Fung Dou Dak is said to have been one of the legendary

Five Elders In Southern Chinese folklore, the Five Elders of Shaolin (), also known as the Five Generals are the survivors of one of the destructions of the Shaolin temple by the Qing Dynasty, variously said to have taken place in 1647 or in 1732. The or ...

, survivors of the destruction of the

Shaolin Temple Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 ''Shàolínsì''), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the So ...

by the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

(1644–1912). Some of the legends say that

Pak Mei Bak Mei () is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders — survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) — who, according to some accounts, betrayed Shaolin to the imperial gov ...

and Fung Dou Dak joined forces with the Qing army and destroyed the second southern Shaolin Temple with a huge army outnumbering the monks 10 to 1.

Fung Dou Dak and Bak Mei according to the lineage of Nam Anh

Ming China, which had been weakened by corruption and internal rebellion, was overtaken by the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

in 1644. Hong Mei ("Red Eyebrows"), abbot of the southern Shaolin Temple, died during this time and his position was passed onto Chi Thien Su, also known as

Jee Sin The Venerable Chi Sin Sim Si is a legendary Chinese martial artist, said to have been one of the Five Elders, survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing Dynasty (16441912). He is linked to many southern Chinese martial a ...

. Another such master named Chu Long Tuyen did not accept this. He believed the Ming had become corrupt and would rather serve the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

rulers. In 1647 the Manchu attacked the southern Shaolin Temple in Quanzhou,

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

province. Only five masters managed to escape, and since then became known as the

. Chi Thien Su, one of the Five Elders, founded another temple at Nine Lotus Mountain in Fujian where the survivors sought shelter. Chu Long Tuyen refused to provide his real name for fear of retribution against his family and students, in case they survived. The abbot then christened him ''Bak Mei''—White Eyebrow. According to some stories, Bak Mei betrayed the Ming by taking information about their plot against the invaders to the Manchu Shunzhi Emperor, then returned with information about the Manchu attack plan to the Shaolin. After the temple was destroyed, Bak Mei and Fung Dou Dak left the temple on separate paths in order to study

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...

. Bak Mei trained an anti-imperial attack force but, following capture of the force by the imperials, was forced to teach and lead 50,000 imperial troops in the second destruction of the Shaolin Temple to prevent those captured with him from being tortured and killed. There, Bak Mei slew the "invincible" Shaolin leader Chi Thien Su in single combat by breaking his neck. He claimed he did this to prevent the massacre of the monks in the temple by the troops who followed him. While he is often portrayed as a traitor, Bak Mei's actions were undertaken (and by extension Fung Dou Dak's), including the destruction of the temple, with the intention of preventing harm to those who had chosen to follow him. It is possible that if Bak Mei and Fung Dou Dak had not aided the imperial forces, their followers would have been tortured to death.

Fung Dou Dak According to Other Legends

Other sources (from Bak Fu Pai schools) assert that Fung Dou Dak did not, in fact, help Bak Mei destroy Shaolin. In their accounts, Fung was loyal to the Shaolin Temple; while it was burning, he saved the herbal medicine manuals and escaped through a secret tunnel. He then adopted

so as to avoid the

soldiers who were on the lookout for Buddhist monks. Fung made his way to a Taoist monastery on

Emei Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...

Mountain, and there refined his martial skills, combining Shaolin skills with Taoist principles. He was helped in his efforts by a physician and herbal expert named Doo Tin Yin (he helped him gain admission to the Taoist monastery and/or used his position as an imperial physician to protect Fung from his enemies ).

In popular culture

Ku Kuan Chung played Fung Dou Dak in the 1979 film Abbot of Shaolin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dak, Fung Dou Chinese wushu practitioners