. Long Jinghong, an expert on tourism at Zhengzhou University, says the practice of Zen requires detachment from the clamorously world and seclusion into a peaceful environment.
"Zen can hardly be disseminated through industrialization," he says.
However, the determined abbot is firm in extending the cultural map of Shaolin. "The soul of Zen is aimed at liberating the mind," he says, pointing to a pamphlet of Huanxidi that reads "moving the body, saving the heart."
(Shanghai Daily January 7, 2009)
