Originally Posted by
Sifu Bok Se Teung
I came across this thread late, but wanted to weigh in. The thread is full of emotional posts calling the material in the book b.s. and so forth, but can any of us know it isn't true? What is your basis for comparison? Your modern day training with modified current forms? Or is it comparing what is written in the book with what is coming out of the new re-created Communist government run Shaolin Temple in Honan?
What is being presented out of the re-created Honan Temple is where the baloney is. What they teach as authentic Shaolin forms is nothing but mishmashed Communist Wu Shu with a dose of Longfist thrown in. And the Chan Buddhism these monks have suddenly discovered these past ten years is imported from India. I applaud the temple for continuously trying to move closer to Shaolin. Gone are the actors and the cigarette smoking monks hanging outside the dimsum (coke) machines. But the fact remains Shaolin Chan is not at all like the Mayahaha Buddhism that the monks have embraced.
When Ta Mo came to China with his brand of Buddhism Taoism and Confucism were the dominant religions. So it was natural some of those concepts would be interbred into the new Buddhism. It's not unlike the paganism that got intermixed with Christianity. What developed was a new form of Buddhism that became known as Ch'an or Chan. Chan embraces our oneness with nature. Chan emphasizes meditation as the path to enlightenment as opposed to rituals, prayers, good deeds or reciting of Sutras. Chan Shaolin Buddhists did not embrace the Three Treasures, or the Four Diamonds or the this Sutra or that Sutra. The Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path contained therein was the extent of what they embraced. That it the Mayhana Buddhism that has been brought back from India.
I have heard some here at the satellite Shaolin centers deny that Shaolin ever absorbed Taoism. The Temples at Wudang and O'Mei were totally Taoist, yet part of the Shaolin order. Shaolin today practices chi development and has many exercises and forms to that end. Yet, if you stop and think of the origins of chi development you'll find they are in the Taoist temples. Also, why do you think they built their temples in nature so they could be close to nature and its harmony.
In conclusion, I am not saying one way or another that this book is authentic or not. Rather I simply ask that you examine what "truth" you are measuring it against.
Peace.
Sifu Bok Se Teung
5th Degree Red Sash
12th Order, Red Dragon Level
Hu Lan Temple of Shaolin