Who are the Shaolin monks?
During the modern Chinese period (16th-19th centuries), many people who were not monks practiced Shaolin wushu. Usually this happened as follows. Firstly, a number of people could come to the monastery to become a novitiate, which in Chinese is called tzuishi (literally, “follower, living in society”) or baigui ditszi (“follower who has bowed to Buddhist principles”). Compared to other monasteries there weren’t many such people within Shaolinsi since the monastery was always considered to be a small one (it wasn’t until the 19th century that the two side wings were built, where today the gymnasium and the monastery garden are located). At first tzuishi followed the classical rules of Indian upasaks (i.e. Buddhists in society), i.e. followed the three testaments or “the three jewels” – faith in Buddha, Dharma (his teaching), and the Sangha (Buddhist community). They also had to follow four basic testaments: not to kill living things, not to eat meat and not to drink alcohol, not to lie
