Photo of the Day

Shrines to Shaolin monks
March 15, 2011

Pagoda Forest, China

This Month in Photo of the Day: National Geographic Magazine Features

"Gained merit in battle" reads the epitaph of two of the 231 eminent Shaolin monks honored with shrines in the Pagoda Forest. The number of layers in a shrine reflects a monk's virtue; his bones, and often those of disciples, are buried below.


See more photographs from the March 2011 feature story "Battle for the Soul of Kung Fu."

Photograph by Fritz Hoffmann, National Geographic

Go Further