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Thread: Shi Yan Ming & Shaolin Temple USA

  1. #1

    Shi Yan Ming & Shaolin Temple USA

    A new Shaolin Temple USA

    http://usashaolintemple.org/index.ph...shop&Itemid=71

    Anyone know anything about this?

  2. #2
    No comments? It looks like they are planning a big facility.

  3. #3
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    Not wanting to speak out of turn...

    ...I'm sure richard sloan can speak most intelligently about this.
    Gene Ching
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  4. #4

    Question ?

    huh..

    Okay Shi Yanming want's to open up a training center, okay.

    Shaolin Temple? Um wouldn't there need to be a "Buddhist Abbott" needed for this position.

    Hasn't Shi Yanming left the priesthood (married (2) and children (?)). I think that removes him from applying.

    I comment in regards to Religous Requirements and nothing to do with his skills/training (he's got better physical skill then I'll ever have).

  5. #5
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    warrior monks were not the same as religious monks-no matter what David Carradine might say.
    It's all about the dollar, anyway. I have seen too many people come to my school from them to learn how to fight. They don't teach real application, and all, if any of their fighting is san-da, not kung-Fu. Too bad, too. I used to believe in the dream too.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by TenTigers View Post
    warrior monks were not the same as religious monks-no matter what David Carradine might say.
    It's all about the dollar, anyway. I have seen too many people come to my school from them to learn how to fight. They don't teach real application, and all, if any of their fighting is san-da, not kung-Fu. Too bad, too. I used to believe in the dream too.

    Um! The word "fast food" comes to my mind..

    cs
    The Style Doesn't Make The Master Famous. The Master Makes The Style Famous!

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Citong Shifu View Post
    Um! The word "fast food" comes to my mind..

    cs

    The word mcdonald's come to mind.

  8. #8
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    personally i like shi yan-ming. i met him a couple times and the times i have met him, and compared to the other monks he is more friendly and humble. even though he is a business man. plus i think he has done a lot more in the usa to promote shaolin early on then any of the other monks in the usa.

    i have no comment about his training cause i never took it. i have watched it and it seems to work his students hard.
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by jigahus View Post
    The word mcdonald's come to mind.
    The word "Tax-free status" comes to mind...

  10. #10
    only two comments

    1. how wonderful and great the USA is! In all of China there was only one (ok maybe two) Shaolin Temples.... we've got like 4 of them now

    2. Whatever it is that Shi Yanming does, it is NOT san da.....
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  11. #11
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    LOL

    Ross, you just need more Pak Mei schools to go out there and burn them down....

    BTW, they're planning on building one down here too... 500 man training hall, 500 room hotel and a golf course as well.

    Well, I've seen Zen themed mini golf before....

    Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Ommm Ommmm Ommmm....

  12. #12
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    LOL, Hmmmmm, maybe I should shave my head, wear a robe, and start my own Shaolin Temple Resort....

    On a serious note, the shaolin Temple in China and PRC get a major financial kick back from the USA Temples... What a gimmick.... Makes me look down more on Modern Shaolin Wushu, which ny the way is a government version of pre-1900's Shaolin Kungfu....

    Anywho, I guess if it works for them, great. Eventually Modern Shaolin Wushu and the USA temples will be known as McDojo's...

    CS
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  13. #13
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    Not true

    The U.S.A. temples aren't officially recognized by the Shaolin Temple proper, so Shaolin does not receive 'kickback'. Each of the U.S. immigrated monks have set up schools. Some have called there schools temples and that's arguable. The last time I was at Yanming's in NY and Deshan's in TX, they both set up temple 'areas' in their studios, but it's little more than a glorified altar and a meditation space. Now, Guolin's is different. He has a completely separate temple room that functions fully as a Buddhist temple. It's overseen by a Buddhist teacher who doesn't do kung fu. Many of the attendees of this temple don't practice kung fu either. The kung fu studio is actually in back and accessed from another entrance (although both spaces are connected). Guolin has the strongest ties to Shaolin Temple and is probably the closest to being 'official'. The others might claim official ties to Shaolin - and may indeed tithe to some connection there - but it's not Shaolin Temple proper. Deshan has strong connections to the Shaolin wushuguan, which is in turn connected to the temple, the sports bureau and the tourist bureau, but is its own entity. Yanming has strong connections to Deyang, who is a senior well-respected monk in Shaolin Temple, who also operates his own private school. I'm sure all of these monks have other connections as well, just as anyone from China has connections. In China, this is guanxi and it's the key to accessing anything and everything in Chinese culture.
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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
    Deshan has strong connections to the Shaolin wushuguan, which is in turn connected to the temple, the sports bureau and the tourist bureau, but is its own entity.
    WRONG.
    Deshan HAD strong connection to the wushuguan....but as far as i know now..he has no connection to shaolin ...dat why all his new teacher he bring over are wushu coaches?
    he sure does have a strong connection with the bejing wushu team though
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  15. #15
    well it is pretty simple actually.

    Like many monks, he wants to spread his traditions and share with others. Since Yong Xin's ascendency, a lot of monks have felt a little, shall we say, uncomfortable, with being official, lol...being quite unofficial has allowed us to take in people such as Wan Heng, for example...provide support for others, etc.

    Since he got here, and from the days when Guolin and Yan Ming were with Yan Chang on Pike st, running a temple there, I think they wanted to set up a full blown monastery/temple/training facility, someplace near or in the Buddhist Alley in the Catskills. But for a couple of different reasons they went their separate ways. I don't think there is much going on between them but I know Yan Chang stays in touch, and there is some communication back and forth occassionally with Guolin.

    So slowly but surely, Yan Ming has been working on establishing a temple upstate, in which he wants to duplicate the training through which he came up, the surface of which we are scratching at now. He's come a far way from duct taping flashlights to the walls and wearing five pairs of socks in the winter to stay warm and keep his knuckles from cracking open and I have to admire his tenacity.

    We have quite a bit of funding now, with more coming through various initiatives. The last major drive culminated in a party, at which I was proud to offer my services as a Dj, I was psyched because I had just scored a nice set of 7s of some rare reggae, cost me two machettes in trade no less, and it went over real nice trust me when I tell you. Also, he does seminars. Stuff like that.

    I think Guolin is about as "official" as it gets, as far as ties to Yong Xin and the Henan Shaolin temple, as he is training the other ambassador, DeMasco. I forget who is who these days. If anyone is sending money back to China on the regular I would guess it would be Guolin, it's gotta be USSD, but that is pure conjecture on my part, and so what I guess? I don't see anything wrong with religious organizations sending money back to the mother temple or church or what have you, that is just S.O.P, like it or not, I would just assume it as a matter of course. USSD is another matter entirely and that I think is B.S. to the tenth power for a lot of reasons. For disciples, they sure do blunder about, they don't even understand their place in the lineage which is embarassing, and they sure can make some mountains out of molehills.

    But we are not beholden to anyone but ourselves and our other temples, of which we have 4 now- Vienna, S.Africa, Trinidad, and Mexico, although I am sure Shifu has helped out some of his brothers back in China through some of the tough times when there was the purge and such.

    I'm not surprised a lot of students leave to go and learn to "fight" at other schools, because nothing like that really happens until level 2 is reached, and that is mostly a lot of padwork, depending. What you do learn is not readily apparent as far as what most people think of when they think of fighting.

    Level one is all basics, all the time.

    We have a temple currently in manhattan- by that I mean we have a space which is used to train martial arts and instruct students in Ch'an, and to also conduct various ceremonies, although it is not exclusively one or the other and I don't think any such distinction is really recognized unless it is convenient. Since a big part of Ch'an is dong ch'an, and since that is how Yan Ming teaches it, that's how we worship, if the word fits. If it doesn't, I'll just shrug at you because you can be my guest at whatever you want to think. We have a body of disciples now, all having gone through the Gui Yi Fo, Fa, Sen, and this body of disciples learns Ch'an Buddhism, various sutras and recitation, etc.

    As to the married/celibacy thing, I think it is fair to say that the CR upended that tradition, and as far as I am concerned, for the better, although many vehemently disagree with me. But the fact remains several of the senior monks who came back came back with families in tow, including two of the four olds, upon which the transmission basically hung from pre'28 Shi You San attack to now. Yan Ming will catch flak because he is rather open and unapologetic about it. To me, it doesn't effect anything and the kids are a delight. Maybe for many only a guy locked up in some cubicle apart from the world can only be called a "monk" but that is a rather silly belief to hold to me and a little juvenile of a concept.

    Ah,the money, well I wish we had it like people think we do, but I can assure you from direct personal experience he is not teaching or doing this for the "money." Lol...perceptions crack me up. I guess the Pope does it for the money, lol....and the Dalai Lama does it for the money, and Mother Theresa did it for the money, and who else.... Since I am not much of a horn tooter I'll just leave it at that. It's the year 2007 and tons of religious groups have had to adapt to using business models- Catholics have TONS, trust me- from the Trappists making Chimay into a brand that has now evolved into not just arguably the world's BEST ales and beers, but to Cheeses etc, and Toner Monks who sell toner cartridges, to other endeavours, all for the money, heh heh heh...That always makes me laugh, for example, when last year we had our heat go off and I couldn't sleep for the chatter of my teeth...or when my fingers were raw from stitching together our disciple books...

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