The youngest abbot in the 1500-year history of Shaolin Temple - Abbot Shi Yongxin, became known nationwide overnight after having an intimate tea session with Putin, the first foreign head of state to visit Shaolin Temple, discussing Buddhism. Moreover, his highly commercialized management style of Shaolin Temple has aroused great curiosity about him.
Youngest Abbott
Shi Yongxin has increasingly made astonishing moves, making himself and the millennium-old temple behind him - the Zen Ancestral Hall Shaolin Temple, become the focus of the public and media. The Los Angeles Times portrayed him as a successful religious figure who integrates Chinese Buddhist culture with modern corporate culture.
This middle-aged monk, always dressed in a yellow robe and red cassock, slightly overweight, became the youngest abbot in the 1500-year history of Shaolin Temple starting from August 1999. In addition, he is also a representative of the Ninth and Tenth National People's Congress, Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China, and President of the Buddhist Association of Henan Province.
On March 14th, after finishing the "two sessions" in Beijing, he returned to Shaolin Temple at 11 PM that night from Zhengzhou. On the 15th, he presided over the burial ceremony of the former acting abbot, Master Su Xi, and received visits from the State Administration for Religious Affairs on the same afternoon, preparing for Russian President Putin's visit to Shaolin Temple. During the "two sessions" in Beijing, he also found time to participate in CCTV's "News Salon" program interview.
In Jin Yong, Gu Long's novels or Hu Jinquan's films, and all imaginations about Shaolin Temple, the monks of Shaolin Temple are always portrayed as a serious and rigid opposition to secular life. However, such traces are hard to find in the current abbot of Shaolin Temple. As early as three years ago, in a short film by the American "Discovery" channel about Shi Yongxin titled "The New Shaolin Abbot," the term "CEO" was used as the English translation for "abbot."
Shi Yongxin, this CEO draped in a cassock, since officially ascending to the position of abbot, has increasingly made astonishing moves, making himself and the millennium-old temple, the Zen Ancestral Hall Shaolin Temple, become the focus of the public and media. He gives interviews to major media outlets, travels around in a jeep with a dedicated driver, flies around the world in a jetliner, plans large-scale performances in Las Vegas, associates with Hollywood celebrities, and establishes Shaolin branch temples globally. Not long ago, the Los Angeles Times published an article titled "Kung Fu Monks Keeping Up with Fashion," portraying him as a successful religious figure who integrates Chinese Buddhist culture with modern corporate culture.
In a recent online media interview, Shi Yongxin claimed that he enjoys sitting alone in the meditation room, meditating and contemplating. But then he sighed, saying that he spends more than 1/6 of his time flying abroad each year, dealing with high society, and now can't even count how many countries he has been to.
Assets of Shaolin Temple
Just like being unable to clearly state how many countries he has visited, Abbot Shi Yongxin has never given an answer to how many assets Shaolin Temple has. The relatively clear assets are: entrance fees, martial arts, and incense offerings. Calculating solely based on entrance fee revenue, according to statistics, Shaolin Temple currently receives around 1.5 million visitors annually, with each ticket costing 40 yuan, resulting in a total annual income of 60 million yuan from entrance fees, of which Shaolin Temple gets 1/4, or 15 million yuan.
Regarding martial arts performances, since 1987 when Shi Yongxin began serving as the abbot of Shaolin Temple, Shaolin monks have gradually ventured overseas, participating in international religious art conferences and Buddhist rituals, bringing Shaolin Kung Fu to foreign lands. By 2004, the Shaolin Kung Fu performance troupe personally led by Shi Yongxin had visited over 60 countries, performing more than 1000 times. According to previous reports by the UK's Guardian, the income from a single performance in the US by Shaolin Temple is approximately 10,000 USD.
In October 2005, the original dance drama "Wind in Shaolin," jointly choreographed by Shaolin Temple and Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater...
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