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Sal,

You are blending aspects of my post in strange ways.

1. Comments about secrecy are with respect to identities and relationships, not the arts.

2. The comments about not recording the...

I realize that, Richard - actually, thank you for your many contributions. (Pardon me for prefacing so many of my following remarks by saying "according to our tradition," but I want to make that...

Haven't heard of him, no.

I wonder why you do not like Tuttle as a publisher? We sought them out to act as our distributor because we felt that they strove to put high quality products on the...

Hi Richard,

I *do* appreciate your concerns - yet the point about the Buddha still stands. Any sadness I feel stems from the recognition that no matter what I say, there will still be people who...

There is some information on ordination in The Shaolin Grandmasters' Text, but I'm not going to reprise all of that information here. I can tell you that there is both a martial exam and an oral exam...

Richard,

As one of the non-ordained, I don't really have any juicy details to share. My apologies.

With respect to colored sashes, it is understood that they are simply a useful tool to help...

Thank you, oldmonkey.

For better or worse, I am the one appointed to take care of all marketing for our book, and that includes cruising forums and answering erroneous charges that my organization...

Jason,

Your post is kind of confusing. Did you speak with Sifu Eng? Did you personally correspond with him?

He sent us some kind remarks, at which point we asked (and received!) his express...

Forumites may be interested in reading The Shaolin Grandmasters' Text's recent review on amazon.com from the Midwest Book Review - the premier reviewer for small press.
...

Pai Lum may be eclectic, but I don't think it's "phony."

A colleague of mine is teaching a student who had studied Pai Lum for nine years, and my colleague recognized at least two of this...

Doc,

Good question about Dharma transmission. Shaolin operates more like most Korean Ch'an orders with respect to this, and unlike Japanese Zen and some other Chinese sects. Becoming ordained in a...

I have no intention to slight you, Jason. Your offer is very kind, but my obligations permit very little free time. So I will have to decline.

Also, Just a Gut probably *is* a better alias for me...

Emre, I think you may be putting Shaolin on a pedestal. Shaolin is nothing special. It is simply a path, just like any other path. And some people are suited to it - most aren't. It isn't good or...

Emre, in any journey there comes a point where you have to rely upon your own discernment. If you do not wish to do this, I suppose you will simply have to wait for other reviews to come in from...

A passion for integrity is a good thing, but then why such virulence? "Only surviving grandmasters" is something you pulled off shaolin.com, I think. It is a claim made nowhere by the OSC or this...

Why are you so upset then?

Are you experiencing righteous indignation at the possibility that some group of people are lying about Shaolin heritage and using that to rip people off?

Before...

Emre is unlikely to disclose his identity, as Emre stands to lose something if the authenticity of the Shaolin monks in the PRC is damaged in any way. (It's hard to imagine another reason for so much...

Heart-warming amusements.

Black Crane is a legitimate style with very few folks still practicing. David Chow is a master of Black Crane. Call him up and tell him his style is crap. Much of the...

Some good questions.

1. The authors do not claim authority over anything. Information is presented. People can take it or leave it - assess everything you read with your own brain to see if it...

The publisher is a non-profit (as opposed to a commercial for-profit), and proceeds all go to support the preservation of Shaolin Ch'an and arts - but that doesn't mean the publisher can give away...

Exactly!!!


I hope people find the book informative and useful.

Pre-1900 in China, Shaolin allowed women into the Order, and at Fukien at least, the women trained in the same temple with the men. I suspect the whole separate "nunnery" thing is an artifact of...

Brad, different temples. Abbot Li was trained at Fukien, but served as abbot at Honan (and for the entire order). Hua was his "chancellor," I guess you'd call it. Master Ben served as one of the last...

As a representative of the publisher, I can say that the book contains a detailed description of why the authors have chosen anonymity, and also contains lineal information. The book is the...

Talk to more Wing Chun people. Whether they are Yip Man or Hung Fa Yi or ?, their lineages trace to Shaolin - just through different avenues.