Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[Judge Pen]

Originally posted by Sin The'
Shao-Lin Do is so real it's unreal. It's all in your mind, not the airwaves or electrons. Free your minds of this unsanity and the fist will follow. Put away your doubts of my ancestors along with your SUVs and Luke Skywalkers for Sin The' will illumine the true way.

[Songshan]

Well, I have read the threads checked the internet in regards to Shaolin-do. To answer the question is Shaolin-Do real? Yes. Is it real Shaolin? No. With respect to anyone who trains in Shaolin-do I must say that I am convinced that it is martial arts but not in the sense of it being directly a descendent of the Songshan Shaolin Temple where the historical roots of Shaolin are based out of. I will say that there are probably hundreds of abled "martial artists" studying shaolin-do (meaning that it's not to be called fake). I just don't agree that it has direct lineage to the Shaolin Temple.

I base this decision out of the history and "katas" (mind you a japanese term) that are listed in some of the Shaolin-do web sites. I view Shaolin-do as mainly a karate oriented blend of various styles of martial arts. Absent from the "katas" list are traditional Shaolin kung fu forms (Tong bei chuan, Da hong chuan, mei hua chuan, etc.). I didn't even see traditional excercises like Jin Gang Quan, Yi Jin Jing or Xi Sui Jing listed.

I must have seen at least 50+ forms listed for the Shaolin-do system on one of those websites (and yes the 90 form debate we seen here on these forums). The reality is that most of the Shaolin Monks were only true masters of one maybe two forms tops (but had knowledge of many). I know the debate rages on about other styles of kung fu being directly called "Shaolin" and yes I am sure it will go on. There are those too that say the monks in America are fake and so forth. In some sense I often say to myself when will all these debates end? Martial Arts is such a broad term that I believe every and any style has its place so long as its theory and application have been tested. Lets face it.....anyone can do just about anything and call it a martial art. I often fail to see why so many seek to control the term "Shaolin" and exploit it. Perhaps I clearly understand the trademark battle Shaolin is in with Abbot Shi Yong Xin

That being said... I by no means consider myself a master, expert or a self proclaimed disciple of a monk. I am just but a fish in the ocean. I post this with respect to the Shaolin-do practitioners and by no means do I have any intentions of degrading the art.

[cerebus]

Actually they claim to descend from the Fukien Shaolin temple and to have 900 forms, not 90. Other than that, yeah I agree with you.

[Shaolinlueb]

well put songshan. well put.

[pedro_sanchez]

hello all. I am currently a moderator at another martial arts website. I greet you all respectfully. Just a brief background on my martial arts. I trained in boxing for quite a number of years, and I am currently a student of Shaolin 5 animals, Jeet Kune Do and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu.

On the other website, we have had more than a couple of run-ins with the Shaolin-do goof troop. They have been nothing more than trolls who contributed nothing to our website. They claim, until they are blue in the face that they are Shaolin. Even thought they wear Japanese Uniforms, use the belt ranking system and use Japanese terms for thier techniques. Through some great research from one of our other moderators, we have managed to find a website with some video clips of Shaolin-do training. The videos were all sped up to make it look like they had superhuman speed. A pretty lame attempt at that. They would even speed up a very badly coreographed "sparring" session. The members of Shaolin-do were so disrespectful and so not like a student of Shaolin. They call themselves senior students but act more like pre school children. The resorted to poking fun at another moderator whose 1st language wasn't english. The made fun of his grammar and spelling. When in fact there was nothing wrong with his grammar. The Shaolin-do students were just being petty.

My wish is not to start a new stay on this forum on a negative note, but I have had more than a few run-ins with these clowns. When I saw a thread about them here, I was surprised.

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by pedro_sanchez
When I saw a thread about them here, I was surprised.

Do a Search and give yourself an annurism. There are 100s of threads about them.

[norther practitioner]

with the Shaolin-do goof troop

I like this one...

No disrespect to JP, but that was funny.

[Hua Lin Laoshi]

Just to offer a little balance on the subject I've got to say that in my limited exposure to Shaolin-Do practitioners I've found them to be hard working, good people. While the origins of the art may be questionable the practitioners (mostly Sifu level) I've met are much better people than some of the posters I've seen here. I visited a local school to see for myself and was impressed with the effort they put into their training. I can't speak on the value of the techniques or legitimacy of the sets but the players were very passionate about their training. And I have yet to see any SD guys on this site acting childish and insulting to other. Then again I haven't followed the past threads so I could be wrong.

(stepping down off soapbox)

[BentMonk]

Thanks Hua. While I appreciate Pedro's frustration w/the SD folks he's had to deal with, he made some very broad generalizations in his post. To judge all by the actions of a few is "so not like a student of Shaolin". Not all SD schools or students are alike. Peace and happiness to all.

[pedro_sanchez]

Originally posted by BentMonk
Thanks Hua. While I appreciate Pedro's frustration w/the SD folks he's had to deal with, he made some very broad generalizations in his post. To judge all by the actions of a few is "so not like a student of Shaolin". Not all SD schools or students are alike. Peace and happiness to all.

Thanks for the respect you've shown in this post. I try not to make generalizations about other schools, however these folks came as ambassadors of SD. Lets just say the members of the other forum were not impressed by their first impressions. It is however, refreshing to see such tolerance and respect shown by the members on this forum. Well from what I've seen so far.

[BentMonk]

"...these folks came as ambassadors of SD."

Pedro do you know which school these people are from? Anyone who has practiced Shaolin Do for any length of time is well aware of the issues many in the MA community have concerning our art. I have made peace with these issues. My instructors have delivered all that I have asked of them and more. That is all anyone can ask from any teacher of any art. I wasted a lot of time and band width in debates concerning SD. I now try to type less, train more, and use the net MA community as a source of knowledge. I hope the SD students on the other forum come to this realization soon. Peace.

[pedro_sanchez]

Originally posted by BentMonk
"...these folks came as ambassadors of SD."

Pedro do you know which school these people are from? Anyone who has practiced Shaolin Do for any length of time is well aware of the issues many in the MA community have concerning our art. I have made peace with these issues. My instructors have delivered all that I have asked of them and more. That is all anyone can ask from any teacher of any art. I wasted a lot of time and band width in debates concerning SD. I now try to type less, train more, and use the net MA community as a source of knowledge. I hope the SD students on the other forum come to this realization soon. Peace.

Hopefully they will budz. And these practitioners of SD actually came from Kentucky.

[yu shan]

I have no problem with SD, let them make there mark. If more people were like Judge Pen, the world would be a better place.JMO

[BentMonk]

"If more people were like Judge Pen, the world would be a better place.JMO"

You speaks da truth Yu Shan.

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by yu shan
If more people were like Judge Pen, the world would be a better place.JMO

But there would be no safe place for hot Asian women to hide.