Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[Chain Whip]

Hey Erasmus Mingatt - It appears that terminology, history and clothing mean much more to you than the body mechanics.

Chainwhip..NO STYLE has 900 forms!!

The "system" has many "styles" available - some styles have many forms, some have very few. There is supposed to be 900 forms of various styles within the system. Not that it matters to me whether it is 400 or 900 or whatever. It just means there is more to learn than I can possibly ever absorb.

you can generally determine if a style of kung fu is legit by adherence to tradition

I think you are saying frog button uniforms make a school traditional and probably legit. Pretty naive thinking. In Shaolin-Do (Tao) the tradition is karate gis - the Georgia and Tennessee schools are being non-traditional within their own art by wearing frog buttons. It does seem that it doesn't change anyone's skill level either way.

There are grandmastgers of styles..not temples. You are confusing the title grandmaster with that of the Head Abbott.

I did?? Where did I say "Grandmaster of Temple...."

LEARNED in PERSON by his sifu...not read a series of scripts and then go and "wing it".

Should have been more clear for your benefit. When I said "he at one time saw the forms and practiced them for a short while" I should have said "he at one time LEARNED in PERSON from his sifu the forms and practiced them for a short while"

"As to the Southern Temple.......GM The' has been to both of the current Southern Temples (rumor has it that a third is in the works)" .

And your point is? So he went there...


"No fights broke out when he got there."

Is this something I should be impressed by? Does this imply as opposed to all the other times when grandmasters of other various kung fu styles have gone To Shaolin and riots broke out? LOL

Just saying he went there and visited with the Head Abbott and the wu-shu coaches. They were kind and respectful towards each other. Anyone can go and be treated well. The two government run temples are big money makers so they are nice to just about everyone from America.

The temple has embraced Buddhism(read: pacifists)..

- you obviously have not been to either temple. What they have embraced is capitalism (read: suck money out of naive Americans)

I'll bet even wu-shu is closer to kung fu than what the SD practices. "DO" is a Japanese/Korean word.

Again with spelling being so important............. The coaches at the Northern Temple would disagree with you. They comment that the SD material is clearly traditional CMA.

What group? Name them.

Why don't you fly over and go to the Quanzhou Temple and ask for those details?

Tonfa is not a kung fu weapon..it's Japanese. More proof you are confused.

Take a picture of their weapon rack while you are there (the one with sai and tonfa on it)

[MasterKiller]

They comment that the SD material is clearly traditional CMA.

You were there when they said this, I suppose?

[The Xia]

Tonfa is not a kung fu weapon..it's Japanese. More proof you are confused.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO0GBnXjyPU

[Judge Pen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO0GBnXjyPU

Interesting find. Thing is, I didn't think that SD taught Tonfa. We have an iron crutch form but I hadn't heard anything about Tonfa before.

[Lamassu]

"Round 348 of the same old tired song and dance!!!"

Honestly people, don't you get tired of bickering over the same old cr@p over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again?

"Is Shaolin Do 'Shaolin' or not?"

"NO ONE could EVER learn 900 forms!"

"Grandmaster The is a charlatan out to take your money!"

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!

Here, let me answer the first one for you:
Shaolin Do has Crane, Tiger, Snake, Mantis, Hua Fist, and other styles that were traditionally taught at the Shaolin Temples and as Erasmus so lovingly pointed out: 'Shaolin' isn't a STYLE, it's a couple of MONASTARIES. Since Shaolin Do isn't taught by a bunch of monks who recently immigrated from the Shaolin temples, then no, Shaolin Do ISN'T affiliated with them, but that doesn't mean that the material taught in Shaolin Do didn't originate from there. Remember, the monks were scattered to the four winds after their temples were destroyed and you can't honestly assume that these monks were so grief stricken from their lost that they NEVER practiced their kung fu and NEVER taught it to people afterwards.

The guy who taught our lineage, was Grandmaster Su Kong Taijinn. He was afflicted with hypertrichosis, so you can understand if he wasn't in the limelight at the Temples back in the day.

for the second question:
900 forms CAN be learned by a single individual if all he had was kung fu. Say, maybe, he was socially ostracised because of a visually appalling condition and couldn't do all the cool things monks do, like smoke pot, chase after girls and seek enlightenment.

and the final question:
OF COURSE GRANDMASTER THE WANT'S OUR MONEY!!! ALL MARTIAL ART MASTERS WANT YOUR MONEY; IT'S CALLED CAPITALISM! WELCOME TO AMERICA!!!

Can we please get back to serious discussions now?

[MasterKiller]

for the second question:
900 forms CAN be learned by a single individual if all he had was kung fu. Say, maybe, he was socially ostracised because of a visually appalling condition and couldn't do all the cool things monks do, like smoke pot, chase after girls and seek enlightenment.

Yeah, but who could swim the fastest with their pecs? Sin or Su Kong?

[Judge Pen]

Yeah, but who could swim the fastest with their pecs? Sin or Su Kong?

Duh, all that extra bodyhair would produce too much drag.

[Chain Whip]

Originally Posted by Chain Whip
They comment that the SD material is clearly traditional CMA.

You were there when they said this, I suppose?

Yes I was.

[djcaldwell]

Yes I was.

Did you hand them the payoff or just witness it?

[MasterKiller]

Yes I was.

Was this the same trip when the SD'ers performed a 2 hour lackluster demo?

[Lamassu]

Yeah, but who could swim the fastest with their pecs? Sin or Su Kong?

Honestly, I couldn't tell you. I never heard that claim before I came across this kung fu forum. None of my Sifu's ever told me that Sin The can swim with his pecs, and I never heard him say that he could during the few times I spoke with him. Who told you he could?

Technically though, he CAN swim with his pecs and so can I...so can you for that matter. They are attached to your arms after all.

[tattooedmonk]

Interesting find. Thing is, I didn't think that SD taught Tonfa. We have an iron crutch form but I hadn't heard anything about Tonfa before.

Yep ! Master Hiang taught one to the Soards . It is taught in the CSCs

[Chain Whip]

Was this the same trip when the SD'ers performed a 2 hour lackluster demo?

Don't think so. Our demos look like a bunch of CPAs, computer programmers and other plain folk who practice when they can and are no where near the athletes that they have in the big wushu schools. So most of the performances would probably be "lackluster" There are always one or two people worth watching.

Even with the general "lackluster" abilities of the average student it seems the best wushu coaches in China can still recognize truly traditional CMA. Even if the performers aren't wearing frog buttons. I can safely say I have never seen anyone perform in a frog button uniform in China - except for the very non-martial Tai Chi guys.

[Lamassu]

Tai Chi is martial.

[Chain Whip]

Tai Chi is martial.

No kidding. I didn't say it wasn't. I just said the very "non-martial Tai Chi guys" who comprise the vast majority of people doing Tai Chi.

I'm in Atlanta. I think you may know Bruce, who is a Tai Chi guy and very martial and a general bad ass. If you are doing Tai Chi under Senior Master Grooms you are doing it as a martial art.