Several Things on Shaolin Gongfu...

[doc]

The story of the manuals is somewhere in the site. I've written about the lost manuals, and how parts of them have surfaced, somewhere. I'll write about it again one day.

Fear not, all four of your categories are taught in the Shaolin schools. They're just not taught as those categories. It's all kind of interspersed here and there throughout the training.

And one suggestion. Be careful of what you read in books, from "experts". Whether they be gong fu texts, or medical journals, always question and wonder.

[meattosser]

That's good. I'm glad there are still some documents preserved in the Temple. As for the "Be careful what you read" thing, well of course I'm careful of what I read. That's why I brought about this debate in the first place, heh heh. One must always look at something from several points of view, not just one. Yes there are asshole, piece of crap "masters" that care for money-making and nothing else; but at the same there ARE quite a few true highly skilled masters, that have worked VERY hard to promote traditional martial arts/qigong, because they regard these arts as very precious and must be taught to future generations. I've mentioned Jwing-Ming Yang before because, I think he honestly does work very hard to promote traditional gongfu. Many times he himself has stated that many masters should try to unite and share each other's knowledge; this way, gongfu and qigong arts could continue to evolve and maintain a very high level. From what I've seen from Pui Chan, he seems like a pretty hardworking guy too. (I'm not sure but I think he was a shaolin disciple.) Ark Y. Wong also seemed to a be a pretty powerful master teaching here in America. He died in 1989 though, I think. As for Shaolin Temple, I think the same thing goes on there. I don't think all of them in the Temple are super honest; but, I honestly have believed (and still DO believe) that some monks work very hard to teach the powerful traditional arts of Shaolin gongfu/qigong to future generations. I've only recently learned who ShiDecheng is, but already I have a great respect for him. I'm glad there are still monks like him, (as well as DeYang, LiPeng and his father) who are, as we speak, working hard to keep these arts alive and kickin' (no pun intended, ha).
Ya see, I respect you Doc. I respect you a lot for making an amazing website like this one, where many of us from around the world, who love Shaolin Kungfu, get a chance to debate with one another and read about many of your firsthand accounts of befriending the monks, visiting the Temple, etc. You've put a lot of blood and sweat into making these things possible, and for that I am very thankful. Too often in today's modern and commercialized world, the arts are watered down into either gymnastics, or something like "sport karate". And of course, in the future, I will CONTINUE to keep my "eyes and ears open", not just in Kungfu, but in all aspects of life...

[doc]

Why thank you.

7236 posts on this board, and I get a nice one.

[kirvixus]

hey doc how do I get my own cool name like fa hui or daodejing? I mean associate member is ok but I'm not gonna like the junior member phase. and what are you talking about only nice post you've got. I've been telling everyone about your terrific shaolin ulysses performance.

[doc]

Go to your USER CP. It's in there.

And let's not push the Shaolin Ulysses thing. Not exactly one of my better moments in life, lol.

[kirvixus]

I went to the user cp but I don't have the option of entering custom user text in my profile. how do I gain this option?

[doc]

You need 100 posts. You're getting there.

[meattosser]

Hey, by the way, Fa Hui, what part of Southern California do ya live in? What city? I live in Westmorland. (It's in Imperial Valley, around 200 miles south of LA, 35 miles from Mexican border.)

[meattosser]

Also, has anyone had the chance to train with Grandmaster Pan Qingfu? Just curious...

[Fa Hui]

I live in Santa Clarita Valley. It's about a 30 to 40 minute drive from LA (depending on traffic). It is the appitomy of suburbia, in fact I don't think it could get any worse; but I have been wrong on many occasions, and this is probably one of them. It's actually not so bad, I live more closer to the mountains any ways so I don't have to suffer too much, . There is interest in here for martial arts but there are no kungfu schools; the closest thing to gongfu is Taiji. There are a couple people who teach out here.

Meattosser, what you might find interesting is the Taoist Sanctuary in San Diego. www.taoistsanctuary.org They would be the closest too you that I know of. I'm sure there are other gongfu schools in San Diego; there are lots of Asians in San Diego. I know because I was a monk living very close to SD.

[Fa Hui]

Sorry meattosser I got you mixed up with some one else who was looking for a school in Southern California.

[meattosser]

Ha ha ha, no problem man, I checked out the site anyway, and it does seem to be pretty good. By the way, just to help out that person who was searching for Southern California gongfu academy/school, the last time I went to San Diego, I accidently found this gongfu teacher, Rich Robson. He's a pretty cool guy, I had a chance to talk to him a bit; his building isn't really too big, it's pretty low-key. In a way, that's better, 'cause he'll have a better chance to focus on you if you have any questions/problems. He teaches 2 traditional systems, Bak Fu Pai, and San Soo (not to be confused with San Shou). He's also capable of breaking a coconut with a slap of his palm. Anyway, if you're interested, here's his website.

http://www.kungfusandiego.com/home.htm

[Fa Hui]

Tim Cartmill, is very good as well. He's at www.shenwu.com and teaches all the main internal arts. That one site you gave was interesting; my brother and were amazed at the coconut breaking clip. That was really cool. Wonder if it's for real; coconuts are damn hard, damn hard indeed.

[zachsan]

i heard a legend that a chinese gongfu master, ever looking to expand his abilities, traveled northwest into central asia, and found a tribe of peaceful wanderers that broke coconuts with their palms for some reason or other. in exchange for teaching them the mysteries of gongfu, they taught him the mysteries of their coconut breaking palms, and thus was born iron palm training. it was a neat story.

- zach

[meattosser]

Check these out...

Just thought I'd let people know...
Anyone here check out KungFumagazine.com regularly? Lately I've been reading several interesting articles from a guy named Antonio Graceffo. He has journeyed to Shaolin Temple, several parts of China, and various other places, continuously searching to taking his gongfu skill to new heights (his latest journey is in Taiwan, an article titled "The Magic of Pushing Hands", check it out at www.kungfumagazine.com). Ha, he's kinda like Doc I guess; traveling the world and documenting his gongfu experiences. Except he's not bald. Well, he WAS bald while he was at Shaolin Temple. His pictures in Taiwan show he's got hair now, haha.

Also, another article that caught my interest is actually from a few months ago, it's a pretty cool story though, and the master there seems to be highly skilled. It's pretty inspiring stuff. It's about a TaeKwonDo practicioner, named Phil Duffy, that has been practicing it for about 10 years or so, and decides to go to Korea to improve his training; he has to go through China to make a few stops and visit some old friends however, and ends up stopping by Hong Kong. He decides to check out the local fighting arts in the area, and finds a certain master named Wan Kei Ho. After seeing (and feeling, painfully) some of Wan Sifu's techniques firsthand, he is so amazed that he decides to stay in China and train in gongfu. Anyway, don't wanna give all the details away; the title of the article is called "Sifu, the Hong Kong Perception". You can search the archives in kungfumagazine.com or this link here should send to it.

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=396

Wan Sifu is a master of Choy Lay Fut and Northern Shaolin Gongfu and Qigong...