For the first time in history, the notoriously guarded warrior monks of the 1500-year-old Shaolin Temple--a Chinese Buddhist sect dedicated to preserving a form of kung fu known as the "vehicle of Zen"--have allowed their secretive society to be documented. With the blessing of the main abbot, Justin Guariglia earned the trust and full collaboration of the Shaolin monks to create an astonishing, empathic record of the Shaolin art forms and the individuals who consider themselves the keepers of these traditions. Over the past eight years, Guariglia has deftly captured the changing context of this ancient sect as it encounters the increasingly hyper-modern world of contemporary China. This amazing work provides viewers with a rare opportunity to examine the energy and spirit of the Shaolins' unique Zen practice, which has until now primarily been seen via pop-cultural interpretation in such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It features serial imagery of fighting poses; cinematic grid images and cool design.

Born in 1974 in Maplewood, New Jersey, Justin Guariglia lived and worked in Asia for nearly a decade before returning to live in New York City in 2006. He is the author of the critically acclaimed photography book Shaolin: Temple of Zen, which the Aperture Foundation turned into a 100-piece internationally traveling photography exhibition. Guariglia is a regular contributor to Smithsonian magazine, and is a photographer and contributing editor to National Geographic Travelor magazine.