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Originally Posted by
GeneChing
I finally slogged through this piece of crap what a horrid waste of time that was.
that's quite the tipping of the scales of balance... would you take it as far as burning it? and what truly can be called a waste of time when it the only thing that time brings, is change.
because the possibility would cause the collapse of the worlds martial arts as brought through your magazine?
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It is packed with misinformation.
yet how do you defend misinformation, if any, that is published in your magazine?
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It attempts to appear well researched by citing previous publications, but even the most cursory review of the bibliography reveals that it focuses only on recent titles and only in English.
akin to teaching a child the basic building blocks, from which to build their own search for the truth. naturally you first give the people something in which they can relate to... moving backwards is rising upwards.
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In fact, there are some obvious gaffs in here that clearly indicate that the researchers lack even the most fundamental understanding of Chinese language, much less Chinese culture.
yet oral traditions kept for thousands of years will naturally very from the language around them... and considering the the book sites that the last of the order was gone around '28 there is a strong possibility that the lack of influnence from evolving chinese culture and language would seem off.
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It's more of a manifesto - some one obviously put a lot of work into this solely to perpetuate their agenda within their strange belt system school.
yet isn't that called successful marketting strategy or something? if you wanted to put forth a first book, ever, to the public... wouldn't you want to make a big splash? compared to your magazine, which is more like a strewn handful of pebbles, this book, regardless of authenticity, made one hêll of a splash... and we all know that the ripples from one big splash, usually disrupt all the little chaotic ripples caused from a small handful...
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I get sent a lot of manifestos - this has to be the best presentation so far, but it still lacked content.
another fine example of the concept of big splashes.
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There's two kickers to this - two outstanding things the just sent sent it over the top. One is that it comes with this little apology blow-in card. What kind of book does that?
a truly humble jester...
fear you say? i'd say it took quite a set of balls to present this book to an obviously hostile world of Modern Martial Arts.
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Second, and this is why I call them 'cowards,' is that they refuse to identify themselves. They give all sorts of excuses for anonymity, but it's it's really ridiculous when you think about it.
so those in an order that has suffered persecution, from their near beginnings, who have had numerous members killed over the years from ignorant minded folks, are in fact being... cowards?
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After all, this is the martial arts.
you see, you are missing the point entirely... shaolin is not about martials first... there no reason to even care wether or not the world accepts it or not.
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If you can't lay your name and reputation down on the line with something that you publish, you have no right to stand amongst other martial artists that do.
you're right!! they can stand amongst whoever they want, because they live up to no one elses set of standards and beliefs than their own.
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I feel bad for any newbies who begin their Shaolin journey with this book.
everyone starts their journey somewhere... better to start with one book of possible bull, rarther than a magazines worth of a thousand possible more...
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They will be so deluded.
delusion is relative to the individual, not the spectators.
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I can only hope that they can find the truth, in the end.
even as the scales of can tip from end to end without finding stability, they still cross the inflection point of of balance at the center... :)