you do realize that most of this falls on the shoulders of the Soards, right?? Much of what has been said about the man and the art has been imbelished by them , but rather than correcting the mistakes GMT let it alone.
Sometimes correcting these things is worse than just allowing them to go on.
Remember, that bad publicity is better than no publicity and it is possible that if retracted or corrected can bring about more questions and more problems than can be answered.
Most of us agree that Ie Chang Ming brought a "version" of the Shaolin Martial arts he was taught to Indonesia which was influenced by his travels and the geographical locations in which he started his Shaolin Martial Arts School.
There is nothing wrong with this per sey , but saying that it is pure and the original does have it's issues........
I believe that these ideas came about from eliminating certain aspects of the story by simplify the origins to make it more attractive to Americans and for other marketing purposes, seeing as hybridizations and MMA hadnt become all the rage yet.
We know that the forms we study are Chinese, many of them are from styles that can be found in other schools and there are some that are unique to the school.There are aspects of the teachings that have a certain "flavor" that it unique and not like CMA just like any other art that has been taken from one place and added to ad modified etc, so what??
I understand why people have issues with the school, the teachers and what not but for many these things are just not a factor. Not everyones experience has been the same...
I am seeing a new revolution and a changes that has been coming for a long time now. It is time we all get back to basics and resolidify our foundation so that we have something strong and solid to continue to practice, teach and pass on too the next generation of students.
All of the superficial things that everyone talks about real dont matter at all, if you like it do it , if you dont then dont do it....... its as simple as that .
Hey Sal,
I know you are every knowledgeable about CMA and it's history, but knocking other peoples styles/ systems when you have so much going for you seems to be counter productive and makes you look less than you are, I dont see what purpose it serves.
I am sure if we looked into your backround and look at what you have done we could find things to ride you about...but we dont