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Thread: The Shaolin Ideal

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  1. 12-12-2006, 01:46 PM #1
    The Xia
    The Xia is offline Registered User
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    Lightbulb The Shaolin Ideal

    The latest issue of Kung Fu Magazine got me thinking abstractly about Shaolin. Many people use expressions like the Shaolin way, the spirit of Shaolin, or the Shaolin ideal, but what does that really mean? Shaolin has a long and layered history filled with all manner of legends and personalities. Out of all this, what embodies the spirit of Shaolin? Is it Chan Buddhism? If so, that would disqualify non-Chan Buddhists who practice Shaolin styles from being embodiments of the Shaolin ideal. So is the Shaolin ideal Mo Duk (Wu De)? If this were it, wouldn't that make practitioners of non-Shaolin martial arts that have martial ethics embodiments of the Shaolin ideal? So is it martial ethics combined with being a practitioner of Shaolin martial arts that makes the Shaolin ideal? As you can see, these expressions that are thrown around so freely aren't so easy to define. So what are your thoughts as to what the Shaolin ideal is?
    Last edited by The Xia; 12-12-2006 at 01:49 PM.
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