Kung -Fu temple in Nowra

Discussion in 'Australia' started by Bilby, Jun 15, 2006.

  1. Bilby

    Bilby Lifetime Supporter and Freerangertarian Super Moderator

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    From http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1660065.htm

    ELIZABETH JACKSON: It's probably the most famous temple in the world.

    China's Shaolin Temple has been made famous through books, films, and TV, because of its legendary kung fu fighting monks.

    Now, the Zen Buddhist temple is looking to build another home for its monks, outside Nowra in New South Wales.

    A deal to purchase 1,200 hectares will be signed in China today, as our Correspondent, John Taylor, reports.

    JOHN TAYLOR: In the history of kung fu, there is no other place like the Shaolin Temple.

    The 1,500-year-old Zen Buddhist monastery in central China is home to fighting monks, made famous in modern times on the big and small screen.

    If things go to plan, the monks may be about to set up a lavish home away from home, just south of Nowra.

    Greg Watson is Mayor of the Shoalhaven City Council.

    GREG WATSON: There will be a three-tier temple complex, with two pagodas, 500-room hotel, a 500-place kung fu academy.

    There'll be some residential subdivision, a 27-hole golf course, herbal medicine, herbal gardens, acupuncture, special massage, and that's about it.

    JOHN TAYLOR: Today in central China's Henan province Mayor Watson and the Temple's Abbott are to sign off on the monks' purchase of a 1,200 hectare property south of Nowra.

    Patrick Peng is the Abbott's representative in Australia.

    PATRICK PENG: The Shaolin of course is very well known in China itself, so he like to take this opportunity to try to introduce the Shaolin legacy, the heritage to the rest of the world, through another outlet.

    JOHN TAYLOR: The NSW Government is still to give final approval to the project. But speaking in Beijing yesterday, Mayor Greg Watson wasn't expecting a fight.

    GREG WATSON: What happened was, I heard via a Member of Parliament, that the Abbott was looking for a potential location to establish the second Shaolin temple in the world, somewhere in Australia, and I said have I got a deal for the Abbott?

    JOHN TAYLOR: Who says religion and big business can't mix?

    The Shaolin Temple already has a performance touring the world, featuring the impressive skills of its fighting monks.

    The Abbott's man in Australia, Patrick Peng, says Shaolin is not just about kung fu.

    PATRICK PENG: You know, it's culture.

    JOHN TAYLOR: Well can you have the two together, a tourist attraction and a functioning temple?

    PATRICK PENG: Oh yes, in fact, on the contrary. Nowadays many religions, not only just Buddhism, Daoism, they're all trying to make themselves more relevant to the modern world, and really they're not exclusive, they're not just men in the caves, you know.

    So what they're trying to do is to share the philosophies and the lifestyle, the healthy lifestyle, to the world.

    ELIZABETH JACKSON: Patrick Peng, who represents the Abbott of the Shaolin Temple in Australia, ending that report from John Taylor.
     

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