I lost the magic of kung fu

[blooming lotus]

I might free-load if absolutely essential, but I'd make up for it in community contribution..no.not a theif.bjt you have to bear in mind, that even monks are developing souls and people...........kinda cute really..............

I train gongfu because it's one of the most effective expressions of myself ( aside from dancing and singing............entertainer extroaordinare turned ch'an buddhist ).............fighting or the abilty to is a glorious reprecussion............it's not the end but it is a bonus.there's a cretain confidence that comes from being able to do that that you just can't find elsewhere...............

I know nothing else but to move my body .or why I am alive......................to veg??.I don't think so...............

I daily take time out to contemplate and or meditate, and when I do, firt it's about what alis or troubles me, or if it's too too much, I just zone out and concentrate on innocnce and clarity of purpose.or alternately, I just blank out and empty my mind mediatating on building qi and identifying where the deficit lays and what thoughts I need to cultivate to grant me peace within myself..............then, if that's all saidand done, I mediate on the universe and see time before , time present and time to come......I think about karmic relations and my true place progressively in the spanse of time............this is a seroious buddhist concept and way of thinking, and may not be for everyone...but it brings me peace like nothing else does...............


I wish you well Antonio, stregnth, perserverance, confidence and serenity be yours always....

BL

[Shaolinlueb]

so brooklyn monk how did you become a movie star overseas?

[GeneChing]

I've never stole offerings. In fact, I do a lot of volunteer work for a Free Clinic and one of my jobs is to gather donations. But stealing donations is not unheard of - in fact, we recently had a tragic embezzlement case at the Clinic, on the order $750,000 to a million. Does that make me disgusted with the Clinic? Of course not. Quite the opposite, it makes me more commited. The clinic represents philsophies that I truly beleive in. Just because there are some challenged individuals alongside me there, some bad apples, that does not destroy what it represents to me. If anything, it firms up my resolve.

With monks, we often idolise them as some perfected being, but actually it's quite the opposite. These are people who left society. Some left it for religious reasons, but many left because they have issues with society. Many are working to change. That's what Shaolin is - it's a furnace to burn off samsara. Many people get toasted in that fire and never make it. Some flee. Some struggle. Some, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, walk through the fire and never get burned.

[r.(shaolin)]

Gene wrote:
"To me, the Kung Fu TV series was a minstral show. . . . playing a Shaolin monk, well, that was messed up. That being said, the show was extremely significant in the cultural exchange between China and the USA."
.................
I would add, that the 1972 television series "Kung Fu" was instrumental and pivotal in the chain of events that led to PRC desire to rebuild Shaolin. It was this popular television series that made term "Shaolin" famous in the west and part of western vernacular. You could say it is direct and indirect driving force behind the long list of successful marketing projects since.

r.

[GeneChing]

To the best of my knowledge, the Kung Fu TV series never played in PRC. Even now, only a very few of the monks even konw what you're talking about if your reference that series. The first time that Abbot Yongxin ever heard of the series was when Carradine himself went to Shaolin and showed him an episode for his documentary. You can see Yongxin's expression when he first views in that documentary, and he looks puzzled but amuzed.

I would attribute the Shaw brothers movies and of course, Jet Li's Shaolin Temple to the reconstruction of Shaolin, but I don't think that Carradine's series had any significant effect at all.

[r.(shaolin)]

Hollywood's connection to the Hong Kong film industry goes back to the late 1960's. Warner Bros. had already successfully began distributing Kong Kong made kung fu movies in the US as well as exploring the possibilities of joint film projects. The ABC produced pilot and series was not only known and noticed by the Hong Kong film industry but in-fact triggered the hasty dubbing and adapting of Hong Kong martial arts movies for 'West' - to take advantage of the opportunity of it's success.
Through out the 70's the Hong Kong film industry produced many
"shaolin films" It was during this period the kung fu craze hit America. (This is not to take away any credit from Kwan Tak Hing and his earlier Wong Fei Hung films.)

Shaolin's sudden and remarkable popularity in the PRC at the tail end of the cultural revolution was very much driven by the western style entertainment / fad phenomena. The investment and world wide marketing of Shaolin by the PRC is no accident. We saw the same sudden phenomena in the USA 10 years earlier. Although Hong Kong movies were already part of a the sub-culture in the US, the series was the real start of successful mass marketing of Chinese martial arts in the US. First aired in early in '72 by 1973 it literally became the no. 1 TV series in the US over night.

The PRC's decision to invest in Shaolin was clearly influenced by a similar phenomena and marketing opportunity, i.e.. the Jet Li film. By the time the young Abbot came on the scene, the fad was well under way in the PRC.
That this fad bewildered and confused the few surviving old monks is understandable, but confusing Abbot Yongxin? . . . I don't think so.
Where will this (fad) will be in the next 5 to 10 years? Well. . . a few die-hards will still be around. Aging die-hards :-))))
r.

[GeneChing]

The western market, the US specifically, played a really minor role in the distribution of HK film. Sure, there was a wave of dubbed Shaw brothers movies and such, mostly to ghettos and thrid run theaters (remember this was before video), the whole kung fu wave in the wake of Bruce Lee, but it was minor in comparison to what happened in Asia. Places like India and and Indonesia were much closer and more accessible markets. Now I'm not saying that the US/HK film didn't have some effect, but it was negligible and even moreso, the effect of the Kung Fu TV show. When it came to US TV show imports, Hong Kong was more into the Green Hornet.

Shaolin in cinema was more an effect of Shaolin in literature. References to Shaolin were quite common in late Ming literature - from classical tales to pulp fiction wuxia. This persists until today - just look at the impact of Jin Yong.

If anything, I think the Kung Fu TV show was more of an effect - or symptom - than it was a cause. It had tremendous impact here. But it's a bit ethnocentric to think it had much impact over there, especially when no one really knows it over there at all. Look at that Carradine documentary again, when he goes to talk to Jackie Chan. Jackie tries to give Carradine some face, but it's obvious from his priceless expressions that it's a challenge, even for Jackie.

[Brooklyn Monk]

Someone asked how i got into the movies.

I came to cambodia to write a book about Khmer Kung Fu. my khmer kung fu contacts were making an action movie, and invited me to participate. over night i became the first foreigner in a kung fu movie in cambodia. so they re-wrote the script, gave me more scenes, and gave me second billing on the posters. Now i have offers for two more movies.

it looks like i will be here for a while.

I feel a little guilty, though, because i hate kung fu movies. i am all about fighting, and am learning to respect people who do incredible feats of Wu Shu or Biao Yuen. but i dont like the movies. they cheapen the art and have people like kanue reeves doing things real people like Lee Lien Jay or Chun Long can't do.

but i am also fighting professionaly here. so maybe that is just to compensate for the guilt of perpetuating the myth.

one of the interesting points i wanted to study, in writing my book, was how does a country with so much real fighting, Khmer Boxing is the national sport, how can they support kung fu at all? it is a mystery. thailand is the same way. They have so much good, real fighting, why watch kung fu movies?

but did we learn kung fu to fight and make movies? it all seems like a huge contradiction, and now i am part of it.

[YinYangDagger]

"They have so much good, real fighting, why watch kung fu movies?"

Because if you put "real fighting" in a movie, it turns out to be what people saw at the bar last weekend.

Kung fu on the other hand, in the movies, shows a lot of great skill (not talking Keanu here), technique, and the people that go and see movies wants to be entertained. If they want blood and "real fighting" they usually order UFC, Pride, etc. Big difference there....

Even the Thai movie Ong Bak can be seen as an example. From my readings here at the forum as well as other internet sites, Tony Jaa was using a "real" Thai style, yet it would have been d@mn boring if he just used a thigh kick / elbow combination in evey fight scene to knock his opponent out.

[brothernumber9]

Brooklyn Monk

suksobye money
Do you live in the south of Cambodia? Its cool you found a place to teach you Khmer boxing, I assume it's similar if not the same to Thai Boxing? My wife is Khmai and we hope to plan a trip either next year or 2006. I hope you keep posting some of your experiences so I can gain some insight and inspiration while I wait to go. Let me know when your movies become available overseas and I'll check em out.

Maybe there's a role in an Angelina Jolie movie in the future for you?

Good luck on your journey. Hearing that you adhere to budhist customs there implies that you adhere to Khmai customs as well, thats way cool. I am not buddhist but I follow along the protocols during bun and other services out of respect for my wife's family and culture. The monks and others in the Khmai community here have all received me warmly. So I'm glad to hear it is not different there.

[blooming lotus]

if nothing else, it promotes the arts for others or non practioners............

BM : are you sure the Jackies and Jets had no influence on your interest as a boy????...........

[Brooklyn Monk]

nrother num,ber 9

i live in phnom penh. i think it is amazing that overseas khmers adn those associated with overseas khmers are always writing to me or writing about cambodia. it is a country with a real sense of community and where even the people who have left have stayed connected.

i do learn khmer boxing, but i ahve no intention of fighting khmer boxing for money. i will be doing western boxing professionaly here. beyond that i learn khmer kung fu and wusu for the movies.

someone brought out the point that the depth of kung fu is there to placate soccer moms. i think that is a funny statement, but dead-on accurate.

a lot fo yuo pointed out taht it was the movies which gave kung fu huge exposure to the world. this is true. but i believe that it is a doublke edged sword. the movies also sold people a bill of goods which teachers can't deliver. for example, how many of you actualy do wire fighting or can run accross a lake while sword fighting?

[Brooklyn Monk]

Blooming lotus


it was actually david caradine who sparked my interest as a boy. when i was a boy, jet li was also a boy, so he wasnt making movies yet. jaki chan was basically unknown.

but i get your point, the movies are like a PR event for kung fu.

I hope that is right. I have never bee a fan of kung fu films. there are only a few i consider good movies "Dragon, the Bruce Leë Story" is amazing. I have watched it like 100 times. I appreciate "Enter the Dragon" for being a cutting edge classic. The newer Jacky Chan movies "Rush Hour" and "Shanghai Noon," are excellent movies even if you don't like Kung Fu. "Ali," is also amazing. and of course, the original "Kung Fu" TV SHow.

[YinYangDagger]

LOL BM - Every movie you named I thought SUCKED. I'm an old Shaw Brothers fan, but we each have our own opinion

[Shaolinlueb]

man i'd love to make a movie in a foriegn country lol that would be hot yo.