Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[The Xia]

He uses logic to answer "Whether God is a body?", "Whether God is composed of matter and form?", and "Whether God is the same as His essence or nature?"
My point that St. Thomas Aquinas is logical in his approach to God is true.

[kwaichang]

He is using Logic to explain that god exists but he is explaining what god is logically because he cant. KC or couldnt

[kwaichang]

Here MS this the definition of spirit it is formless as defined.
spir·it (sprt)
n.
1.
a. The vital principle or animating force within living beings.
b. Incorporeal consciousness.
2. The soul, considered as departing from the body of a person at death.
3. Spirit The Holy Spirit.
None are solid or having Body. KC

[Meat Shake]

Hey MS you dont seem to be too happy also I refer you to my posts on page 289 KC

Actually, I am extremely happy, its just that when my dog craps on the floor, I call it crap, not magic healing fluff.
Yes, this is a metaphor to your inexplicable rantings about what martial arts truly is.
I consider myself to be an extremely lucky individual in terms of my current life situation, I simply know that I have a decent wealth of knowledge about what fighting is and what works, and what styles are based on what and study in what ways. I dedicated several years of my life to these studies.

[kwaichang]

Here is a definition as well that god is a spirit or w/o body. KC


Similarly, the New Testament contains little systematic theology: little or no philosophical or rigorous definition of God is given, nor of how God acts in the world; however John's gospel states: "God is light" (John 1:5), before he states: "God is love" (John 4:8) and: "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24).

[kwaichang]

MS I am glad you are happy but crap is also fertilizer and helps things to grow and produce food for us to live. I too know what I am saying and have spent many many years searching for the truth of combat and life . Sure I could call you out but so what it isnt to the death or is it ?? Then what would it prove. anyone can be beaten on any given day. KC

[kwaichang]

2 more pages to 300 KC

[Shaolin Wookie]

Because we cant go back in time and we dont know what changes occured over time there is no "right" when it comes to applications. I have said before the application is dependent upon the attack , the body style of the person utilizing the technique as well as the size and strength of the participant as well as the attacker. Those who look for applications from others are at times taken down the wrong path. Oh sure it will give you a concept to work from, but that does not lead to making the art your own . To do that you must know your own strengths and weaknesses. The same technigue can be used with many attacks and defenses. KC
PS do not look to others for your own knowledge of applications. that leads to doing instead of being.

Almost the same words as the one's I said were from someone "much wiser" than myself.

[Shaolin Wookie]

In the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas is logical in his approach to faith, God, and the origin of the universe.

Nevertheless, it is flawed logic, and often contradicts itself...........

So is it really logic?

[Shaolin Wookie]

I stated that St. Thomas Aquinas uses logic in examining God. We could get into the details of his writings but there is no way you are going to prove that he isn't using logic. The reason you won’t be able to is because he is using logic. In order for a philosophy to be valid, it has to have reason. St. Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the world’s greatest thinkers. He wouldn’t be if there was no logic behind his words. If you want to see his logic, read his works. If you want to see how logic is behind philosophy, read the works of other philosophers as well.

Aquinas isn't one of the world's greatest thinkers. He was one of Christianity's greatest thinkers. But in the world of philosophy, he was pretty much a pedant, and not much more......

[Shaolin Wookie]

Dont try to justify being just another couch jocky that reads books about flying ninjas and how you too can become one for just one low payment of $29.95.

Where do I send the money?

[BM2]

Where do I send the money?

PM sent. Not including shipping and handling.

[Shaolin Wookie]

Listen, guys.....

I'm an SD guy that's been "shopping around" at different schools in Atlanta to see if what I'm studying is the best there is for me.

I've checked out Northern Mantis, Wing Chun, BJJ, Kuntao, Southern Mantis, and Longfist.

The Northern Mantis school was wierd. I was the only white guy there, and they wore African scarves as sashes, and claimed that all martial arts (even Chinese) came from Africa. I swear to you that's the truth. They knew their mantis. The head guy was a little strange, but he moved like a surefire mantid, man. They even taught Mariama Kemet (African animal tribal dance) that was used like a kind of wrestling (or so I understood it to be). Hence, they said CMA's animal stuff was just a reflection of African portrayals of the animals. It wasn't for me.......

I went to a Wing Chun school that gave me a free session to try it out. Cool how a lot of MA places will let you do that.... They drilled a lot, then drilled their forms, and then did some sparring. I sparred a guy there who'd been doing it for two years (I'm 2 years into SD). He was pretty good, or so it seemed from watching him. But when my turn came up for sparring, I beat him silly, using my SD stuff (he asked me to use what I knew, so he was asking for it....quite literally..... ). He could hold that centerline alright, but the sheer variety of strikes, stances, footwork, power, and "fighting attitudes" (picked up from SD sparring), I knew had him dumbfounded....and I was able to hold my centerline better than him with my bird stuff!!! The rigidity of the strucutre he had confined himself to, just couldn't cope with my footwork, either. We were at it for like 5 minutes, and I just slapped him silly once I realized there was wide gap in our levels of skill. (Slapping is one of the "kind" techs I got from an SD guy who regularly slaps me silly [kind of like recognition that you could punch to really hurt, but don't need to]). When we were finished, he pointed out all the things I'd done wrong. I was silent. It was kind of like what KC was talking about more or less with his Jim Carey thing: "You hit me!?" "You asked me to hit you!" "Yeah, but not like that....now hit me in the correct way!" (hence, the way he could defend against.)

BJJ--already told that story.

Kuntao--100X more wacky stories than SD, man. . Kuntao via Russia.....I hit the road almost as soon as I walked in the door.......

Southern Mantis--Nothing bad to say about it. Not quite what I expected, though. I figured this would be my last stop, but it wasn't all I had touted it to be when I took a sample class. I moved on....to..... ....

Longfist---the teacher's a little Chinese dude from HK who also teaches some wushu. He called me out on more strucutral problems in my footwork than anyone ever has....(none of the other schools did, at all, [while SD guys do]). In that 2 hour period, I learned A LOT!:eek: ....doing "fake" shaolin stuff. It was not very different from SD, but the teaching approach was different. He only teaches one day a week for 2 hours.....but this is what I'm now cross-training in. The proof's in the puddin'.....he's not better than my SD teachers, just a little different. I don't think their fighitng ability is better than SD's, but their structure is verrry nice, and it's been my interest of late.

As someone much wiser than myself said, and many of you as well....with various schools you'll find more emphasis on fighting, or structure, or forms. Because it's a limited schedule, and there are often many students in a class, you'll never get to cover them all. In SD, however, you get as much of all of the elements as you can in a class period (and SD has a more accomodating schedule than any of the other schools, which makes me appreciate the dedication of the Masters and instructors more than ever!!!!)

As for SD's cirriculum and fighting......at my experience level, I was better than most people at my level in other schools. Not bragging. It's just the truth. I took very few shots, while mine had the "fortune and luck" (as I'm sure some of you will posit) to land in sweet spots, which bowled over some even more experienced guys. Plus, I was in 1000X better shape than other people in the other schools. They were panting after doing a form they've done a thousand times, which I would consider half as strenuous as Tai Peng Sin Kune. I've always thought SD did a great job of stressing proper breathing, especially in intensive cardio sessions.

SD gives you a very wide-scope for martial knowledge. It focuses on those three groups I mentioned. I value it's fighting ability (and now I feel stupid for having questioned it sooo much of late) far more than the other schools I visited. As for whether or not it's CMA.......

I'm not sure. I think it is, but it has been adapted (many exaggerated motions made more effecient by limiting sweep/scope) more for practical fighting, IMHO. The applications are actually more obvious in the forms. I think that's why some people think it looks like karate. My longfist teacher's stress on stances taught me a lot about weight transition and waist movement in ways I'd never thought about it. (Funny....he kept saying: "No, you're do it wrong. No, you're do it wrong. No, don't go on. Go back, start over. Don't add one mistake on to another." And then at the end, he said: "You do very good job. You have good teacher. Very strong legs.") And here I figured he thought I completely sucked .

I'm just a beginner at my level but I've learned a lot about schools, teaching, etc. just by looking around. SD is better than many schools in my area, but for certain specifics, it can't hurt to look around. So, I'll stick with SD and cross-train in Longfist for now (it's helped improve my SD already) .

Not the route everyone needs to go, or should go, but the route I feel I should take right now.....

[kwaichang]

Glad to hear it SW. KC

[Shaolin Wookie]

Thanks, KC. I know I took a strange route, said some ****, and irked some people.....but I learned a lot from doing it, I guess. It also gave me insight into GM Sin The'.....in that, he might have adapted the forms to his idea of what they should be, but **** me if his techs aren't effective in the MA pool. Short forms, call 'em what you will, set me up for more than I can ever imagine......It's all about advance, retreat, constant attack/defense, and centerline.......

Wouldn't call myself an SD dogmatist, but I do appreciate it for what it gave me when I put it to the test....