Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[tattoed monk]

One thing I like about doing Gong Fu at a college. There ain't no uniform at all. The closest thing to it is that a lot of us wear adidas track pants. What can I say? They are well made and not too expensive.

The "GI" is used because of it's durability. If you look close enough at the Shaolin monks that perform world wide their "uniform " looks almost exactly like the uniforms worn in Shaolin Do! The body of material taught within the Shaolin do curriculum is enough to give credit to the legitimacy which the school claims. Never judge a book by it's cover only by it's contents. The belt ranking system that is used is a modern inovation to gauge and keep track of a students progress. Everything in life has to adapt to change or it will fade away and die!

[BlueTravesty]

The "GI" is used because of it's durability. If you look close enough at the Shaolin monks that perform world wide their "uniform " looks almost exactly like the uniforms worn in Shaolin Do! The body of material taught within the Shaolin do curriculum is enough to give credit to the legitimacy which the school claims. Never judge a book by it's cover only by it's contents.

I can't argue the gi's durability, and the Fist pants recommended by my sifu are about the same kind of material, only with elastic waist and cuffs (and a little pocket on the inside.)

What I WILL argue is that the monk uniforms look ANYTHING like the gi. I've seen this argument on one of the SD schools' website and I really can't say I agree. Yes, in pictures like this, it bears a passing resemblance to the gi. However, in pictures like this,
or this, and this one, the difference is more pronounced, and it's all the same uniform being worn different ways.
Even barring the obvious difference in color (Monks typically used Saffron or Tumeric to dye their robes, and then there are the grey uniforms as well.) not to mention the leggings, the only similarity between the two is the fact that the folds overlap in the front in both, and they do so in different ways (the monk uniform closes at the side around the upper rib, where the gi closes further down around the hips.)

Since you mentioned it though, I found this quote rather interesting .

"...those that practiced outside of the monasteries wore their every day clothing. They did not have a special uniform to go out and practice in. Sams are a creation of the movie industry and what it wants to present as a traditional uniform."

I'm not sure what Mr. Tony Gray means by "Sams" but I've got a feeling he means the typical "Kung-fu" jacket, usually black with white trim. If this is the case, he is correct in that those who practiced non-shaolin forms of kung-fu wore their regular clothing. This clothing in some parts of China included "frog-buttons" and the so-called "Mandarin Collar." In fact this form of clothing was quite popular around Shanghai, which is why Shanghai's Chin Woo (Ging Wu) Athletic Association chose it as the basis of their dress code. Can you guess what colors they used? If you guessed black with white trim, you are correct!

The assertion that this uniform is a creation of the movie industry is false, however, considering that while Chin Woo is featured in Bruce Lee's "The Chinese Connection" (known outside of the US as "Fist of Fury.") as well as Jet Li's "Fist of Legend" it is in fact a real institute which is very popular in Hong Kong as well as having a branches in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South america, etc. I don't know if all the branches today have kept that particular uniform, but I am sure some have.


So what's the point? Is a gi a valid choice of uniform for a kung fu class? Sure, but so are long-sleeved/sleeveless uniforms with frog-buttons, or even a tank-top and Adidas brand track pants- if you are doing true kung fu, it will show in your technique, no matter what you wear. Does a gi look like a monk's uniform? It bears some resemblance, but then, so does my terry-cloth bath robe (which, by the way, was made in China.) Is Shaolin-Do a legitimate branch of Shaolin? I don't see why not, since many other non-Shaolin arts also have Shaolin roots; Long Fist, Hung Gar, Choy Lay Fut, Wing Chun, Karate and Kenpo being chief among them. Will I stop asking questions with prepared answers so I can wake up at a decent time tomorrow? Well... uhh, yeah, I guess so. G'nite

[Judge Pen]

That's a very thoughtful well thought-out post and I agree with it 100%. Incidently, the SD post explaining the use of the gi by Master Gray was written, in part, as a response to some SD schools switching to the frog-button unifoms.

The dress doesn't make the art. Gi or no, SD is what it is.

[lxtruong]

All of you non-SDers. Let me ask you this:

Suppose tomorrow, your teacher decides to switch uniforms. Let's say from whatever you wear to a gi (assuming you don't wear a gi already). Do you follow his example? Do you say "you're a big phony, I'm outta here"? Which do you do.

[PangQuan]

Question. There is a shaolin do school in my area. I checked them out, they are not recognized by the shaolin do society. Where does that put them? Phoney or just un recognized?

My teacher teaches some shaolin as well as other various styles, not to mention hes a total gangster, so im not interested in switching schools, just curious of where this school stands in the eyes of the shaolin do society...

[Judge Pen]

Question. There is a shaolin do school in my area. I checked them out, they are not recognized by the shaolin do society. Where does that put them? Phoney or just un recognized?

My teacher teaches some shaolin as well as other various styles, not to mention hes a total gangster, so im not interested in switching schools, just curious of where this school stands in the eyes of the shaolin do society...

The SDA (shaolin-do association) is an organization that provides a club membership for a fee. You get discounts on certain seminars and tournament fees if you are a member and you attend an SDA sanctioned event. The members of the SDA are primarily found in Kentucky and Texas.

Schools that are not a member of the SDA are not any less legitimate in the eyes of SD. My teacher is a founding member of the SDA, but none of his students are current members. As such, we are not officially recognized as an SDA school. It doesn't affect our relationship with GM The'.

[humbleman]

If I remember correctly, the "Judge Pen" is a weapon that Grandmaster Sin was giving seminars on a while back. I think it involved using accupressure points and arteries in various combinations and at various times of day according to flow to do some extremely ugly things, supposedly going back to the day when one would basically mete out a death sentence with their use. And, no offense to Judge Penn on the choreographed fight scene, I watched the Kentucky educational T.V. series on tape and some of the choreographed 2-man weapon sets required as much skill maybe more than a lot of katas. )As far as uniforms etc. who the heck cares? It's the soul of what is being taught, whether it works, whether it develops the soul of the student that matters, in my humble underbelt on-thy-belly-shalt-thou-crawl-opinion.

[Judge Pen]

If I remember correctly, the "Judge Pen" is a weapon that Grandmaster Sin was giving seminars on a while back.

I think that he did a demonstration, but I'm not aware of any seminars on Judge's Pen. Of course my screen name had nothing to do with SD or GM Sin. It had more to do with my profession.

[cbishop]

Have you even participated fully in a Shaolin Do program or is your opinion based on your preconceived ideas of what shaolin is?

haven't piped in. sorry to be an @ss.. but, shaolindo sucks. how do i come
to this conclusion??


exibit A
tigercrane

this is an insult to all hung ga players.

exibit B
bagua

all i can say is "OH MY GOD"


going to shaolindo to learn hung ga or bagua is like trying to get
a good steak at mcdonalds.

[PangQuan]

bad links.

media player does not play when you copy paste to address bar.

[MonkeySlap Too]

Judge Pen is not real.




















In the Buddhist sense

[cbishop]

they're not links. they're urls. and they are correct.

[SimonM]

haven't piped in. sorry to be an @ss.. but, shaolindo sucks. how do i come
to this conclusion??


exibit A
tigercrane

this is an insult to all hung ga players.

That was really ugly.

exibit B
bagua

all i can say is "OH MY GOD"

That was supposed to be Ba Gua? Ok, I don't practice the art myself but I've seen it performed enough times to know it doesn't look like that!!! Eurgh!


My question is: is this typical of SD or are these just two really attrocious players?

[BlueTravesty]

Thank you for the perspective on Mr. Gray's uniform article. I was wondering which critics he was referring to, though I didn't imagine it would be someone within his organization.

I hope my response to tatooed monk did not seem overbearing in light of this. To tell the truth, the main reason for putting it together in the first place was to help clear some writer's block (it worked, something that neither febreeze nor pseudoephedrine can do; seperately or in combination. trust me.)

[PangQuan]

thanks for the fix.

i could only find one positive thing to say regarding either one of those. The man in the bagua video had fast hands...

i cant even manage to come up with an answer as to why that tiger/crane was so bad. very similar to a section in a tiger/crane i know, but he had no technique at all. I wonder if he knows any of the applications to what he is doing...

bagua? hmmm...no...