中文介绍：河南少林寺在河南登封县城西北12公里。寺院坐落在丛林茂密的少室山阴，以此得名。 
    河南少林寺的历史久远，始建于北魏，后来，印度名僧菩提达摩来到少林寺传授禅宗。以后，寺院逐渐扩大，僧徒日益增多，少林寺声名大振。达摩被称为中国佛教禅宗的初祖，少林寺被称为禅宗的祖庭。禅宗修行的禅法称为“壁观”，就是面对墙壁静坐。由于长时间盘膝而坐，极易疲劳，僧人们就习武锻炼，以解除身体的困倦。因此，传说少林拳是达摩创造的。 
    嵩山少林寺在唐朝初年就扬名海内。少林寺和尚13人，在李世民讨伐王世充的征战中助战解围，立下了汗马功劳。唐太宗李世民后来封昙宗和尚为大将军，并特别允许少林寺和尚练僧兵，开杀戒，吃酒肉。庙内有一块《唐太宗赐少林寺主教碑》，记述了这一段历史。由于朝廷的大力支持，少林寺发展成驰名中外的大佛寺，博得“天下第一名刹”的称号。宋代，少林武术又有很大提高，寺僧多达2000余人。明朝到达鼎盛时期。
   在少林寺西约300米的山脚下，有一处塔林，这是唐以来少林寺历代住持僧的葬地，共250余座。这是中国最大的塔林。塔的大小不等，形状各异，大都有雕刻和题记，反映了各个时代的建筑风格，是研究中国古代砖石建筑和雕刻艺术的宝库。
  河南少林寺内还保存了不少珍贵的文物。山门门额上悬挂的“少林寺”匾额，是清康熙皇帝亲笔书写的。山门后大甬道和东西小马道旁立有碑碣数十通，称为少林寺碑林。其中有两通碑刻是留学中国的日本禅僧撰写的。

少林寺英文介绍：Shaolin Temples of China
The Shaolin temple has many legends and mysteries surround it. The origin of martial arts, the origin of kung fu surround the vague mysteries of the Shaolin Temple and the shaolin monks.
Shaolin Temple is probably the most famous temple in China, not only because of its long history and its role in Chinese Buddhism, but also because of its martial arts or Wushu Chan. Shaolin Temple is situated in the beautiful Songshan Mountains, which is only eight miles of Dengfeng and about 50 miles southwest of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province.  Shaolin Temple was established in 495 during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). Batuo, an Indian monk, came to Luoyang, the ancient capital, for spreading Buddhism at that period. Emperor  Xiaowen was a believer of Buddhism so he decided to build the temple in the Songshan Mountains to house Batuo, who translated many Buddhist works and had a few hundred followers there.
Shaolin Monks Damo (Bodhidharma), the legendary Indian monk, came to Shaolin in 517, who was the creator of Chinese Zen. There are many legendary stories about him. One of the well-known stories says he was meditating in a cave for nine years. The cave is now called Damo Cave. Many people believe he wrote the famous 'Yijinjing,' the base of Shaolin martial arts or Gongfu. But there is no record about the book before and during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) so experts think Damo has little to do with Shaolin Gongfu. Zongheng, a Taoist priest of Tiantai Mountain, wrote 'Yijinjing' in 1624, but to add mystery to  it, he made up a story saying 'Yijinjing' was  originally written by Damo. ..............
 相关知识：嵩山少林寺辈分(谱系)你知道吗？