Thank you, that was all I was trying to say...
Interestingly labor unions are socialist in nature. Many of the other programs you were referred to were not set into place untill the end of the depression. It should also be noted that capitalism is far from perfect. (I mentioned Socrates' idea so please dont think I am defending or opposing anything I am with the old dead Greek guy.)
Our richest 1% in America's financial resources vastly outweighes every other economic class' resources in the country combined! The class division is only getting wider, and it is because of what Ky-Fi mentioned about the farmer and his pig. Everyone is watching out for their own interests.
In a sociology class I had in college we did an "island expariment" similar I am sure to many such social science classes. We tried to set up a governing body for a group of castaways.
The professor noted that the expariment was part of a separite project she was working on, and the results were of all the classes she had assigned this "island expariment" nearly 100% of the time the resulting form of government was based in true communism.
I thought that was interesting...
Back to the issue of Shaolin
People still believe in the legend that Shaolin is the mother of all martial arts or had a great role to play in history of Chinese martial arts which is actually not true. It is fact that they did practice and study kung fu it is obvious in all the drawings and writings upon the walls within the temple.
However, In reality most of what we think of in terms of Shaolin is merely a fairy tale.
The truth is that Shaolin was a Zen Buddhist temple and that is pretty much where it ends. We hear of the story where Ta Mo left India and went to Shaolin (The Liang Dynasty,506-56A.D.)and taught the monks Buddhism and realized that they had no exercise for the physical body and taught them a series of exercises and that was the basis for Kung Fu.
China had organized warfare and fighting skills way before the Liang Dynasty, the time Ta Mo is said to have come to the temple.
During other periods in China, long before the Liang Dynasty, such as the Warring States Period, there were hundreds of wars. War tactics were continously being developed and improved. there is alo proof of Chinese Martial Arts existence before Shaolin during the Three Kingdoms Period (A.D.211).
Shaolin was definitely a famous Buddhist temple, if Ta Mo taught exercises there is still not proven or debatable. Before he arrived to Shaolin there were individuals practicing kung fu there already. Many of the monks at the temple were men arriving at the temple seeeking refuge. Many ofthem were criminals. Many of them had some kung fu technique already and Shaolin was a perfect place to work on further developments.
they lived simple lives and had plenty of time to practice their arts and exchange ideas. Because of this, it may have caused the kung fu at Shaolin to improve or become sophisticated but never was it considered to be a place to go and learn Kung Fu like a school.
Someone earlier on the forum stated some reasons why they were going to leave their school, one of the reasons was because the instructor stated that he only taught the staff because it was the only weapon used by the ancestors. there may be truth to this if it is a so-called Shaolin style.
The most famous weapon there was the staff. Any or most Chinese or other styles, one first learns the staff. It is the most fundamental, basic, inexpensive,but yet effective weapon of the time.
In reality, Shaolin was a Zen Buddhist Temple, It was considered a holy place and no weapons were allowed. As with most Churches, Courts, and Hospitals. There are several things that you do not handle or behaviors you do not do. Therefore the staff became an effetive weapon in Kung Fu that was practiced at Shaolin.
It is known that shaolin got its fame during the Tang Dynasty by helping the government put down a rebellion and for their assistance they were honored by the government.
After the Tang dynasty many civil wars, uprisings and rebellions broke out and it is not known whether Shaolin assisted in these are not. However, it was claimed by many people involved in these civil wars and uprisins that they claimed that they were from Shaolin.
During the Ming Dynasty, which is an important period for Chinese Martial Artists, A General by the name of Kwong wrote a book, after extensive research in kung fu, in order to better train his soldiers and there was no mention of Shaolin Kung Fu.
During the Qing/Ching Dynasty, Shaolin was neither popular or was it famous.However, during this period it began to be greatly known because of secret societies that connected themselves with the temple. By doing this, their sense of purpose, to overthrow the Manchus' was now something holy.
A lot of fiction novels helped to popularize Shaolin as a fighting system. They ahve implicated that there were many Temples. Fukien,GuangDong,Henan,Siquan and other other provines. There is evidence of only one and that is the one that is at Henan.
Sifus' of those time also carried out the propoganda of Shaolin by claiming to be a disciple there, when they acually were not. Because it was such a legend, they could increase their enrollment and popularize their style. they needed to make a living and didn't care about misconception. Similiar to what many people do today.
Can anyone relly define what hte Shaolin Kung Fu System is? What most people considers to be Shaoln is the Long Fist System (ChangQuan). Actually there many styles of the Long Fist System, one of these is Jia Men , which is actually from the Chinese Muslims.
"The key is to begin at the beginning;high level short cuts can only lead to dead end."
"If You can't be honest nothing can happen."