Читать книгу Little Monk and the Mantis - John Fusco - Страница 7

Long ago in Old China, at the foot of Song Mountain, sat a quiet place called the Shaolin Temple. Shaolin was a monastery where monks lived in peace, tending to gardens and praying by candle and leaving no tracks where they walked. There were student monks, big brothers, uncles, and the master monks—wise old men like Master Feng.

And then there was Wong Long, the small orphan boy who was left on the steps on a long night in the Year of the Monkey.

Wong Long loved his life in Shaolin Temple. He loved lighting the incense for Master Feng; he loved feeding the birds and learning their songs as he walked the mountain trails to gather tea leaf. He even liked sweeping snow from the temple steps. But mostly he loved Kung Fu.

“Kung Fu,” said Master Feng, “is a gift from our grandfather monks, an ancient secret that we practice to keep our minds at peace and our bodies strong.”

Wong Long knew that his beloved temple had been burned down by bandits and raiders many times in the past. But the monks always forgave the enemy and rebuilt their walls. They did not want to fight, only to defend the child monks and the old ones and the pagodas where they buried the priests. For all life was sacred to a Shaolin monk. Wong Long was taught that the secret ways of Kung Fu were hidden deep in nature. Each monk chose an animal style and studied the ways of that creature so that he might move like it and understand its being and become part of nature as he practiced. This was called the

Five Animal styles of Shaolin. It was said that it took half a lifetime to master even one animal.

And so the monks would practice. Practice. Practice. And practice. And when they were done at the end of each day, Master Feng would say, “Practice some more.”

Like painting or music, it was beautiful art. “Kung Fu,” said Master Feng, “does not mean fighting. It means accomplishing a skill through hard work over time. A masterful gardener could be said to have good Kung Fu. A flute player who has studied well can have good Kung Fu. So can a cook, or a mother of children, or the man who carves walking sticks.”