Is Shaolin-Do for real?

[Shaolin Wookie]

If you want some forms, there's 2 of them in my signature if you follow the youtube link.

Those are 2 years old, I think. I'm much better at them now (2 years does wonders). You can judge their quality yourself.

Not perfect. Definately not karate. There are other forms available online. But I can't speak for anyone else or their understanding. so judge me for yourself.

[kwaichang]

Wookie I thought your forms looked good, FYI KC

[Scott R. Brown]

wow, this thread does go on and on and on doesn't it... lol

ITS ALIVE!!!

[kwaichang]

On and On like the Great art of Shaolin Do !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KC

[Judge Pen]

....and all hell breaks loose!

Funny for someone that wanted the thread locked, he sure has spent a lot of time debating on it.

Wookie, excellent discussions. Sean, always nice to hear you chime in. KC too.

Now back to the real world and real work. I wish I had time right now to dive in to some of these discussions myself. Maybe in a few weeks when things slow down on my end.

[Judge Pen]

Funny how quiet the SD haters get when someone gives them what they asked for. At the very least I would expect someone to tell Wookie that his karate looks too much like kungfu…did I get that backwards?

No the criticism will be that Wookie made his shaolin-do look too much like kung fu.

[sean_stonehart]

Actually I've been waiting on an email from KC... but no big deal either way.

[sean_stonehart]

No the criticism will be that Wookie made his shaolin-do look too much like kung fu.

Well he tried to sure. And he's a nice guy in person too.

But again my main contention is having X number of forms from Y styles is great. But if the core training style for Y isn't there, form X isn't going to look right. Theory/content/application is going to be dependant on whatever the Z base is... Z != Y. It can be made to work, but that doesn't it's being used the way it was designed or intended. I mean a hammer will open a beer bottle, but so will the twist top.

Brother Mullins... I will soon have my life back & wrested away from work. We need to pick a weekend for a visit with grilled meat, smokey bourbon & catching up.

[kwaichang]

Sorry man been busy JP will attest to that what was I supposed to send ////?????? I forgot . BTW hear about Smokin Joe Frazier another loss to the pugilistic world. KC

[sean_stonehart]

Sorry man been busy JP will attest to that what was I supposed to send ////?????? I forgot . BTW hear about Smokin Joe Frazier another loss to the pugilistic world. KC

You were gonna send me the translated list of the PM sets SD is supposed to contain. I can't translate them because it's not Mandarin or Cantonese that I'm familiar with.

Oh yeah... don't worry on the time. I have so little of it myself it's not funny. Just when you can.

[Shaolin Wookie]

Well he tried to sure. And he's a nice guy in person too.

But again my main contention is having X number of forms from Y styles is great. But if the core training style for Y isn't there, form X isn't going to look right. Theory/content/application is going to be dependant on whatever the Z base is... Z != Y. It can be made to work, but that doesn't it's being used the way it was designed or intended. I mean a hammer will open a beer bottle, but so will the twist top.

Brother Mullins... I will soon have my life back & wrested away from work. We need to pick a weekend for a visit with grilled meat, smokey bourbon & catching up.

While I agree with the sentiment, kung fu forms are pretty open ended no matter the style. I've seen traditionalists recommend strikes for movements that are clearly throws. SD does this too, and quite often. Even in the form I link to, I can see what I was thinking 2 years ago. There are a couple of movements I now understand as sweeps rather than steps, but not because I have traditional mantis. Sometimes insight just comes through.....kung fu osmosis, or something.

[Shaolin Wookie]

As for making SD forms look like kung fu....I still don't know what that means. I've rarely seen cookie cutter styles outside of Communist-inspired wushu (which I still maintain is impressive and athletic, even if it's almost 99% useless). Southern kung fu all looks like "crotty" to me. I know...I'm not envisioning the internal stuff. But to be honest, "internal" is often code for "some inside-my-head hocus pocus."

I have a good teacher, I learn from what he teaches. I wookie-ize everything, b/c someone else's notion of "martial" makes no sense until I can do it for myself on my own terms, even if it means making something "crotty-ish" or "kung-fu-ish." My kungfu-karate often looks like wrestling in its application.

[Judge Pen]

Brother Mullins... I will soon have my life back & wrested away from work. We need to pick a weekend for a visit with grilled meat, smokey bourbon & catching up.

I agree. Let's get through Thanksgiving and see what our schedules look like.

[Judge Pen]

While I agree with the sentiment, kung fu forms are pretty open ended no matter the style. I've seen traditionalists recommend strikes for movements that are clearly throws. SD does this too, and quite often. Even in the form I link to, I can see what I was thinking 2 years ago. There are a couple of movements I now understand as sweeps rather than steps, but not because I have traditional mantis. Sometimes insight just comes through.....kung fu osmosis, or something.

I think the beauty of forms is that, depending on the understanding and skill set of the practitioner, one man's strike is another man's throw. I don't think there is any one intended application. The application is limited only by the practitioner's insight and ability to make it applicable. This is often mis-characterized as "hidden applications", but really it is just skill. Nothing more.

[sean_stonehart]

I agree. Let's get through Thanksgiving and see what our schedules look like.

Done. That's around the time table I was thinking. Between the holidays-ish.