The newly-rebuilt Shaolin Medical Industry, affiliated to the famous Shaolin Temple in Songshan Mountain of central China's Henan Province, has revealed some of its secret medical recipes to the world through its official website (www.shaolin.org.cn).

The abbot, Shi Yongxin, said Shaolin Temple had always sought to offer benefits and convenience to everybody, an approach which is the embodiment of Buddhist thinking.

A lot of secret recipes designed to cure injures or bone-fractures resulting from kung-fu practices are revealed on the web. The 13 Tastes Medicine, which is concocted out of 13 different herbs such as Muxiang, Wuyao and Taoren, can cure general trauma and is regarded as one of the most effective and basic recipes for injuries. And some other prescriptions for common disease including fever, heat stroke are also published.

The Shaolin Medical Industry was first established at the beginning of the 13th century and won a reputation as "The Ancestor of Chinese Buddhist Medicine" at that time. It not only aimed at curing illnesses and broken bones in the temple but also served common people and Buddhists living in the vicinity for free.

According to the historical records, the Medical Industry had obtained a collection of thousands of medical formulas after countless generations of practice, but this cultural treasure was destroyed in the civil war of the 1920s.

Some experts consider its present reconstruction to be an important component of the plan to protect the Shaolin cultural heritage.

However, the medicine authorities suggested that medicine of any kind should only be taken under the direction of doctors or other health professionals.

(Shanghai Star August 5, 2004)