How Realistic is PRC's Shaolin?
How realistic does everybody think the Shaolin martial arts taught now in the PRC are? Do they do any real fighting, or is it mainly for show?
It seems to be mainly showy long fist type stuff in most of the demos. Not sure how useful it really is for self defense purposes.
I was Wing Lam's head Shaolin instructor...
...and it was quite different than my experience at Shaolin, let me tell ya. And I don't say that with any disrespect to my old Sifu. BSL is a wonderful system. But then, so is Songshan Shaolin.
We haven't run anything from Antonio for a spell, but we were first to publish his story, which he later ran in BB and in his book. Ironically, he sent me an email from Korea today. Antonio has his opinion, one that I personally respect but don't agree with. The situation at Shaolin is incredible. If you think you can sum it up by yourself, you haven't even scratched the surface. If you think you can judge it by what some one else says, whether it be Antonio, the Abbot, or me, ha! AT the very least, read some of my tales of Shaolin. You'll find some of them for free in our e-zine. They'll give you another perspective.
??? Confused about Shaolin
So I went through those articles, but I have to admit, that I don't really get it.
???
I'm not understanding why, I guess. I mean, Gene, you've gone to Shaolin a ton, and you've studied with Wing Lam, but I don't really get the point behind Shaolin, I guess.
I mean, they're acrobatic, their forms are big and long, they get really strong and all that, but why go through all the trouble to to over there to study that when you already took Shaolin in the U.S. and there are other teachers in the U.S. like Bak Shaolin?
It seems like an agenda beyond just studying Shaolin, to somehow renewing martial arts in China through promotion of Shaolin or something.
I'm not really understanding it.
A lot of people I've talked to have gone to China, have dealt with the crowdedness, the sick stomach, the greasy food, the sometimes crooked dealings, 2 price system and all that, yet they still seem to speak highly about it.
In fact, a couple people came back with Chinese wives.
I just don't understand the appeal. From everything people say it sounds like a really crappy thing to do, yet everybody that does it seems to love it. ???