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Stella! There's a new Shi Bei in town...

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  • Stella! There's a new Shi Bei in town...

    It was sometime after our first trip to Shaolin, in 1995....

    Gene thought it would be nice for our little group of fourteen or so, who had first traveled to Shaolin with Matt Polly in '95, to get together some money and donate a stone tablet to the Shaolin temple. It would be a commemorative stone, with devotions to Shaolin, and, all of our names on it, much like had been done by some other American and European groups. Gene had looked into it.

    As I remember, Gene had told me that the idea had been looked upon favorably by Yongxin, who, at that time, was not abbot, but was in charge of temple affairs. The price for erecting the stone had been in the neighborhood of three thousand dollars. It wasn't going to be a big one. But, it was going to be respectful. Gene got busy, and started talking to members of our little group.

    The next time Gene got in touch with the abbot to be, again, as I remember, the price had changed. Drastically. To something like ten grand. We backed out.

    It was a good decision. For, ultimately, had we put together the money and had a stella built, no doubt, from looking at the location of the "westerner" stone tablets now, we would have been in the back. Far in the back. In fact, all the "westerner" donated stellae from years ago, have been moved to the back.

    And, just like the original, twenty plus year old "westerner" donated stone tablets, all moved to the back I might add again, ours would have been over shadowed by what is, no doubt, the newest, shiniest, and largest monument, er, stella, to be placed in the initial stone tablet area.

    It's an interesting read....

    (The other side is written in Chinese. How thoughtful.)
    Attached Files
    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

    (more comments in my User Profile)
    russbo.com



  • #2
    How lovely, it has spelling errors too.

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    • #3
      Srephen?

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      • #4
        Don't read the words.

        Read what's underneath the words....
        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

        (more comments in my User Profile)
        russbo.com


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        • #5
          what a circus...

          just goes to show you how much being a buddhist matters when money counts.

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          • #6
            USSD

            Originally posted by doc
            Don't read the words.

            Read what's underneath the words....
            Right you are doc.

            Since it is Friday, here is a bit more fun.


            ---------------------BEGIN------------------------

            More than 300 American enthusiasts for Shaolin kung fu take part in a ritual to pay their respects to the Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Central China's Henan Province at 06/30/2004. The visit was organized by the United Studios of Self Defence in the United States. Students from the group have been travelling to the temple since 1997 to study the revered Shaolin Wu Gong style. This is the first time in Shaolin Temple's history that the temple accepted so many foreign students, especially from United states.

            --------------------END---------------------------
            Attached Files

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            • #7
              where's the wookiee?

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              • #8
                Originally posted by zachsan
                where's the wookiee?
                He didnt have enough money, so he was declined.

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                • #9
                  Demasco's Japanese gi is very pretty. And someone should tell all these new Shaolin experts the proper way to hold their hands in a Chinese temple, lol.

                  And their there to "pay their respects to Shaolin Temple". So, who is the stella a monument to???
                  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

                  (more comments in my User Profile)
                  russbo.com


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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by doc
                    So, who is the stella a monument to???

                    The Abbot as head of the best collection agency for some time to come. LOL

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                    • #11
                      Nah, Uwe. I don't think so. The monuments to him are a little more obvious, like, the one Tagou placed in Shaolin. Not sure if I put a picture of that one on the site, that was quite the thing.

                      This stella is a bit more self serving in my opinion.
                      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

                      (more comments in my User Profile)
                      russbo.com


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                      • #12
                        Stellae

                        Ok Doc,

                        joking aside, you are right.


                        However, we should have Cheyenne create a little graphic tutorial on how to fold hands in a temple.

                        Uwe

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                        • #13
                          I made the mistake of buying Demasco's book 'Journey to the Shaolin Temple.' I assumed from the title that it would actually be about the Shaolin Temple..only to find out it's really all about Stephen Demasco.
                          Self-serving, indeed.

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                          • #14
                            Any thoughts on how this situation might relate to the "trademark of the Shaolin name" issue?

                            Hmmmm?
                            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

                            (more comments in my User Profile)
                            russbo.com


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                            • #15
                              The way I see it, the trademark issue and the stella issue are part of the same current of commercialisation of Shaolin kung fu by people with a flair for business and none for tradition. Yongxin does not even practice kung fu, to me, Shaolin having an abbot that was appointed by the Chinese government, who does not practice kung fu and who activily pursues profit gaining activities like trademarking shao lin instead of fighting a trademark and exploiting eager martial artists and the land in Sonshan instead of paying hommage to the long line of respectable shaolin disciples is a frustrating notion. Thats how I would link the stellas to the trademark issue

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