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Shaolin merchandise and literature

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  • Shaolin merchandise and literature

    Dear Sir / Madam I am a huge fan of Shaolin Kung Fu and the accociated subjects of Chineese Buddism, Confusionism and Taoism. I do Kung Fu at the London Shaolin Temple UK. I deseperately want to buy Shaolin merchandising, especially books and was wondering wheather you could provide me with a list of book titles and what subjects they cover. If you could also provide me with the address of where to write off to manually rather than Email I would be very grateful.

    Actually, a common and frequent question. Problem is, there's lots of stuff written about "Shaolin" out there, but, in my opinion, few of it is worth bothering with. One thing that you've got to remember, is that there are many writers out there who, like most everyone else I guess, are interested in capitalizing on something. In the martial arts world, Shaolin is currently "hot", and therefore, it is not uncommon to find people with little or no true experience with respect to Shaolin, writing their self aggrandizing tomes, for all sorts of nefarious purposes.

    What this means, is, there' s a lot of shit out there.

    But, few writers do have some good things to say. I've found some of Wong Kiew Kit's books interesting, especially about qi gong. Dr Yang Jwing Ming's books are all excellent, especially the one he wrote on Chin Na. But if you want to read about traditional and contemporary Shaolin gong fu, as it is taught today, there are only two true references, in my mind. The book by the Tagou school is superb, though it is rife with contemporary wushu. It is in English and Chinese, which is a plus. It is also accompanied by some rather primitive drawings, but, as a reference for people who already know this stuff, it's a good thing to keep around. The better one, and, actually, the best reference, is the book by Shi De Qian and Shi De Yang. It's a four volume set which describes lots of traditional Shaolin gong fu. Problem is, it's in Chinese. I've spoken with Shi De Qian a few times about translating it into English, but, the cost of doing so is horribly prohibitive.

    There are many many other writers who have submitted "works" concerning Shaolin. Even David Carradine of the Kung Fu series fame has written one. Lately, some Japanese oriented martial artists with dreams of grandeur have submitted their humorous pieces of shit for publication. It's comical actually, to see all the various uneducated and unprofessional egocentric tomes that are out there. My advice, is to avoid just about all of them. If you're training at the London Shaolin temple, you've got access to the best information out there.

    Now, with respect to Buddhism and ancient Chinese philosophy, there are a lot of resources. For one, there's lots of stuff on this site. You can find all sorts of sutras and ancient Chinese texts in the main body of the site, and also in the Book Library of this forum. Also, check out the links in the Links section of the site. The good stuff is in there. From there, a search on google will lead you to an almost inexhaustible supply of Buddhist and Chinese references. And remember, if you find anything good and non-copyrighted, get it over to me for submission to the Library of this forum.
    Experienced Community organizer. Yeah, let's choose him to run the free world. It will be historic. What could possibly go wrong...

    "You're just a jaded cynical mother****er...." Jeffpeg

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    russbo.com


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