kungfumagazine.com & russbo.com

[GeneChing]

Right now, I'm in Vegas on assignment covering Cirque Du Soleil. I'm staying at the Temple Russbo, the home of my good disciple brother Dr. Rich Russell, the madman behind russbo.com. He has a great computer room which sitting in right now. Since he's been such a gracious host (as always) I'd like to take this moment to thank him here. Check out russbo.com if you hven't already. It's a great shaolin site.

[David Jamieson]

Is he giving you beer to type those things gene

I've always liked Russbo. Down and dirty, nitty gritty perspective on the modern temple. Pretty cool stuff to dispell the mysticism surrounding the place and to help the student open their eyes to the reality of hard training.

I like KFQG too mind you because of the connections to the masters who got the stuff to train the stuff over here in the west and abroad.

cheers

[harry_the_monk]

I also enjoy the site and have been visiting it for a long time now. (not as long as I have here though)

It would be good to visit the Vegas Temple some time. It is good to clear the mysticism a bit, I think it is an essential part of buddhism to cut through the hype and see life as it is.

Hopefully all the new features are up and running now, might go and check out the website now.

Amitofu.

[GeneChing]

We are both disciples under Shi Decheng and went to Shaolin together in 1995.

As for his videos, he was working on them while I was there. He has his own server now. I expect his site will really start rocking soon.

As for beer, no, he didn't buy me a beer. He did buy me some meals and let me stay in that mansion he lives in and ride around in his black porsche.

As for the temple, he has opened a school. It's very modest now, but it just opened. We are expecting great things from there very soon.

[GeneChing]

Rich and I (and Boo) had a nice dinner last night in North Beach, SF. He was on his way back from Thailand.

He mentions some of his future plans and I made an analogy to him and Col. Walter E. Kurtz. He snapped back that that would make me Capt. Benjamin L. Willard. Ahhh, it's always good to see him.

[Shaolinlueb]

gene and rich pimping in the black porsche. sounds worth it to me

[Serpent]

Originally posted by GeneChing
As for beer, no, he didn't buy me a beer. He did buy me some meals and let me stay in that mansion he lives in and ride around in his black porsche.

And who says you can't make a good living from the martial arts!

[GeneChing]

He didn't make that in the martial arts. He's a doctor.

[richard sloan]

any iron head training at church?

[Serpent]

Originally posted by GeneChing
He didn't make that in the martial arts. He's a doctor.

Oh really? I thought the Doc thing was an affectation!

Well, good for him.

******, we nearly had a role model there for making a profit from MA's and retaining integrity.

[unixfudotnet]

I saw his site long ago. I thought it was a joke or something, some white guy all caught up on shaolin, and getting his picture taken next to as many monks as possible.

This guy is for real? How can you be an honest monk with huge material possessions, something I do not understand.

Obviously, I do not know him, but it all seems like some guy that likes the idea of shaolin and is playing in the fantasy of it. How can any buddist drive around in a black porsche?

Maybe I am seriously missing something, yet when I went to his site a few years ago, all I could do was sigh and couldn't believe that there would be someone so sad.

He may be a nice guy, and has friends here obviously. I just question if it is all for real, or living thru some fantasy of being shaolin.

What am I missing here? I am not meaning to insult anyone, but last time I went to his site years ago, it seemed a joke and not to be taken seriously someone chasing a dream that would never come to them.

[MasterKiller]

He spent his own money to open up a Shaolin branch in Las Vegas and has monks from Shaolin teach there. Seems like he caught whatever dreams he was chasing...

[GeneChing]

What's real is a tricky question when it comes to Shaolin. Perhaps it's tricky everywhere, at least thats what the dharma tells us, but it seems overwhelmingly more pronounced at Shaolin - it's warrior zen , if we coined that term. All of the Shaolin practioners have different stories, unique challenges. Doc's challenge is his health ironically, and perhaps that he's rich. I'm very proud to be his martial borther, and that's not just because he takes me for a spin in his porsche. He has taken Shaolin to a new level. I'm not the one to judge if that level is good or evil, but it is certainly fascinating. Like I said, we're still deciding if he's Col. Kurtz. He certainly looks the part. And I often feel like Willard, at least in the opening scenes of that movie

Seriously, all of the Shaolin followers are a bit edgy in their own way. Combining Zen and martial arts is some serious personal alchemy - a little too much of this or that and you might create a monster, but a little too little and you may never reach enlightenment.

And no church, rs, we were in SF, not sin city.

[norther practitioner]

Originally posted by unixfudotnet
I saw his site long ago. I thought it was a joke or something, some white guy all caught up on shaolin, and getting his picture taken next to as many monks as possible.

This guy is for real? How can you be an honest monk with huge material possessions, something I do not understand.

Obviously, I do not know him, but it all seems like some guy that likes the idea of shaolin and is playing in the fantasy of it. How can any buddist drive around in a black porsche?

Maybe I am seriously missing something, yet when I went to his site a few years ago, all I could do was sigh and couldn't believe that there would be someone so sad.

He may be a nice guy, and has friends here obviously. I just question if it is all for real, or living thru some fantasy of being shaolin.

What am I missing here? I am not meaning to insult anyone, but last time I went to his site years ago, it seemed a joke and not to be taken seriously someone chasing a dream that would never come to them.

Everything...lol

Monk? Who said anything about monk.

Like Gene likes to say, think outside of the box, because for shaolin, there usually really isn't a box for shaolin at all.

[MasterKiller]

Gene,
You guys doing a Thanksgiving thing again this year? I'm heading to Vegas Sunday for a few days.