buddism

The Shaolin monks of China are a very dedicated few. Waking up as early as 4:00 in the morning, they begin with intense stretching exercises to warm up their body for their very strenuous physical regimen of Ch’an; a sect of Buddhism in which physical activity is used to reach enlightenment. Their main activities revolve around martial arts, a powerful self-defence art they developed long ago, but they also meditate heavily, up to five hours at a time. Basing their different styles around nature and animals they imitate their actions and execute some awe-inspiring moves. To further train themselves they never stop training, even when resting they raise one leg. While eating they go into the painful horse saddle stance to imitate an ancient battle in which the monks had protected a king on horseback. The monks are very physically oriented but they are also very spiritual and have many ethics and codes by which they live. Eating no meat and consuming no alcohol their life is s...