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View Full Version : Shaolin Monk Show in Hubei, China



Stumblefist
06-15-2001, 06:19 AM
... and you thought the glitz of those famous Shaolin Monks in America was too much.
I saw the show for the locals in Hubei province....so sad because the audience actually revered and respected the monks, because they are so famously promoted within China.
The "90 minute show" (only 45 minutes - chinese here have a problem with "truth") had only 2 form demos, the rest was qigong "magic" demos and pitches for money. The monks were a bit older , all were fit and well fed, a little too well fed but not fat, but i had to admit they all had that one important attribute and it surely, i mean really, impressed me, which was that of some kind of godly or superhuman demeanour or image or attitude... they really seemed the part or image of what they should be.
Well, they sold beads, magic lights, every kind of bric-a-brac, for ASTONISHING prices, too high for some poor sap to be spending his month's salary, but they did sell them. And these asonishing monks leaped into the audience after every skit of qigong magic to push these things on the audience and nothing would start again till the sales started moving.
Finally at the end an old ASTONISHING shaolin master ripped up same pages from a book and went into a kung fu stance. Using his marvellous concentration the papers BURST INTO FLAME at which point the whole demo was over and before anybody could inspect the burning papers the entire astonishing monk cast LEPT into the audience and using their amazing powers of pushy salesmanship and intimidation factor tried to sell magic qigong cures to all the audience for ASTONISHING prices as the audience was trying to leave.
They cannibilize their own people, so we don't have to feel TOO privileged when they go after our american wallets with their cheap tricks and fake culture.

kungfudork
06-16-2001, 07:54 AM
what proof do you have that the monks here are after out wallets. my sifu is a shaolin monk and he has the best prices i have seen in martial arts anywhere. for 100$ a month i can come to 2 classes(1 and 1/2hour each) per day six days a week. show me any other school that has a schedule like this.....most places i looked at offered things like only 2 classes a week for like 45min. so to me, my sifu is trying to train students and willing to train you as often as you can show up. so please don't make such a general statement when it seems apparent you don't know what you are talking about. no disrespect to you, i just feel you made a bad generalized statement about the monks here in the US.
respect to all,
kungfu**** (dieter wagner)

Stumblefist
06-16-2001, 07:30 PM
God forbid that i should make any GENERALIZED statements about the greedy, money grubbing, low-class, shallow, spiritually empty, low-class conmen monks form the Shaolin Temple.
Please regard my comments as SPECIFICALLY directed against ANY of these "MONKS" from that temple since 1970.
(By the way, in true chinese martial art societies there is no tuition fee).

Shaolindynasty
06-17-2001, 04:08 AM
What does your instructor charge? Anyway most all martial arts schools charge a fee. The schools you are talking about actually encourage "donations" to the school. If you think "real" kungfu Sifu don't need to make a living you are nuts.
(By the way, in true chinese martial art societies there is no tuition fee. :rolleyes:

Witness the Dynasty!!!
New Site! www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net (http://www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net)

Stumblefist
06-17-2001, 06:58 AM
Q: What does your instructor charge?
A: nothing or something,depends who you are talking about and which organization. For aikido, iaido, i ay regular fees. Generally, i don't charge anything, who knows, maybe i will do something commercial someday, but mostly CMA is something to rise above or to elevate so i don't like to involve money.
Q Anyway most all martial arts schools charge a fee.
A: that's "schools" not martial art brotherhood's or "societies." CMA societes are based on the family system. Money is not charged to family members. In specific the mantis societies in Taiwan and the Zhao Bao societies in Taiwan and China still operate this way. There are others, but they membership is only open to the dedicated and generally by chance, one has to search.
I am not criticizing shools or paying, just wanted to reveal a different world does exist.

Q:The schools you are talking about actually encourage "donations" to the school.
A: No: I say a brother try to donate/give some money to a society leader once. He was almost in tears from the rejection. We took him outside to explain things to him. Only money is collected for shared costs, like renting the temple for summer practice.
Q: If you think "real" kungfu Sifu don't need to make a living you are nuts.
Yes, of course they need to make a living and they lead by example. They have the wonderful suggestion that everyone WORK for a living. Such as the most famous master in Taiwan of a 200 year old society runs a fruit-tree farm. And they teach in the brotherhood, not just kung-fu but how to be a good human being and a useful member of society. In such a society. Each new wave of brothers is responsible for the junior waves under them, which is to say under such a system the intruction level is more not "less" and is intense. So rather ninja-like, freemason-like, a mutual support society, which becomes totally part of their lives, oh a brotherhood, not a school.

These alternate worlds are real. We normally can't have them, but it's something to think about.

reemul
06-17-2001, 06:59 AM
Shaolin kungfu was never free, you paid for it one way or the other. However I believe what Stumblefist was eluding to was the pushy salesmanship of these so called Monks. The Shaolin did not look to the outsice world for support, but they did accept it when offered.

In short I agree with Stumblefist these monks are wack.

Shaolindynasty
06-17-2001, 04:25 PM
Monks have always "begged for alms". They are funding the temple.

Witness the Dynasty!!!
New Site! www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net (http://www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net)

Stumblefist
06-17-2001, 07:04 PM
Dear Mr. kf****,
I posted to give people a slice a current real MA life in China, and the other post to give a gimpse that alternative exist to the usual schools... and there's an amateurs troll there.
However, about your post, i really don't know who you are talking about. There are so many taht claim Shaolinship, and others that pay shaolin for a certificate and others that havew been cigarrette-smokking,booze guzzling, womanizing, meat-eating "monks" there.
I have no idea what remarks of mine might or might not apply to your teacher.
In all sincerity i ask.
Who is he?
How does he claim shaolin monkhood?
Perhaps i am not correct, please explain.
regards
Stumble.

GeneChing
06-17-2001, 07:16 PM
Don't get me wrong about all this - there are definately fake monk shows. Charlatans abound in China almost as much as they do here in the USA.

There was a fake one running out of Beijing for a while - the top monk (whose name I won't repeat) was a disciple of Abbot Yongxin (but Yongxin has many disciples) and when the promoter heard I was had been to Shaolin and was with the magazine, they quickly and politely concluded the interview.

I saw another show where they sold stuff - it was from some martial monks from a school nearby Shaolin (whose name I also won't repeat.) It was a really great show - dazzling kungfu - but they were charging ridiculous ticket prices so the house was empty. They were trying to recoup by selling blessing and souvenirs. It was disappointing and really confused the hapless american audience.

stumblefist: Did you get the names of those perfoming at this Hubei show? It probably wasn't directly from the temple or any of the official schools. Who is performing at any shaolin demo is the most important thing because if you know anuything about the real monks, you can out the fakes quickly.

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com (http://www.KUNGFUmagazine.com)