YES, yes, everybody was kung- fu fighting, Grasshopper.
The image of fighting monks has pervaded pop culture – both Eastern and Western – for decades. But there’s more to “warrior monks” than the shaved heads, orange robes and acts of violence in sparsely decorated rooms seen on TV (David Carradine’s “Kung Fu”), in movies (the Shaw brothers’ “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin”), video games (“Mortal Kombat”) or sung about at length by the Wu-Tang Clan.
That’s why Williamsburg-based photographer Justin Guariglia created his photo book, “Shaolin: Temple of Zen.” He’s the first and only photographer who’s been given total access to the monks.
“Everybody knows kung fu because of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan and beating people up, but I wanted to show the spiritual side to martial arts,” says Guariglia.
“The philosophy behind real Shaolin temple culture is that you don’t go around attacking people. Bodhidharma created [Shaolin-style kung fu] 1,500 years ago to keep the body limber and flexible while meditating.”
It took Guariglia five years to convince the abbot of the famous Shaolin Temple (founded in A.D. 495 in China’s Henan province and the birthplace of Zen Buddism and kung fu) to let him document the monks.
“If the abbot gave [every] film crews access to the monks, they’d turn into entertainers, they wouldn’t be monks,” he says.
That won’t keep New Yorkers from being entertained tonight when they see a real Shaolin fighting monk demonstrating rarely seen, classical kung fu at the Rubin Museum of Art. Monk Shi De Chao makes his first U.S. appearance, coinciding with the launch of Guariglia’s book. (He is one of the monks featured in the book.)
Shi De Chao, who was initially drawn to Shaolin kung fu because he watched martial arts movies as a kid, is a 31st-generation fighting monk – 30 generations of instructors stand between him and Bodhidharma.
When asked about the commonly held notion that the monks are capable of killing a person with kung fu, he says (through a translator), “They’re mistaken. Shaolin is a positive energy practice that makes you healthy and happier inside. It’s not just about fighting, there’s an emphasis on righteousness and being whole.”
That’s not the stuff you see in marital-arts action flicks or most martial arts schools, either.
“A lot of people learn the style of Shaolin [kung fu], the punches and the techniques, but they don’t learn the spirit of Shaolin kung fu, and that’s why they get in trouble when they’re at a bar and get angry. People who fight all the time are on the wrong path, that’s why little things set them off,” says Shi De Chao.
Rubin Museum of Art, 150 W. 17th St.; (212) 620-5000, ext. 344. Martial arts demonstration is from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.