The sacred temple where kung fu was born some 1,500 years ago to spawn centuries of undefeated masters is at last surrendering to the almighty buck.
Critics were kicking and screaming in outrage yesterday over plans to sell stock in the ancient monastery and turn it into a garish tourist attraction to cash in on the sport’s popularity.
The kung fu amusement park would feature bikini-clad beauty pageants, Las Vegas-styled martial-arts shows, souvenir shops and posh hotels.
The controversial plan to convert the storied Shaolin Temple — in a picturesque mountain town in the Henan Province — is said to be the main priority of the temple’s current monk, Shi Yongxin.
Sources said the so-called “CEO of Shaolin Temple” is partnering with the state-run tourist agency, China Travel Services.
The martial-arts shrine would likely become involved in kung fu films, which have made an international comeback recently with a new generation of kung fu stars and improved film production in China and Hong Kong.
The monk got the idea to go Hollywood after seeing 1.6 million tourists pack into the remote temple’s grounds last year on pilgrimages, paying about $23 a ticket just to see a half-hour, smack-down kung fu exhibition.
Critics said the squat, 44-year-old monk, who’s headed the temple for a decade, has regularly been allowing profiteers and promoters to turn kung fu and Zen Buddhism into crassly commercial projects to raise much-needed capital for rebuilding the ancient buildings and to develop other temples.
Despite his nickname, Shi says he’s not interested in making big profits but only wanted to raise the public profile of Zen Buddhism and its kung fu disciplines.
“I’m not a businessman,” he told the Times of London. “I don’t hold shares.”
Recently, a hacker broke into the temple’s Web site to post a fake apology from Shi for corrupting the temple and its principles.
Shi said he isn’t planning to take legal action over the damaging stunt.
“As monks, we should focus only on our Buddhist disciplines. We are not excited about filing lawsuits.” paul.tharp@nypost.com