So I just got back from Shaolin Temple the other day...

[richard sloan]

if it happens again, you can point him to:

http://monasticdialog.com

and tell them to check out the Nostra Aetate from Vatican II. I think it was Vatican II.

[rage911]

Hey Yong Ji (a.k.a. Sca), I thought I'd give you an update. My thumb is still ****ed up but all my cuts healed. I made the 3 section my ***** after getting real sick Friday and Saturday. Another week and Ill tape it and have Shifu send it to Yan Wen. Were you worse (****ting your brains out) back home or over there?

That trip was Boom Bangin! 2 years and counting!

Peace out

Yong Xiang

[LFJ]

Lay disciples often wear robes during ceremonies and even during zuochan in many Buddhist sects, not just Chinese.

but those are robes specifically for laity. the chinese lay robes for ceremonies are called haiqing- usually black with super wide sleeves.

The monastic robes- with smaller sleeves, and a distinct double collar, usually in colors of oranges and grays- are never worn by the laity.

meditation clothes for laypeople look like the monastic "work" clothes, that button down in front, but again, the secular meditation clothing is without the double collar that is worn by monastics.

As for the shi moniker in other Chinese Buddhist sects, I'm not sure. Or maybe I should say 'I'm not shi'

you are shi either way.

i've heard of laity with the shi surname in northeastern china, but have not confirmed that any of them are from traditions other than shaolin.

most decide that it is reserved for fully ordained monastics, because they leave home to join shakyamuni's sangha of renunciates, and therefore adopt his surname.

while laity have not detached from responsibilities of the secular life. they have not left home, and so should not adopt the surname of renunciates. otherwise, the name alone can be misleading if monastics and laity are not clearly distinguished. even more so if laypeople are wearing monastic clothing.

after all, the shaved head and castoff rags were originally the look of all the buddha's ordained followers for that very purpose- to distinguish them from worldly folk who have not left home, easily identifiable as followers of the buddha.

its an interesting question why it is, and apparently only, permissible in shaolin tradition for laypeople to take the shi surname and wear monastic clothing.

[sha0lin1]

Hey Yong Ji (a.k.a. Sca), I thought I'd give you an update. My thumb is still ****ed up but all my cuts healed. I made the 3 section my ***** after getting real sick Friday and Saturday. Another week and Ill tape it and have Shifu send it to Yan Wen. Were you worse (****ting your brains out) back home or over there?

That trip was Boom Bangin! 2 years and counting!

Peace out

Yong Xiang

Hey Panda, or should I say Xiong Mao. Wish they would have named you Yong Xiong mao. Definitely worse over there. That seems to have all cleared up as of today. My biological clock is still somewhat off though. The trip was the shiznit, I miss Shaolin already. Can't wait to go back. Shifu's going again for X-mas or maybe the Chinese New Year, if I can swing it maybe I will go too.

[Lokhopkuen]

and what an awesome experience it was. I have read a lot on here about what peoples perceptions of what Shaolin Temple is and I can tell you that a lot of what people believe about it is very far from the truth. Since the sun comes up in China at 4:00 in the morning, our days started very early with a run up the mountain at 5:00pm. We went with our master who placed our training in the hands of his brother Shi Yan Wen who just smoked us on the run. We trained from 4 to 5 hours each day at the Temple and let me tell you that it was probably one of the most intense training experiences we have had. At the end we had to test our skills in front of our masters Shi Yan Wen, Shi Yong Zeng, and Shi Xing Jiou. They were impressed that we could pick up the forms we were taught in such a short amount of time, we learned three complete forms there that we were told would ordinarilly take the monks about six months to learn. We were sore, tired, and homesick to some extent the whole time but it was incredible. My discipleship ceremony was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. And I am very proud to say that I am now a 33rd Generation Shaolin Warrior Disciple.

Sincerely,

The martial artist formely known as Sha0lin1
Shi Yong Ji

Awesome! Thank you for sharing!

[Lokhopkuen]

...by 'we' I mean at my old Bak Sil Lum school under Wing Lam. Among Wing Lam's diverse array of skills, he was a talented carpenter - self taught, no less - and he constructed a magnificent altar by hand in his school. If you watch his videos or most of the articles on him during that period, you'll see it in the background. My first article ever was about that altar and its symbolism. Mind you, it wasn't a Buddhist altar specifically. It was a Guan Gong altar. Nevertheless, we lost several students because of it and all of them were Catholic except for one, who was Muslim. I remember one Catholic specifically - he was with us for a few months and was showing some promising talent. During one lesson, he asked me what the altar was. I answered and the light went out of his eyes. He said "I'm Catholic. There can be no God before mine. I can't be here anymore" and he walked straight out of the school, never to come back.

Of course, this is just my subjective experience, but I'd say over the 20+ years that I was under Wing Lam, we lost a few dozen students.

Lay disciples often wear robes during ceremonies and even during zuochan in many Buddhist sects, not just Chinese. I have zen robes from when I took refuge with S.F. zen, and have the option to wear them whenever I please, but I seldom do. As for the shi moniker in other Chinese Buddhist sects, I'm not sure. Or maybe I should say 'I'm not shi'

How narrow the mind?

[Pk_StyLeZ]

I jealous...i wish i coulda gone to the shaolin temple wit master shi xing ying and train inside the temple.....

when i went with master shi de shan..it sucked....barly got to see the temple.....trained at some school that wasnt even that impressive honestly...=(

i jealousssssssssssssssssss
glad u had a nice trip..got any pictures of videos?

[sha0lin1]

Hey Pk,

I took lots of pictures and video. You can see some on my myspace....

http://www.myspace.com/scottshaolin

[Pk_StyLeZ]

Hey Pk,

I took lots of pictures and video. You can see some on my myspace....

http://www.myspace.com/scottshaolin

nice
you know damo cane form?
i love that weapon...i want to buy a new damo cane my self, the one i have is like just for practice. the hammer part is like made of rubber..i want a wooden one and stronger one!
i will look at the videos later, kind of busy. look like you had fun, i miss going up that mountain!
thx for sharing!

[Raipizo]

Ha man i wish to go someday when i live on my own i'm still in highschool.

[Tensei85]

It was very interesting. I wish my Mandarin was a lot better though, so I could have understood a lot more of what was being said. Our master did a pretty good job of explaining things to us but in a very concise way. I see that you are from Michigan, I am originally from Port Huron, which part are you from?

Hey, sorry for late reply. I'm from the Bay City area, pretty close to Flint but around 2 hours North of Detroit.

Again, that sounds like an awesome experience.

[sha0lin1]

I forgot to mention in my first post that we kept having lucky things happening to us while we were there. Gene you will love this. One morning as we were going down for training. Shi Deyang was in front of the Temple with a few of his students and a film crew, I guess they were shooting a documentary. We got to watch and film as he demonstrated his favorite form, Da Hong Quan, and Lo Han Quan Er Lu, and take pictures of him as he posed on the steps of the Temple. Afterwards we got to meet him and take pictures with him ourselves. You know, from the videos I have of him I thought he always looks very serious and kind of a hard a@#, but in person he is very friendly and smiling all the time, very down to earth, a real nice guy.