Originally Posted by
wenshu
This reminds me of a book I read along time ago when I first became interested in Buddhism and Shaolin called the Bodhisattva Warriors by Terrence Dukes. The author claimed, similarly to the anonymous authors of the "Grandmaster's Text", that he was an initiate in an esoteric buddhist martial order of which Shaolin was a part.
He even went so far as to claim some imaginary direct lineage of martial practice beginning with Gautama.
It actually contained some accurate information on the abhidharma, but was otherwise a slapdash collection of assorted myths and outright falsification seemingly for the purpose of vindicating the imaginary lineage that he claimed. Furthermore all the illustrations had obviously been photocopied from other works.
As for the author; I remember reading about some very nasty sexual harassment if not outright rape allegations from female students. I think this was in Scotland. Apparently his school taught some blend of akido/kenpo and yoga.
OSC is just another group of pudgy old white guys inventing a historical narrative to give purchase to their wild fantasies of esoteric martial wisdom. You are ready to leave the temple Grasshopper.
The PRC is such an easy target, as are the wushu actors and tourism of the modern temple. It's really a non issue. Is traditional Gong Fu practiced at the temple today as it was during the Ming? It certainly seems more likely then a bunch of expatriates taught the last vestiges of it to some dude now living in the Pacific Northwest. But I don't know what the actual pugilistic practices of Ming Era Chinese Buddhist renunicants were, I wasn't around, maybe someone who was can tell me what life was like during the Ming Dynasty.
Really, most people don't care about traditional Gong Fu, they just want to see some impressive acrobatic breakfalls and guys breaking ****.