monks in california??

[Pk_StyLeZ]

Wu Shu. Wu shu blades, Wu shu spears, Wu shu footwork.
i have traveled all over China to Shaolin (Kung Fu Disneyland), Wu Dang (Remote Mountain tourist trap), Chen village (Large school, nobody home), Beijing and most of what i saw was Wu shu. Traditional is dead over there it seems.

traditional is hidden....u just gotta find it.....wushu is what they will show for performances......
nm pointless to argue
this subject been argued too much

[ShaoliNeophyte]

Wu Shu. Wu shu blades, Wu shu spears, Wu shu footwork.
i have traveled all over China to Shaolin (Kung Fu Disneyland), Wu Dang (Remote Mountain tourist trap), Chen village (Large school, nobody home), Beijing and most of what i saw was Wu shu. Traditional is dead over there it seems.

Yeah, I agree that most of those utube videos are definitely wushu. I will say this though, when I took the seminar last year they stressed more traditional aspects like low stances, generating power, proper breathing, etc. If I had to guess, I'd say the wushu show just pays the bills. Of course, I'm also not sure they are "monks" per se(in the buddhist religious sense), but I was impressed by their demonstrations of the more traditional forms and from their conditioning it was obvious that they train very hard.

Of course, I am not qualified to distinguish what is good from bad, as my experience is very limited, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. I certainly wouldn't hop on a flight based on my words alone :-)

[Pk_StyLeZ]

I know. We found the Northern Shaolin School in Guanzhou as well as a few other traditional schools in Fatshan. All of them low key and understated.

I guess my main point for chiming in here is I am kind of tired of seeing graduates of the Shaolin Sports Schools coming here masquerading as Shaolin Monks. When the "Shaolin Monk" phrase pops up it is as if someone is claiming lineage back to some royal wellspring and I suspect very few are entitled to these claims. Although I have seen some talented athletes from China I suspect I have yet to actually meet a monk but then again what the hell do I know?

Peace

i guess i can understand your point of view if you never actually met a monk
yes a lot of the monks PEFORMS wushu stuff
but behind the scene....trust me..they know the tradtional aspect as well
im not gonna say all know traditional, but i can say a lot of them do

[Baqualin]

But you are not a monk!!

In my own mind
BQ

[xcakid]

You'd fly to CA to learn Shao Hong Quan from Shaolin monks?

Anybody could teach you that fist set. It's simple, and the applications are easy. Waste of plane fare. Even a hack could teach Hong Quan good enough.

I wanted to learn application. You're right, I can learn the movements just by watching someone. But the applications, I would rather learn from the source, per se.

[ShaoliNeophyte]

I wanted to learn application. You're right, I can learn the movements just by watching someone. But the applications, I would rather learn from the source, per se.

I'm not involved in the planning of the event, so I can't make any promises on what will or what will not be covered. There are contact numbers and emails on the link I provided, I'd suggest calling them before booking any flights based on my novice words.

[GeneChing]

When the "Shaolin Monk" phrase pops up it is as if someone is claiming lineage back to some royal wellspring and I suspect very few are entitled to these claims.

Actually the notion of being a monk is not necessarily as venerated as many Westerners make them out to be. Many Asians look down upon monks. They think of them as beggars. They don't work. They just live off begging. Also, there's this weird 'once a monk, always a monk' perception here. Nothing could be further than the truth. While some monks do spend their entire lives in robes, most will only don robes for a short period. It's not at all uncommon to return to society. In fact, almost every Thai male has been a Buddhist monk for short period of time, but most don't stay with it for very long.

Shaolin monks have a notorious history, mostly fictional, but notorious, nonetheless. Meat, Wine, and Fighting Monks: Did Shaolin Monks breach Buddhist Dietary Regulations? by Dr. Meir Shahar touches on this a little. We in the martial arts put Shaolin monks on a pedestal. But honestly, few people in America understand what it means to be a renunciate. We are a culture of consumption, not renunciation.

[LFJ]

I know. We found the Northern Shaolin School in Guanzhou as well as a few other traditional schools in Fatshan. All of them low key and understated.

are you familiar with fatsaan? (foshan) thats my hometown in china. its the home to the southern styles and birthplace of wong feihung and yip man...

you can find real good traditional southern styles there. naturally. but basically, for the most part you've gotta get to know people. through family or good friends. if you find some you can easily get a good master to train with for free. it wont cost you a cent. thats what i'll be doing when i go back with a friends wingcheun master. because i've basically been in songshan shaolin all my life but always love wingcheun.

and its soooo much cheaper than anything modern or shaolin related. or well, anything. its completely free.

[GeneChing]

Back OT, check out our November/December Shaolin Special 2007 for The Gold Mountain Monks: 38 Shaolin Immigrants to the San Francisco Bay Area By Chen Xinghua and Gigi Oh

[Immortal_Dragon]

I think the problem with modern shaolin monks is not what they are teaching but how they behave considering the society or organization from which they originally come from. They represent the shaolin monastery and with that comes buddhism, morals and of course martial arts. I feel the level of frustration from some of the posters here because essentially what you are having are Chinese martial art performers who studied wushu; shaving their head coming to America and saying they are shaolin monks. Then of course is the manner in which some of these "monks" behave. It's just not exceptable. Shaolin misconduct is reported everywhere not just in the USA but in the other "temples" located in other countries. There is just too much deceit in shaolin...period.

Another black eye shaolin suffers from is the inner workings of Shaolin Temple. I don't understand how an organziation that represents buddhism and morality, especially in China, can allow these guys to behave the way they do while claiming heritage to Shaolin. Even some of the very workings of the Shaolin Temple are questionable all in the name of politics. I wish some media journalists would really tackle the issues that are at the heart of these contraversies. I don't mean slaughtering them or publishing gossip but publishing the facts that would at least attempt to answer the "why" that most people seem to ask.

[SIFU RON]

Back OT, check out our November/December Shaolin Special 2007 for The Gold Mountain Monks: 38 Shaolin Immigrants to the San Francisco Bay Area By Chen Xinghua and Gigi Oh

That is an excellant article. Very informative as your magazine always is.

I met some Monks at the Matrail Arts History Museum not too long ago, they put on an excellant demo. Young people, very talented.

Thank you for the insite, the folks that read your coments will have a better understanding of " Gold Mountain" and the Monks.

Best to you, Ron Shewmaker

[Wildwoo]

I know there are a few monks in southern California that were a part of the traveling demonstration team. They occasionally put on day long seminars where they teach forms.

Last year I took the class for the hand set Tong Bei and the staff set Yin Shou. The monks were extremely talented(at least from my limited point of view) and I learned quite a bit from the classes.

They are doing another class next month at the Shaolin Temple Kung Fu School in Lomita. They are teaching shao hong chuan, or Little Red Fist, which is a very old traditional Northern Shaolin set.

The class is scheduled on June 24th, and here's a link for information is anyone is interested:
http://www.shaolinlomita.com/Shaolin%20Warriors.htm

I hope it is okay for me to post this link here. I'm not trying to promote the event or anything.

These are the same guys;
Contact Jonathan Blank <jonathan@wildform.com>
show details Oct 25

Reply

Hi.
We are very pleased to announce that Shaolin Kung Fu, Chi Gung and meditation classes will begin on Wednesday November 7th at 6:30PM at the Santa Monica Zen Center.

When
Wednesday evenings (beginning November 7, 2007) - 6:30PM - 8:00PM

Where
Santa Monica Zen Center - 1001A Colorado Blvd. between 10th and 11th St.

Here is a map
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result.ph...a+monica%2C+ca

If you have any questions, let me know.

Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested.

Regards,
Jonathan

PS. The fee is only $80 per month (which works out to around $13/hour).

PPS. Because of various scheduling issues, we are starting off with one class per week for 1 1/2 hours every Wednesday. We may increase this to twice per week at some point in the future.