Haideng Fashi

[Brad]

I found this about him in Liang Shou Yu's book Kungfu Elements:

"Haideng Fashi(1902-1989)- Also known as Fan Wubing. He was a prominent practitioner in the recent past. At age 21, he became a monk in the Emei Mountains and trained in Yizhijin, Erzhichan, Tongzigong, and Shaolin Wuquan. He was the former Henan Shaolin Temple Abbot and Vice Chairman of the China Buddhist Association."

A few questions:
I was wondering, is there anyplace else I kind find acurate info on him?
Also are Emei Mountain Monks considered Shaolin Monks?
Are there any "kungfu monks" left in the Emei mountains or were they pretty much wiped out?
One last thing: There's a photo of a much younger Haideng printed in the book of him performing a 2 finger stand(very cool ;) ). Is there anyplace I can get my hand on more photos of him?

[David Jamieson]

http://www.cs-online.com.cn/enews/wushu/grand/7420.shtm

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~echa/qigong.html


There are also a couple of movies about him that are still pretty available.

he is regarded as a larger than life figure in the modern times of shaolin temple and it's martial arts.

a good study to be sure.

good luck.

p.s he had one finger skill that was amazing. I've seen a film of him sustaining the index finger holding his body upright against a wall. not a flip, not a still picture but film of this monk doing a single finger stand without much effort apparently.

kids, don't try this at home, seriously, it is very difficult to achieve this skill and folly to attempt it without proper training.

Fascinating!

peace

[GeneChing]

Our forum sponsor, www.martialartsmart.com, carries the old doc on Haideng - check it out at http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/pr-tzjl01.html

Emei monks are considered Emei monks, although they do draw some roots to Shaolin. My understanding is that there are still martial monks there. Emei is in Sichuan, a distant province where many northern masters fled to after the 1937 Sino-Japanese war. It absorbed many styles into its curriculam at that time. It is worthy of note that Emeishan is one of the four Buddhist mountains, not one of the five sacred mountains - Songshan is one of the five sacred mountains, but not one of the four Buddhist mountains. We did a special focus issue on Emei (a.k.a. O-mei) in our Nov 2000 issue. http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/kf-200009.html