I may be a beer or two in...but I trust my reaction of WTF!?!? to be fairly accurate. What am I missing here?
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I'll bet, or at least I hope, B. Tunks gets it.
It is an old Aussie song from my childhood,
Tie me kangaroo down sport....
Play your didgeridoo Blue....
But the money verse is....
Tan me hide when I'm dead Fred,
Tan me hide when I'm dead.
So he tanned his hide when he died Clyde,
and that's him hanging on the shed!:eek:
All together now....
Tie me kangaroo down sport....etc.!:D
I've got it on mp3 if anyone is interested!:eek::D:):p
Ah, okay - lol. :)
Here you go:
Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport
Enjoy a good laugh!!!
That one cut out the money verse....I'm looking for the complete song.....
Here we go:
Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport the complete version!
ha ha, sheeeeet....
G'day (there, I said it). You an Aussie originally? You know Rolf Harris and his songs make most of us want to commit suicide right?
I digress...
T
Scott-
Rolf did the definitive version of 'Stairway to Heaven'- my favorite :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPOIy...eature=related
Oh- to get back on topic I bought a copy of the 'Shaolin Grandmasters Text'. Amazon '1 click ordering' has a lot to answer for :(- if I had had a chance to flick through it first I would have seen through it and not wasted my money.
You can open a seller account on Amazon and sell it to some other unsuspecting person. I would rather get my money back and pass the problem on to the next person.
Ebay is always another avenue.
One of my high school friend's great uncles was a kmt officer who was known for his iron palm. He was apparently a page for the temple when he was younger.
I was beginning to think the same with you :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by uki
i wonder how many shaolin were also skilled in the art of juggling?? LOL
Why don't you make up a story about it, write it, then publish it as the lost art of shaolin juggling and then make the claim that juggling is the fourth treasure of shaolin.
I'm sure it will go over well in some circles. then you could have your horde and minions of martial arts juggle squads who will make patios for you. While beating up evil ones and juggling of course. Oh, and selling books, but giving them away to clown schools, circus schools and other juggling institutions.
:D
I loved this book, although it was brought to my attention that some find it controversial. I'm guessing that they think the monks still practice the original shaolin, which I feel no longer exists their due to the communist takeover and the burning of the original temple!! Any other opinions??? Please be respectful !!
Use the search feature.
http://kungfumagazine.com/forum/show...ndmasters+text
Geez, I read the whole thread, and I must admit I have a new outlook on it now!! I guess I tend to be gullible sometimes, sounds like they are a bunch of frauds, what a shame they were able to get pupublished!! I kinda feel like a horses a$$, guess I need a keener eye for hogwash!! Thanks for the help dave!!
Just because a building is burned, doesn't mean that every monk who ever practiced there and all their disciples dies instantly.
Thinking real shaolin is lost is a retarded opinion that only people who have never been there hold. There are hundreds of villages in the vicinity of shaolin temple, many where everyone in the village practices kung fu, some for 700 years without broken lineage (e.g LuoTuoYa). The vast amount of kung fu that surrounds shaolin can not be lost, even by a disaster as epic as the cultural revolution. All the best of shaolin is always passed on. Shaolin was always taught to lay disciples as well as monks, and monks frequently left shaolin, so even if every monk were killed shaolin would still survive. But every monk wasn't killed, in fact few were.
The sheer number of 80 y.o + masters in the area around shaolin is staggering. Song shan really has one of the densest areas of kung fu masters anywhere. There are even masters alive today who trained directly under Shi Henglin (a great monk in shaolin long before the 1928 fire). Many alive who trained under Li Genshen and Wushanlin (great masters of shaolin, who were masters before the burning).
It may interest you all to know a little known fact, that the warlord who burned down shaolin in 1928 was later buried alive for his crime.
Ren, although what you say may be true, READ THE BOOK...You will see fairly quickly (I hope) that it's B.S. through and through. These (f)suckers would have gotten away with this scam before the internet and are probably (and unforutnately ) getting away with it now in small towns, however it's pure BS no doubt.
Glad to see the one fellow was able to educate his self via this very forum!
I'm going necromancer on this thread at Gene's request, since I've read the book he asked me to give my take. I lied, though, Gene....I didn't read this whole thread, I jumped to replying after page 14ish.
Not that it will be helpful to anyone. I bought this book on a whim and it sure as hell wasn't $40 when I did (I can't remember how much it was, but I wouldn't have put down that much for ANY book that didn't give me a hummer and a sandwich after reading it). I never checked their website or looked into "OSC", I just glanced at a few positive mentions and picked it up (again...not $40. good god...). Also, I'm not very scholarly when it comes to Shaolin....this book was the first book I had ever bought and read specifically about Shaolin and Chan Buddhism. Honestly, it was years ago that I read it, so I don't remember much. Like at all. I remember info about Chan Buddhism that I haven't seen conflict with other sources that I've stumbled across, but as has been pointed out that information is readily available and not hard to repeat. Aspects of the book were definitely suspect even to a neophyte....the anonymity, the white-guys-in-gis illustrations....I just remember a lot of the time I was reading it I thought its whole vibe was strange. A bit off-putting.
Of course, now I know why that is. I've forgotten most of it, though some memories still get triggered....like the "Decree of the Guardian" that ultimately led to my having to post this message. :rolleyes:
You know what's funny, Gene? Before I asked about that in the other thread, I vaguely remembered the "Decree" and asked myself "Am I remembering that right? Is that really a thing?" So I Googled it, and upon seeing a few references to it and its definition on various websites, I was like "Okay, yeah...it is a thing. I will now ask the question."
Now I'm guessing those websites share a common source of info..
See, this is what I get for half-hearted interest in history. It's such an all-or-nothing field of study. :o
I have to say, that after reading this whole thread, and having thumbed through this book years ago, I had known it was BS from the get-go.
It looked too much like Kung Fu the TV series.
I read Shahar's book a few months ago, and quite frankly, it was an eye-opener and explained a lot about the development of Shaolin martial arts and CMA. I would love to read Brian Kennedy's books, they look amazing.
Can't remember if I ever posted in this thread, but several years ago I had a conversation with one of the authors of this book and questioned him on several things. He said they first considered including a full chapter on their lineage and history, but ultimately decided against it because it would take the focus away from the content of their book (like rather than help validate it?). :rolleyes:
The whole thing is laughable really, especially the photo of their "Shaolin Monk" in the back. It's a black & white photo of a white guy wearing like a Karate Gi with long 70's hair, doing a front jump kick so that his face is covered by his movement. :D
They should have decided against that photo, rather than that lineage chapter!
I read that book four or five years ago. Regret having paid for it. *ack* *gack* on every page.
I actually saw the book on Amazon for $0.59+3.99 shipping, and contemplated getting hit just to read it but then thought that the money would be better spent at Starbucks :rolleyes:.
I came across this thread late, but wanted to weigh in. The thread is full of emotional posts calling the material in the book b.s. and so forth, but can any of us know it isn't true? What is your basis for comparison? Your modern day training with modified current forms? Or is it comparing what is written in the book with what is coming out of the new re-created Communist government run Shaolin Temple in Honan?
What is being presented out of the re-created Honan Temple is where the baloney is. What they teach as authentic Shaolin forms is nothing but mishmashed Communist Wu Shu with a dose of Longfist thrown in. And the Chan Buddhism these monks have suddenly discovered these past ten years is imported from India. I applaud the temple for continuously trying to move closer to Shaolin. Gone are the actors and the cigarette smoking monks hanging outside the dimsum (coke) machines. But the fact remains Shaolin Chan is not at all like the Mayahaha Buddhism that the monks have embraced.
When Ta Mo came to China with his brand of Buddhism Taoism and Confucism were the dominant religions. So it was natural some of those concepts would be interbred into the new Buddhism. It's not unlike the paganism that got intermixed with Christianity. What developed was a new form of Buddhism that became known as Ch'an or Chan. Chan embraces our oneness with nature. Chan emphasizes meditation as the path to enlightenment as opposed to rituals, prayers, good deeds or reciting of Sutras. Chan Shaolin Buddhists did not embrace the Three Treasures, or the Four Diamonds or the this Sutra or that Sutra. The Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path contained therein was the extent of what they embraced. That it the Mayhana Buddhism that has been brought back from India.
I have heard some here at the satellite Shaolin centers deny that Shaolin ever absorbed Taoism. The Temples at Wudang and O'Mei were totally Taoist, yet part of the Shaolin order. Shaolin today practices chi development and has many exercises and forms to that end. Yet, if you stop and think of the origins of chi development you'll find they are in the Taoist temples. Also, why do you think they built their temples in nature so they could be close to nature and its harmony.
In conclusion, I am not saying one way or another that this book is authentic or not. Rather I simply ask that you examine what "truth" you are measuring it against.
Peace.
Sifu Bok Se Teung
5th Degree Red Sash
12th Order, Red Dragon Level
Hu Lan Temple of Shaolin
.................................................
Although I am not sure I completely agree with Bawang's sentiment (good to see him again though), I could not give a detailed response more than .... meaning - where the hell do I start? and just "really, dude, really?".
In short, there is too much verified information out there to still be living in the stone age of kung fu mythos from the 70's. We all (well those of us old enough) went through it, but at some point you must grow past the superficial stuff and actually do a bit of reading and research. There is really much much more to it than that, but well it is a very good place to start.
No more fortune cookies for you sir.
BTW...Can you please share the Chinese characters for Hu Lan?....