Story highlights Shi Yongxin is known for promoting the Shaolin brand and turning it to multimillion-dollar business

He is accused of being an embezzler and womanizer with illegitimate children -- something he denies

A self-identified Shaolin insider has posted a series of explosive allegations on Chinese social media

Beijing (CNN) The world's most famous kung fu temple is fighting back amid a growing list of scandalous accusations against its controversial abbot.

Established more than 1,500 years ago and home to some 3,000 monks, the Shaolin Monastery in central China is renowned for its age-old tradition of practicing both Zen Buddhism and martial arts.

Since last weekend, however, a self-identified Shaolin insider has posted a series of explosive allegations on Chinese social media, depicting Abbot Shi Yongxin as an embezzler and womanizer with illegitimate children.

Calling himself Shi Zhengyi -- or "interpreting justice" in Chinese -- the accuser included documents dating back to the late 1980s purportedly showing Shi Yongxin being kicked out of Shaolin following theft and other accusations from his own master.

Among other evidence posted online was a birth certificate for one of the abbot's supposed illegitimate children with a mistress, as well as photos of the mother and the child.

Read More