The temples were impromptu banks as well as storehouses for har-
vested grains. Because of this, the temples were also targets of brigands;
therefore, they had to have a standing army of their own to defend them-
selves from outside attacks.
When novitiates entered monastic life, they not only gave up their al-
legiance to their natural family; they also gave up their life on the outside
and their allegiance to secular rulers. Those who became monks out of des-
peration found a new life, and those who became monks because of out-
side necessity kept their heads firmly attached to their shoulders. Over a
period of centuries they collected various techniques that had helped the
former soldiers stay alive on the battlefield, and this accumulation of
knowledge gave rise to introspective researching aimed at finding the best
fighting methods. These methods were then codified, and this codification,
in turn, gave rise to many systems of self-defense and martial science.
The monasteries in the West did not maintain the study of the arts of
war in the same fashion as those in the East, although religious military or-
ders such as the Knights Templar attest to the strong links between the mar-
tial and the religious, at least in the European medieval period. Some attrib-
ute the eventual neglect of the martial arts in European monastic tradition to
the development of military technology, namely the development of firearms
and artillery. Social factors were of course major factors, as well. In the East,
however, warfare continued to be associated with the monastic life. In
China, the most famous and well known of these temples came to be known
as “Shaolin.” Tradition maintains that there were actually five of these tem-36 Boxing, Chinese Shaolin Styles
Grand Master Rich Mooney demonstrates various defensive moves from Southern Shaolin Tiger Crane Fist, 2001.
(Courtesy of Rich Mooney, Dragon Society International)