What do/don't you consider as being "Shaolin" ?
ok, the term "Shaolin" basically is a generic term of styles that came from, developed from, or influenced by the martial arts of the Shaolin temple in the northern part of China.
However, what I would like to hear is where does people draw the line between Shaolin and not Shaolin ?
When someone says "I train the style of Shaolin", which do you accept and disregard as being what he is possibly practicing.
Styles such as Northern Shaolin, Mizong, Lohan, Erlang, Yin Ching, etc I would definately consider as being Shaolin. I would even accept Baji and Piqua as well.
However, things like eagle claw becomes rather blurry.
Praying Mantis I believe is even further. So I don't consider that as being "Shaolin" Shaolin. Just a style that was developed from it.
Internal arts I would not consider.
Under the premise that the Southern temple did not exist, I would say that most southern arts are not Shaolin either. If you disagree with that premise, then same question applies, which styles do you consider as being too far away to be considered when someone says "I train the art of Shaolin" to you ?
ahhhh Shaolin Sausage.....is it good?
yeah, it can be considered all Shaolin. I like the way you put it Gene. There are a lot of schools that consider themselves Shaolin and don't have the "chan". It either makes it or breaks it.
I never tried Shaolin Sausage
I remember all the kids would buy that Shaolin sausage whenever they had a little extra cash - their bodies were probably craving protein. It can in these little plastic tubes, kind of like a pepperidge farm sausage but the size of a mini hot dog, and looked sort of like spam. I was too freaked out about food in those early years to try it. I did try Shaolin mineral water - in fact, I have an old label from one of those ubiquitous plastic bottles. That's was pretty good actually. The seals were strong so you knew you were getting clean water and it seemed to be more refreshing than the other brands. That's probably just brand loyalty on my part ;)
Mind you, there are still Shaolin products available, both official and illegal. The newest official one is Shaolin Tea. I'll give you all a little tip, just ofr the Shaolin forum loayl - we are not going to carry Shaolin Tea any more. Tea comes under food tariff and with the cost of transportation, customs, etc, plus the shelf life, it will be discontinued. Once we sell out, we won't restock. Too bad, it's a good product. Personally, I don't think it's that flavorful as Chinese tea goes, but I can be a tea snob after being spoiled by some of the monks who cultivate tea as a Chan discipline. But the containers are sure cool. Anyways, if you want one and don't think you'llbe going to Shaolin soon, better grab it now. It won't last.
Re: What do/don't you consider as being "Shaolin" ?
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chinwoo-er
[Internal arts I would not consider.
QUOTE]
lol
...and this dude thinks he's practicing kungfu...
bwahahahahahahahaha
Re: the reality of reality
lol ..dude..you lost me right in middle somewhere ( thems some big words ;) ) but before you finished I understood and concurred...especially with your last statement. I dont speak for anyone else but this is what I mean when I say shaolin kungfu.
As GeneChing said recently these things are the foundations and something that every artial artist must confront at some time during his evoloution as a practioner.
As for you scythefall "your ch'an"? my friend, ch'an is an embodient off nothingness as paradoxical as that is an therefore belongs to no-one but I' sure we can forgive you on that score.... you're right I did misread your words though felt it uneccessary to address. I acknowledge that you were also agreeing with me but unfortunuately this doesnt mean I will return the gesture or lacked sincerity ( however ungenerously ) in any of my other coments. I am not here to demean you though and could tell you stories of how I've been stalked incessantly since arriving back from china with sars like symptoms, escaping a crazy situation myself leaving everything I owned bar some toiletries and rave about tideness and ack of tolerance, but excuses exshmuses..pls accept apologies.
VASH ..........I LOVE MY SUCKFUL ATVAR!!!!!!
( besides, I've had it so long if I changed now you'd all wonder what happened... lol...Consider it trademark...):D
suckful? man, that sounds like a subtitle!
cl: No disrespect to Sifu Meng or GM Gee, but lately, some of the HFY stuff has been pretty undecipherable by the general public. I don't think BL is alone in her comment on your post. I konw you guys are on to something, but you should be very careful when you mix 'science' and 'chan.' That concoction often results in nazism. Where do you think Hitler got his swastika? It's all in the jargon.
bl: All martial artists DO NOT have to confront spirituality. All should do so, but most can be content with less. That is acceptable too. I think to reach the high levels, you must grapple with it, but how many of us really, REALLY, reach high levels?
s: Your 3 'ifs' are contradictory.
kl: What's in a name indeed. We might as well be asking, "what's true?"
objectives and contradictions
Thanks KL, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the 1, 2 & 3 problem.
The objective argument is interesting. What is the objective of Shaolin? I'm sure our detractors would say commercialism, then we'd all be Shaolin (except for those unknown Mr. Miyage types who work as sups for low rent apartments). The monks would probably say it's about Chan. But then, if you study Chan, one of the main tenets is not to be possessive of the teachings, so in a sense, that renders this whole discussion as not being Shaolin. Why would you want to define the teachings in such a way to exclude potential sangha? That's the problem with thinking too hard on this stuff, you'll end up in mind traps. That's why Chan has koans (or kung-ans in Chinese).