Word: abbots
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...weapons when he applied for a green card. Just ask the Henan Tourist Bureau: it put Yan Ming on a billboard of provincial treasures. Or ask Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, John Woo and Chow Yun-fat: they all call Yan Ming shifu, or master. Just don't ask the abbot of the Shaolin Temple; he "prefers not to talk about Yan Ming...
...abbot and Yan Ming embody the complex struggle under way for control of the legacy of a Chinese cultural landmark almost as celebrated as the Forbidden City or the Great Wall. It's a clash that pits monk against monk, disciple against master and, at least in one case, cop against banner. And the stakes are high. Shaolin monks' heroism on battlefields, both real and imagined, has been legendary for generations. But like so many institutions of China's imperial past, the temple was violently severed from its historical roots by the political upheavals of the 20th century...
...they kick and punch their way toward dreams of stardom as martial masters or celluloid action heroes. Most of the more than 20,000 students will return home after a few years to humble lives as security guards or construction workers. The fortunate few will be chosen by the abbot as monks, earning the Buddhist surname "Shi." They'll pay their dues at the temple by posing with tourists or welcoming state officials, and then they might become members of the exhibition troupe or go into business on their own, using Shaolin's cachet to open martial-arts schools elsewhere...
...part of the exhibition is dedicated to the lives of those exiled. An important element of Tibetan culture and spiritual life in Switzerland is the Monastic Institute in the town of Rikon. When the first refugees started arriving four decades ago, the Dalai Lama sent several monks and an abbot to Rikon, where the exiles congregated, to provide them with spiritual care. Today the monastery continues to preserve and promote Tibetan culture. The monks, with their lifelong study of the Buddha's teachings, have always been at the heart of Tibet's religion. Living in isolation from secular concerns...
Photographs in the main hall at the Labrang Monastery convey Tibet's plight: of five portraits on display, the Dalai Lama is exiled, three others are dead or their identities disputed, and the last, Labrang's abbot, is barred from living with his monks. The local party committee hung a sign calling the spiritual place "a center for patriotic study." Even so, Labrang teems with 2,000 monks and many pilgrims, who are often Chinese. "Older monks feel differently, but I didn't go through the Cultural Revolution, so I welcome them," says a monk too young to remember China...