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Topic Four: Arguments for and against the temple.

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  • Topic Four: Arguments for and against the temple.

    Copied from Discussion Archive

    The following was submitted to me as a request for information. I assure you, I don't get "billions of little bits of mail like this", but I certainly do get a lot of them. As this was a well written and very well thought out request, and characteristic of the supposed "billions" of others I get, I thought it best to make it available to the rest of you so that you might be able to impart your wisdoms in answering some of these questions in the Discussion Forum.

    I'm sure you get billions of little bits of mail like this today, but I've got a couple of questions I was hoping you could answer. Firstly, for background, I'm basically a 18 year old Kung Fu addict with gall enough to call myself a Buddhist. I currently study Long Fist at xxxx xxxx Kung Fu school in xxxxxxxx (though I live some 200 miles south, it's a long monthly trip, but WELL worth it), hopefully moving on to study Baji/Pigua in a few months (at least). As for questions, I've read volumes on the temple (like everyone else in my position), not just all the historical wonders, but a lot of current opinion and impression things, like your web page. Now, in all of this reading, I've come across (and been somewhat persuaded by) arguments for and against the temple as it currently exists. The vast majority of these things come from people who have never been there. As someone who has, I was hoping you could shed light onto some of the following;

    When one goes to the temple to learn, how is it determined what you will learn? How much continuity in training is there?

    How did you arrange your first trip? Did you have a contact there before hand? How much does an average trip cost en toto?

    Is Kung Fu there taught as specific styles, or do they just mash it all together?

    A big theory that I'm sure you've heard is that Shaolin today is no more, that the 'monks' at the temple are just your average 9-5 wushu character with a shaved head. Would you say that Shaolin today, as a Buddhist Monastery in the strict, standard sense of the word, still functions as such, outside of the tourist levels (and this is barring that Imperial Edict on Alcohol and Meat consumption non-sense. Any real monk knows the true Value of those rules, and no emperor can tell them otherwise. I hear again and again people using those types of things to validate bad monk behavior.)?

    How is getting around in China and at Shaolin with absolutely no Chinese language skills?

    And just what the hell is going on in the temple right now what with the building destruction and resident evictions, in 50 words or less (I have a basic idea, but I'm still a little if-y on this) Thanks for any information you can give me here. Thanks a lot!

    Well, many of us who frequent these pages have "been there". So, let's help him out.
    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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