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About Us

In 2007, the Abbot of the Songshan Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China, assigned Master Shi Yanxu to establish the Shaolin Temple Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The center opened at the same year, with Master Yanxu serving as the center’s director.

Songshan Shaolin Temple is the ancestral home of Chinese Chan Buddhism, the cradle of Shaolin Martial Arts and the birthplace of Shaolin Medicine. The Shaolin Temple Cultural Center continues the practice and teaching accumulated during the past 1,500 years. At the center, anyone can achieve the ultimate balance by nourishing the mind and spirit with Chan Meditation, strengthening the body with Martial Arts training and sustaining wellness with Shaolin Medicine and Holistic Exercise.

The mission of Shaolin Temple Cultural Center is to:
1. Enhance the physical, mental and spiritual wellness for anyone who wishes to learn;
2. Continue promoting the heritage and culture of the Songshan Shaolin Temple in the US; and
3. Advance intercultural understanding between East and West.

For more information about Shaolin and its unique culture, please check out our Shaolin and Shaolin Culture page.

About Songshan Shaolin Temple

In 495 AD，the Wei Emperor Xiaowen(魏孝文帝) authorized to build the Shaolin Temple on Song Mountain of Henan Province to host the Indian high monk Batuo（跋陀）. The temple flourished in the Tang (唐：618 -907) and Song (宋: 960 – 1279) dynasties and reached the peak of development in Yuan (元：1206 - 1368) and Ming (明：1368 AD – 1644 AD) dynasties. According to the records in historic books, the Shaolin Temple had suffered from natural and man made disasters during the last 1500 years. However, the monks of the Shaolin Temple had endured and carried forward their tradition and culture. From 1951 to 1996, the decades of the long renovation of the Shaolin Temple had made a revival into the modern era.

The Shaolin Temple is revered as the ancestral home of Chan Buddhism, the cradle of Shaolin Martial Arts and the birthplace of Shaolin Medicine. Many emperors ancient China had special ties with the Song Shan Shaolin Temple(嵩山少林寺); famous poets and artists visited the temple leaving numerous poems and calligraphies on stone steles. The Shaolin monks helped to train the state army to fight against the invasion, treated the poor with the unique Shaolin Medicine following the Buddhist teaching of “mercy” and attracted people from farmers to royalties to the Chan Buddhism to practice Chan and to discover their inner Buddha-nature.

Shaolin Temple in Los Angeles