Juan Carlos Aguilar: Shaolin gym owner arrested for torture and murder

[Jimbo]

Tripping me out is more like it. I suppose there is that nagging sentiment that maybe I could have turned Juan Carlos to the side of good, but frankly, I didn't know him that well. There's also that disbelief that I didn't see this in him, as I'm usually a decent judge of character. Makes me wonder if any of my other associates will start murdering prostitutes. Well, not really. But still, very trippy.

Many years ago, one of my dad's friends killed his wife after he caught her cheating. My dad used to visit him in jail every once in a while. I remember him, and my dad's reaction to it all - the shock of it. It's kind of like that, just shocking.

Gene,

There's nothing you could have done to turn him around. People like him are psychopaths; there's a good chance he was born bad. There are good parents who have raised people who turned out evil.

During WWII, when Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in relocation camps, a white couple kindly took care of my maternal grandfather's flower shop in Glendale, CA, until my grandparents could return. This kept my grandparents, my mom and her siblings from losing their business and their assets (they lived in back of the business), as many Japanese-Americans lost everything during the war. The wife was wheelchair-bound. True to their word, they kept everything safe and intact. Well, that couple's son was named Caryl Chessman, a lifelong criminal who later became a notorious kidnapper, robber and rapist dubbed the "red light bandit". I'm very happy that my mom's family was never on his radar. He was executed in 1960.

My point in sharing this is that some people are just wired wrong from the start, and would have ended up that way regardless. We can only hope we can be a positive influence in our own lives, and also for those who may need our help that we CAN reach.

[Kellen Bassette]

Kind of disappointed with all the people calling him a fraud. Sure, he's a horrible person one would want to dissociate with now, but how does that make him a fraud? It seems by Gene's account anyway, he was trained legitimately. Words mean things. Just because you don't want someone to be associated with something doesn't mean that they weren't. Being a decent human being has very little to do with training/teaching Kung Fu.

[RenDaHai]

Kind of disappointed with all the people calling him a fraud. Sure, he's a horrible person one would want to dissociate with now, but how does that make him a fraud? It seems by Gene's account anyway, he was trained legitimately. Words mean things. Just because you don't want someone to be associated with something doesn't mean that they weren't. Being a decent human being has very little to do with training/teaching Kung Fu.

Yes, I get your point, but he wore robes and had a huge buddha statue in his place of training. Gong Fu is a much misused term these days, it means self cultivation and if we look at it historically the Song Confucianists used it to mean specifically MORAL cultivation. It retains this aspect in traditional Shaolin culture.

He clearly represented himself as teaching Shaolin Culture with specifically buddhist overtones. In this way he was a fraud. It is not necessary to be a paragon of virtue to teach Shaolin Gong Fu but there are limits to acceptable vice.

If he just claimed to teach Martial Arts we would not call him a fraud. He represented himself as embodying all Shaolin Culture. Shaolin Gong Fu cannot be separated from 仁義. Clearly these two words were not written on his heart.

[Kellen Bassette]

Yes, I get your point, but he wore robes and had a huge buddha statue in his place of training. Gong Fu is a much misused term these days, it means self cultivation and if we look at it historically the Song Confucianists used it to mean specifically MORAL cultivation. It retains this aspect in traditional Shaolin culture.

He clearly represented himself as teaching Shaolin Culture with specifically buddhist overtones. In this way he was a fraud. It is not necessary to be a paragon of virtue to teach Shaolin Gong Fu but there are limits to acceptable vice.

If he just claimed to teach Martial Arts we would not call him a fraud. He represented himself as embodying all Shaolin Culture. Shaolin Gong Fu cannot be separated from 仁義. Clearly these two words were not written on his heart.

I get that it wasn't very Buddhist what he did, but if a Catholic priest molests an alter boy and someone says, "well he was a fraud, not a real priest," that don't exactly fly now does it?
I don't know anything about him, seems he was known more for MA than the religious aspect, although it's certainly not unusual for elements of that to be packaged in with martial arts, regardless of the character of the teacher...I just think it's disingenuous to say he wasn't a Shaolin man, just because he turned out to be evil.
Seems like an unethical revising of history to me.

[boxerbilly]

I get that it wasn't very Buddhist what he did, but if a Catholic priest molests an alter boy and someone says, "well he was a fraud, not a real priest," that don't exactly fly now does it?
I don't know anything about him, seems he was known more for MA than the religious aspect, although it's certainly not unusual for elements of that to be packaged in with martial arts, regardless of the character of the teacher...I just think it's disingenuous to say he wasn't a Shaolin man, just because he turned out to be evil.
Seems like an unethical revising of history to me.

Nicely put.

[bawang]

most likely the guy always had urgues and decided to act on them and go YOLO when he found out about his tumor

way back when i saw his youtube video caressing a knife i knew the man was coocoo

[Kellen Bassette]

way back when i saw his youtube video caressing a knife i knew the man was coocoo

Yeah...I saw that...pretty tell-tale there.....

[David Jamieson]

Kind of disappointed with all the people calling him a fraud. Sure, he's a horrible person one would want to dissociate with now, but how does that make him a fraud? It seems by Gene's account anyway, he was trained legitimately. Words mean things. Just because you don't want someone to be associated with something doesn't mean that they weren't. Being a decent human being has very little to do with training/teaching Kung Fu.

All institutions developed on a construct of doctrine or dogma or rule sets will disavow anyone who has become a member and then fallen away. This is revealing that the person failed the construct. The construct still seeks to have people who subscribe to it's forms. People will fall away. The church defrocks, temples disrobe etc.

People who act contrary to the institutions they claim to serve are left by the wayside. Therefore, he is of course a fraud because he was outside of the expected rule set that he claimed to abide by. trained properly or not, you have to stay the course or you are not what you claim you are. It is that simple.

[curenado]

There's also that disbelief that I didn't see this in him, as I'm usually a decent judge of character."

You seem to be. You just volunteered this one positive regard and not being female didn't have those alarms.

When a Catholic priest dies of aids, they write "occupation carpenter" on the death certificate.

But I never met a shao lin that had that self made tiny sickness. I'd have killed it myself who cares?

[Kellen Bassette]

All institutions developed on a construct of doctrine or dogma or rule sets will disavow anyone who has become a member and then fallen away. This is revealing that the person failed the construct. The construct still seeks to have people who subscribe to it's forms. People will fall away. The church defrocks, temples disrobe etc.

People who act contrary to the institutions they claim to serve are left by the wayside. Therefore, he is of course a fraud because he was outside of the expected rule set that he claimed to abide by. trained properly or not, you have to stay the course or you are not what you claim you are. It is that simple.

A fraud is someone who claims to be what he never was, not someone who veered off the path and fell out of good standing with an organization.
It's self serving and delusional to say he was never part of Shaolin and that's what the accusations of fraud are really about.

[RenDaHai]

A fraud is someone who claims to be what he never was, not someone who veered off the path and fell out of good standing with an organization.
It's self serving and delusional to say he was never part of Shaolin and that's what the accusations of fraud are really about.

I see what your saying, its unfair to apply the rule retroactively.

I mean, a catholic priest who molested children, I WOULD call him a fraud. I think a lot of people would.

But I see what you say, we do have to take time into account, and whether they fell from grace or were never graced.

I.e after he murdered someone and continued teaching, at THAT point he was a fraud. But he may have always been in his heart, this we can't tell, though murder of this kind is such a drastic fall that I suspect he was never genuine.

Certainly at the end he was a fraud, maybe he wasn't always.

[GeneChing]

As for Juan Carlos being a fraud, well, that's a fair question. He did posture himself as a Shaolin monk, one of several non-Chinese individuals who boast such a claim (although a cursory search reveals that he hasn't been mentioned on our Non-Chinese-Shaolin-Monks thread). There are also plenty of Chinese that make this claim, but the non-Chinese are a bit more interesting because the Abbot has said there were no non-Chinese monks, but then gives a few like Yanfan face, so there's some ambiguity. Here's what I can say about this. Juan Carlos definitely had good martial skills. He propounded himself as a spiritual adherent (I can't remember if he ever claimed to be Buddhist, but he probably did). This, as we can clearly see now, was fraudulent. He trained under the De generation (31st) at the Wushuguan, as most of us laowai did in the mid 90s. When the Abbot took over, the De generation were largely overlooked as the Abbot is a Yong (33rd) (note that the Abbot has begun to rectify this by giving face to the De and Xing generation in recent years). I don't remember if Juan Carlos ever discipled under anyone. I don't believe the abbot ever acknowledged Juan Carlos as a monk. That seems unlikely given that he was more closely associated to the De/Xing gen like me. But who knows?

Here's another news item en espanol:

Publicado el Lunes, 20 de Abril del 2015

La vecina que denunció: "La joven pidió socorro, tenía la cara angustiada y golpeaba la puerta del gimnasio"

La Informacion .com / BILBAO, 20 8EUROPA PRESS)

La vecina que alertó a la Ertzaintza para que acudiera al gimnasio Zen de Bilbao tras ver cómo un hombre obligaba a entrar en su interior a una mujer, ha asegurado que Maureen Ada Otuya "pidió ayuda, auxilio y socorro" y presentaba la cara "angustiada" mientras golpeaba el cristal de la puerta del establecimiento.

Durante su declaración en la segunda jornada del juicio que se sigue contra Juan Carlos Aguilar, el 'falso monje shaolin', por el asesinato de esta mujer y el de Yenny Rebollo, la mujer que dio la voz de alarma ha declarado tras un biombo.

Según su relato, sobre las tres y media o cuatro de la tarde del 2 de junio de 2013, escuchó gritos y vio cómo la joven nigeriana pedía "ayuda, auxilio y socorro".

"Tenía la cara de angustia, daba golpes en la cristalera de la puerta del gimnasio", ha comentado. Según ha añadido, Juan Carlos Aguilar la "arrastró" hacia el interior del local. Seguidamente, alertó a la Ertzaintza.

(EuropaPress)

Google translated version:

Posted on Monday, April 20, 2015

The neighbor who complained: "She called for help, was the anguished face and hitting the gym door"

The Information .com / BILBAO, 20 8EUROPA PRESS)

The neighbor who alerted the Ertzaintza for him to come to Zen gym Bilbao after seeing a man forced to get inside a woman, said Maureen Ada Otuya "asked for help, aid, relief" and had the face "distraught "while hitting the glass of the front door.

During his testimony on the second day of judgment filed against Juan Carlos Aguilar, the 'fake shaolin monk', for the murder of this woman and Yenny Rebollo, the woman who sounded the alarm has declared behind a screen.

According to his account, about half past three or four in the afternoon of June 2, 2013, he heard screams and saw the young Nigerian called "Help, help and relief."

"He had the face of trouble, thumped on the glass door of the gym," he commented. According added, Juan Carlos Aguilar's "dragged" into the premises. He then alerted the Ertzaintza.

(EuropaPress)

[curenado]

That right there is just kuh-reepy as it gets. Right out of a "wrong turn" movie.

[David Jamieson]

A fraud is someone who claims to be what he never was, not someone who veered off the path and fell out of good standing with an organization.
It's self serving and delusional to say he was never part of Shaolin and that's what the accusations of fraud are really about.

Not exactly, fraud is deception by another name.

One is being fraudulent by wearing a monks robes and conducting oneself on the exact opposite end of the behavioural spectrum of the expected behaviours of a monk.

Are you implying that all of Shaolin is therefore a failure because of this fallen one?

[curenado]

No not at all that is obvious

The juvenile idiocy of pressing semantics to the carpet in an argument everyone already knows the answer to is masturbatory.

There is a madness of that here, as if people think that by their well oiled words they change anything.
Like speech practicing for a holes