Shaolin in San Francisco
Posted at Mar 22, 04 in Shaolin Temple News

The highest figure in Chinese Zen Buddhism and a group of his monks attended Monday's Assembly session during the monks'first visit to the United States.

The group of Shaolin martial artists from Songshan, China, demonstrated their world famous Wu Gong on the Assembly's green carpets, after Venerable Master Abbott Shi Yong Xin led the morning prayer.

The performance included impressive acrobatic flips and shows of strength by the brown-robed monks.

One performed a handstand balanced only on his index fingers, and another stood coolly while former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, repeatedly kicked him between the legs. The monks urged Wesson to kick harder.

Republican Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy of Monrovia was invited to deliver a series of blows to another's midsection. After being socked three or four times by the legislator, the monk was unfazed.

The monks belong to the 1500-year-old Shaolin Temple, the place credited with creating the beginning of Chan (Zen) Buddhism.

They were invited to the Assembly session by Speaker Pro Tempore Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and performed Sunday night in San Francisco.