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shaolin gongfu's relationship to buddhism

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  • #31
    Oh, leave her alone! I have to agree with her.

    Long story, but I found living at Shaolin for all that period of time, learning gong fu, very "peaceful" and soothing. It definitely has made me the sincere, benevolent, concerned, assiduous people loving egregious asshole that I am today.
    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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    • #32
      these are sincere questions. i'm not trying to stir up trouble or give anyone a hard time.
      ZhongwenMovies.com

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      • #33
        in the theravada angulimala sutta it is said that Gotama the discipline of the jain was against death penalti and for teaching non violence

        what do u do and what do shaolin monks do against death penalti?

        afghanistan?

        om a hung benza guru pema siddhi hung

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        • #34
          Sorry for the delay. My wrist collapsed, so I kept away from the computer a bit to not tempt myself to use it and make it worse!

          Onespring, you have to forgive me for being terrible at wording things; I have dypsraxia, it makes it difficult for me to get concepts into words, I have them in feelings / images and stuff in my brain. Words are complicated and don't express what needs to be said, and I find them quite cumbersome.

          OK let me try to clarfiy - if you were praying to God (Christian / Muslim / Jewish), but didn't think of yourself as a Christian, Muslim or Jew, you'd be practicing some bits of Christianity/Islam/Judaism but without really being Religious as such.

          I think that might just confuse you more actually...

          You do things in Gong Fu, you don't mean to practice Buddhism, and many people who practice martial arts have other Religions, and that is fine. But certain aspects of Gong Fu are just the same as certain bits of Buddhism, so you end up practicing certain bits of Buddhism along the way without realising. You can't just say no, I won't practice the stuff that's like Buddhism, because it's all about becoming more aware of yourself, opening your mind to what you are, learning to be one with your body... a lot of what real Gong Fu is, not just the physical forms, which unfortunately some people in the west think it's all about.

          When learning Gong Fu, you're taught to respect other people, not use your martial arts to harm unless you have to in defence, or in good-natured competition, to eat healthily, treat your body well, expand your knowledge and understand what makes you you.
          That's exactly the basis of Buddhism.
          If Buddhism was to be described in one single phrase, it could easily be "understanding yourself".
          Forget all the ritual (and bear in mind, being a Kagyu Buddhist, I have a lot of ritual!), all the helping everyone else, all the extra teachings... if you can't understand yourself, you'll never free yourself from suffering, which is what it's all about.
          You can never help anyone else without helping yourself. You must know yourself and open your mind.
          And that's what Gong Fu teaches as well really.
          Know yourself, know your own body, be aware.
          You learn it all without even realising.
          Remember back to before you started training... if you closed your eyes and spun around, what happened? Most people woudl fall over.
          Now, after training for so long.. you spin easily. That's simple awareness of your own self and where you are in the universe. Awareness of your body.

          I'm not saying you're trying to practice Buddhism... but the practices are the same thing in certain areas, so in effect you're following the philosophy of Buddhism, if not the Religion.

          Bear in mind, there are many philosophical Buddhists in the world. They don't believe in reincarnation, or even enlightnement as such. They just believe that the base teachings of Buddhism make the world a nicer place - be nice to each other, don't harm each other, look after animals, and so on.
          It's just being nice and showing compassion.
          Isn't that what you learn from Gong Fu?

          Djon Ma
          Karma Dechen Djon Ma
          "For as long as space endures, And as long as living beings remain, Until then may I too abide, To dispel the misery of the world."
          Shantideva

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          • #35
            Cool Djon Ma,

            i asked my tibetan friends in shangri la how to become a kagyu lama but none replied while usually they always reply: tenzin even said he would follow me and become a veg.

            Peace and love

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            • #36
              It takes an awful lot of study to become a Kagyu Lama.
              You have to have done many retreats, it takes years, and years, and years.

              And... it's the kind of thing you should ask your Lama hehe.

              Djon Ma
              Karma Dechen Djon Ma
              "For as long as space endures, And as long as living beings remain, Until then may I too abide, To dispel the misery of the world."
              Shantideva

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