Quote:
Originally posted by Golden Tiger
Out of curiosity, I went back and watched the meeting between Master Sin and the Head Abbot when the marker was placed. While most of the speaking was done by the guy from Chinese Tourism, there was a speech given by the head disiple written by the Abbot. It spoke of Shaolin being the birthplace of MA, how they wanted it to spread all over the world, yada yada yada...... The group and the monks exchanged a gift, Master Sin said a few words and that was it.
Yep... saw that video too. Saw the same things.
Quote:
Originally posted by Golden Tiger
A couple of observations that I made were:
1. A large group was assembled to meet with and celebrate the placing of the marker (yes, paid for by the group).
2. The head Abbot, obviously not in the best of health due to Parkinson's (or it appeared to be that) was there along with a few of the senior monks.
1 -- Yep.
2 -- Yep.
Quote:
Originally posted by Golden Tiger
So what comes to mind is this..... Master Sin and the "style" he promotes seemed not to pi$$ off those at the temple. He was treated with respect and was greeted by the ailing Head Abbot. I wonder if that is standard practice when other tourist show up? Sure, you could say that we "rented" a photo op with the HA but due to his health.....I am not sure.
Of course he was treated with respect. Most anybody is treated with respect when you drop $$$$ on a place like that. We had a Q&A session & photo op in 2001 with YongXin. Close to 90 Westerners coming in... dropping lots of $$$$ not once, but often. You get a little better than the normal Joe stopping in by the temple.
Quote:
Originally posted by Golden Tiger
It has also been said that the monks smiled while laughing under their breath at the demo our group did. That really wouldn't suprise me given the fact that it was made up of those that could afford the trip (ie. actually worked for a living and weren't professional MA's). What they didn't do is boo them off the floor for the so-so performance or the *******ization of CMA...one could argue respect or good manners.
Yep... I would guess that they appreciated the effort put in by anybody to study MA, but good manners does go a long way in this world.
Quote:
Originally posted by Golden Tiger
So, "we" have visited the authority on Shaolin MA, didn't get shot at or arrested for what we did, what we claim or who we were, and are still going strong today.
I can live with that.......
Well... there have been visits made to Shaolin, to Dengfeng, to Xiamen, to Chen Village, to Xian, to Wudang, etc... to be sure. Well documented & covered. There has been lots of speeches by gov't & local officials on how happy they were Master Sin & the groups were there. There have been lots of photo ops with all sorts of people at these locations, even coverage on Chinese National TV. I'm sure in the big picture the money brought in by Master Sin wouldn't be missed, but why **** off a continued source of income. They give a little face to Master Sin & everybody is happy. It just speaks of good manners. It also good economic practices on their parts.
I can live with that too...