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Thread: Are there real Shaolin Monks?

  1. #16
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    The 1st time that I went to Shaolin temple was back in 1980. I saw only 4 monks in the whole temple. I didn't see any of them trained MA.

    I still remember that I needed to use 粮票 (food ticket) to buy food in restaurant.
    Last edited by YouKnowWho; 10-13-2013 at 03:33 PM.
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  2. #17
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    My old coach comes from near Shaolin, and trained there as a child - quite an interesting story, actually. He - obviously - knows the temple very well and said that although there are a lot people around who aren't really monks, nevertheless there are some "special", actual martial arts monks who train at or around the temple, but not in areas that the tourists go to. So, short answer, yes - yes there are.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by gunbeatskroty View Post
    I should have made myself more clear as I was referring to the Shaolin Kung-Fu fighting monks, in a sense that they were pretty much wiped out after the Cultural Revolution. They had Kung-Fu monks and non-Kung-Fu monks at the temple. Now it looks like they have a those who joins to train Shaolin KF with or w/o the Buhdism aspect.

    And since then and up to the re-opening of the temple, like in 2008 or something, there hasn't been enough time to train any formidable Shaoling Kung-Fu fighters and most of the ones floating around are fake and really Chinese Wu Shu fighters....which actually makes them even better fighters than the Shaolin ones anyway. Like this guy, Yi Long:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1WZvuS-mMM
    In no sense were they "pretty much wiped out" after the CR. Have you been there?

    Yi Long sucks.

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by LFJ View Post
    In no sense were they "pretty much wiped out" after the CR. Have you been there?

    Yi Long sucks.

    Yi Long certainly does suck in a sense that he's only a low level Pro fighter and nobody special.

    My point is that there's probably no real, accomplished Shaolin Kung-Fighters coming out of the Shaolin Temple and that it's all just a myth perpetuated by movies. And sadly, the closest Shaolin Monk fighter is probably Yi Long, who's probably not even a real monk. The only fighters from China that have a chance against the Thais in K-1 are the Sanda fighters....and K-1 is not even full Muay Thai neither.

    The Ultimate Fighter is coming to China, so let's see what the Chinese can do. IMO, I don't think they'll even come close to the level of fighters being produced from the USA and Brazil.

  5. #20
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    And by "accomplished fighter" you mean having won in major sporting competitions?

  6. #21
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    People who actually become properly ordained Buddhist monks are doing so for religious reasons, not because they want to become top martiall artists.

    It might be that by chance one or two are also gifted martial artists. However, for forms, professional wushu players are far superior to the average Shaolin monk, and for fighting, pro san da fighters are far superior to the average Shaolin monk.

    This is inevitable as the pros are selected out of a vast pool of talent and provided with high level training from an early age. Shaolin is more famous for its hard qigong than for the actual high level (relative to others in China) of the monks. Still, the average monk is ridiculously higher level than the average western CMAist who is fond of saying how rubbish they are. It's all a matter of degree.

  7. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by LFJ View Post
    Yi Long sucks.
    But at least he fights.
    Quote Originally Posted by YouKnowWho View Post
    This is 100% TCMA principle. It may be used in non-TCMA also. Since I did learn it from TCMA, I have to say it's TCMA principle.
    Quote Originally Posted by YouKnowWho View Post
    We should not use "TCMA is more than combat" as excuse for not "evolving".

    You can have Kung Fu in cooking, it really has nothing to do with fighting!

  8. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by gunbeatskroty View Post
    The Ultimate Fighter is coming to China, so let's see what the Chinese can do. IMO, I don't think they'll even come close to the level of fighters being produced from the USA and Brazil.
    Why do you think this? China is generally pretty good at putting out quality athletes, (at least in the Olympics.) Sanda is a great standup system and they are starting to learn ground game over there....

    I think once they get more serious, better organized fight circuits and tweak the training for MMA I think we'll see world class fighters come out of China...they're 20 years behind USA and even further behind Brazil on this, but I suspect it won't take them too long to catch up.
    Quote Originally Posted by YouKnowWho View Post
    This is 100% TCMA principle. It may be used in non-TCMA also. Since I did learn it from TCMA, I have to say it's TCMA principle.
    Quote Originally Posted by YouKnowWho View Post
    We should not use "TCMA is more than combat" as excuse for not "evolving".

    You can have Kung Fu in cooking, it really has nothing to do with fighting!

  9. #24
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    @Miqi

    Who is the "average Shaolin monk"?

    They are individuals with names and personalities, you know...

    People like to talk about "them" in a general sense when in fact they know absolutely nothing about them individually. How can anything be said when one doesn't even know who exactly they're talking about?

  10. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miqi View Post
    It might be that by chance one or two are also gifted martial artists. However, for forms, professional wushu players are far superior to the average Shaolin monk, and for fighting, pro san da fighters are far superior to the average Shaolin monk.
    This depends entirely on your definition of forms and fighting, and your standards for both. Speaking in a "general" sense and with Shaolin wugong purpose and standards, I would disagree on both counts.

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by LFJ View Post
    This depends entirely on your definition of forms and fighting, and your standards for both. Speaking in a "general" sense and with Shaolin wugong purpose and standards, I would disagree on both counts.
    Well then you'd be wrong.

  12. #27
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    . . . . . . . . . .

  13. #28
    Greetings,

    There are three major incidents that took place in the 20th century that warranted tracking as far as where the Shaolin fighting monks went.

    1- The destruction of the Shaolin Temple in 1928

    2- The establishment of Communism in 1949

    3- The Cultural Revolution

    There have been no real tracking of the dispersion of Shaolin fighting arts during these periods. I learned that there was a high level fighting monk in NYC Chinatown during the 1970's; if indicative of anything, it is that there may be clues to the diaspora contained within international Buddhist temple traditions, a very neglected area of research.

    mickey

  14. #29
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    people who claim there are no "real shaolin" in china always have alterior motives, mostly claiming by coincidence they just happen to have the "real shaolin".

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  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by SHemmati View Post
    none of those big 130+ Kg so-called fighter guys can withstand one single blow of such warrior monks. these fat westerners can call themselves 'fighters' just because their rivals are also like them, no martial art strategies, more weight, more chance to win!
    Shemmati......you don't really think Western fighters have no strategy except to be fatter than their opponent do you?
    Quote Originally Posted by YouKnowWho View Post
    This is 100% TCMA principle. It may be used in non-TCMA also. Since I did learn it from TCMA, I have to say it's TCMA principle.
    Quote Originally Posted by YouKnowWho View Post
    We should not use "TCMA is more than combat" as excuse for not "evolving".

    You can have Kung Fu in cooking, it really has nothing to do with fighting!

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