Buddhism/qigong and the "essence of Shaolin"

[blooming lotus]

I had the recent pleasure of attending a couple of Shaolin kung fu training seminars and was shocked and surprised to find I needed to reserve judgement on a particular attending shifu - who is also a disciple of Shaolin temple. This shifu has studied shaolin amongst other chinese martial arts in various locations for 12ish years and is highly recommended by the temple and personally approved by the Abbott to facilitate and soley operate the only Shaolin Kungfu School in this particular country. To allow for reserved judgement and unbiased opininion I feel it totally unneccessary to mention details of who or where.

While I concede that this shifu is highly skilled technically, my issues are as follows -:

1. He has sex!!! ; (pls see "hard qiqong" and "sex and qi cultivation") and according to his indocrinated shifu needs to abstain from sex for 45 days to be able to practice hard qigong, let alone teach it???

:confused:

2. He eats meat - not out of neccesity or obligation to hosts but as preference???? Alcohol while minimal is also acceptable?????

3. There is no buddhism/qigong theory in his classes, yet at Shaolin temple, as far as I know, if you do not agree to commit to and study buddhism, you will not be accepted and will not be able to study for what shouald be to the enlightened absolutely obvious reasons.

4. While avocating the need for meditation post training - he offers none!?!? (bearing in mind that hew is THE ONLY temple approved shifu with permission to operate a shaolin kungfu school in that country.

I am thinking here that as far as shaolin is concerned, any way to preserve and expand awareness of Shaolin is nothing less than a further means to mediate or act as as "landmark or singpost" for those at that stage of evoloution as Shaolin monks/nuns/wuseng etc and a good introduction for those that aren't.

This is absolutely a matter of the viabilitly of traditional cultivation methods vs training in Kungfu only, which the latter undoubtedly comprimses for reasons stated above.

I have plans to seeks this shifus shifu for expanded perspective and will let you know as information becomes available. Pls keep in mind that judgement here goes against fundamental shaolin principles - though understanding and broader perpspective is welcome!


If anyone has thoughts on this matter, Pls feel free to post ;)

[shaolin kungfu]

I said no to tradition in practice, but it's a little more complicated(in my mind at least).

It really depends on what your looking for. Do you want all the tradition, spirituality, and culture that usually accompany the temple, or are you fine with him teaching just the kung fu?

I personally don't care, as long as what they teach has merit.

[blooming lotus]

do you see Sk that by comprimising tradition and "religion" in practice you are also comprimising your qi and limiting your options of studying more effective/complex sets of your branch/style : ie- hard qigong etc etc

[shaolin kungfu]

I see where your comin from. Just a difference of opinion i geuss :)

I'd be fine with just studying the technique and application of a martial art, qi is not that important to me. For you it may be different, and that's cool.

It is a little odd that he would have the approval of the abbot and the temple if he does these things, but then again, the temple is going through changes. Who knows.

[Kristoffer]

I'm not going to vote because I feel it's a more complex answer than simlpy yes or no. I do external styles. Therefore internal training is something that we get into in the higher levels.

I must disagree though that practising religion/buddhism would make you attain higher levels of 'chi'. My Sifu is a scary guy, hes destroyed more than a few martial artists and his students are very good in my eyes. Religion is not part of our system, never have been.

I feel spirituality doesn't really have anything to do with martial arts. To me martial arts is the art of fighting. It's dirty, it doesn't always look good, it's dicipline, perfection and dedication.

[chen zhen]

how do you know your shifu has sex? did you ask him or what?

dont be disrepectful towards shifu, unless he has sex with his students!

then kick his ass!:mad:

[GeneChing]

It might be easier if you let us know who exactly your'e talking about. The actual monks (and warrior monks) of Shaolin are supposed to abstain from sex. Some don't - that's a tough one for a lot of people and monks are human too - but that's a whole other issue. As for meat eating, the warrior monks don't necessarily have to be vegetarian. They are exempt from that vow, but some practice it anyway.

[blooming lotus]

gene ching

you are full of **** :eek:

Chen ...yeah, I asked him...IF i DIDN'T RESPECT HIM SO MUCH, i'D TELL YOU HOW HE HUMBLEY WENT INTO SORROW AT HIS OWN ACTIONS...but being a "good" student...I would do no such thing :D

As for eating meat, I undestand that they have permission, but out of anything but neccessity it's wasting resources, and being part of harm to other life without sufficient justification..again, no judgement. Gene, you know my wude better than to ask me for names but shifu also said that Jet Li was made to eat meat. I plan to look into his branch and shifus beliefs. No idea and pretty busy, but becsause of the movie "shaolin Temple", you've gotta if at interested in this issue, want more information??? I'll let you know:cool: