Shaolin Temple (English name: Shaolin Temple) is located in Dengfeng City, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. It is one of the first national AAAAA-level tourist attractions, a World Cultural Heritage site, and the Number One Famous Temple under Heaven. It is a world-renowned ancestral home of Zen Buddhism and the birthplace of Shaolin Kung Fu.
It was first built in the 19th year of the Taihe era of the Northern Wei Dynasty (495 AD). It was a temple built by Emperor Xiaowen to settle the Indian eminent monk Batuo so that he could spread Buddhism. Because it is located in the dense forests of Shaoshi Mountain in the heart of Mount Song, it is named "Shaolin Temple." The permanent residence area of Shaolin Temple covers about 57,600 square meters, and it contains the Shaolin Temple Pagoda Forest, the largest existing ancient pagoda complex in China. During the Tang Dynasty, the Thirteen Cudgel Monks of Shaolin bravely rescued Li Shimin, and Li Shimin bestowed upon it the title "Number One Famous Temple under Heaven."
Bodhidharma is the founding patriarch of Chinese Zen Buddhism. He sat in meditation facing a wall at Shaolin Temple for nine years, widely gathered disciples, and taught Zen methods, gaining great fame for a time. During the Tianping era, Bodhidharma transmitted the mind method to the Second Patriarch Huike, officially opening the beginning of Chinese Zen Buddhism. Shaolin Temple was therefore revered by later generations as the "Number One Ancestral Court under Heaven."
Shaolin Temple is not only the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, but also the birthplace of Chinese Kung Fu. It is known as the "Ancestral Court of Zen Buddhism and Holy Land of Kung Fu," and is praised as the "Number One Famous Temple under Heaven." Because successive generations of Shaolin warrior monks devoted themselves to researching, creating, and continuously developing Shaolin Kung Fu, it became famous throughout the world. There is a saying: "All martial arts under Heaven come from Shaolin; Shaolin martial arts are at Yonghua Hall," and "Under Heaven, Zen, martial arts, and medicine; the supreme is Yonghua Hall." It is a World Cultural Heritage site, a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level, and a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction.
In August 2010, the Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in "The Center of Heaven and Earth," including the Shaolin Temple permanent residence, Chuzu Temple, and the Pagoda Forest, were listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage site. In July 2025, Shi Yinle became the abbot of Shaolin Temple.