Wushu-->Kung Fu?

[xing_jian108]

I don't believe that grandmaster is from Shao Lin. He was a Korean guy. So he wasn't a monk. But from what I understand, one of his teachers was a student there. Long time ago though. He is in his late 50's now I think and he first started at age 13 or so.

Anyway, it's an interesting idea to traditionalize modern Wu Shu forms. He still teaches other traditional forms from Shao Lin but from what I have seen, he did traditionalize some Wu Shu forms. It makes them seem more effective and more practical. It's like tradition saying to modern, keep your new forms but at least make them with more techniques than having gaps in the forms with running and flowering your arms around. And that's exactly what he did. Put more stances and actually techniques that make sense. I kind of like that idea. But at least he still teaches tradition. So he's not leaving anything out and just using modern forms. It's just putting sense to them I guess.

A mi tuo Fo
-Xing Jian

[shaolin_animal]

Maestro,
Do you go to a school, or are you your teacher's only student? I also live in Connecticut, but I have trouble finding a place to learn, and even if I could do that I am afraid that my schedule is so messed up, that it would be hard for me to find time to go. I would definately be willing to make sacrifices for something I knew was the real thing. Do you know of places around the New Haven County(not just the city) that are good? I appreciate any ideas.

[Maestro]

SA, i do go to a school, just i dont like talking about it since awhile ago i got in an arguement with some bagua sifus, long story short, my sifu found out, and i got yelled at..

anyhow, new haven..thats pretty far, i dunno, i used to be like you, and unfortunately connecticut sucks mad dick for kung fu..but there are people actually if you know where to look

i actually met a bagua/jiujitsu guy at the park down the street from my house, but he doesnt have a school, and hes not on the internet, so the only way i found out about him was by chance..

anyhow, ive done searchs in the past, i found out about a CLF school in ct somewhere, and i found out about a wushu guy from china that lives in CT somewhere(he was in jet lis shaolin temple) they say hes pretty good, i dunno

i dont know what you want out of martial arts or "shaolin", i read in another thread for combat efficiency, health and spiritual cultivation..well, imho if you cant find "shaolin" or even chinese martial arts, there are always good substitutes, my sifu for example says tae kwon do is just as good as northern shaolin(bak si lum) alot of people might laugh at that, but alot of people dont know my sifu or his sifu for that matter, but regardless, i agree.. i know a first degree black belt, and i have an old book by a traditional TKD sifu that is really interesting, youd be surprised how much emphasis they put on conditioning, different ways of issueing power, footwork etc though youd have to find a good teacher not a mac dojo, thats just 1 example, not saying you should learn tkd

karate, judo(so wish i stuck with that ****), jiu jitsu, aikido, tang soo do, kick boxing, mma, yknow any of them, if you want to get technical, all contain aspects of 'shaolin' anyhow, and they will all make you a better

it wasnt untill i started going out and talking to fighters and mma and other ma that i started to realise how weak i was, and when you feel that way just talking to "regular" people, in comparison to monks and **** you feel pretty low, but not in a depressive sort of way, motivated me..

anyhow, rant over

amitabha

[daodejing]

I'm still mildly befuddled at the notion of why you'd want to bother turning communist wushu back into traditional wushu. Do you have a strong training base in modern wushu and a desire to traditionalize? Thats seems to be the only logical reason why you'd want to do something like that. Otherwise its like trying to train a giraffe to be a horse.

Its not worth the effort to try to reverse the evolution of things.

That being said, there's plenty you can learn from a book. I've read quite a few books on ma and qigong, and they've helped me alot. I've been doing qigong for about five years now, and in that time I've only had a teacher for 15 months or so (studied with one teacher for about 9 months, my freshman year of college, and did 6 months just of intensive medical qigong with an instructor at my school recently). Everything else I know I learned mostly from one book (with snipets from other books) and a HELL OF A LOT of personal experience.

Books are fine but living is far better. I don't practice regularly like some people. I don't do the taiji long form every morning at 6 am. I don't do qigong forms on a scheduled basis. I try to be in myself and aware of my energy no matter where I am. This allows an incredible sort of cultivation which is quite different from what I would have acheived with years of TCMA qigong training. A good buddy of mine has an energetic foundation built on a decade of taiji and martial qigong practice, and he's a great guy, good qi. Hell, he's even nicknamed "the bomb qi" after he was giving an acupressure treatment to a girl while she was standing up and she passed out in the middle of the treatment.

Now we have different foundations which leads to different strengths and weaknesses. I'm easily capable of harmonizing a room with my energy and grounding it in earth heaven, thus treating everyone in the room. His qi is stronger when applied to one person, but he hasn't figured out how to qigong treatments without at least laying hands over his patient yet.

My point is, all is relative. Books are books, and trees are trees. And while reading a book on qigong or gongfu is all well and good, you are better off learning from a tree. I've learned the basic theory of qigong from a book, but my practice has been enriched by working with trees.

So my advice is this, whatever you want to practice in life, practice it all the time. In everything you do. When you stand, make it standing meditation, when you sit make it sitting meditation, when you walk, make it walking meditation, when you eat, make it eating meditation.

Mindfullness is not something which you do for an hour a day. It's something you become.

That's how I found bliss, maybe your path is different. Who knows. Just be.

[meattosser]

Damn, Daodejing droppin' knowledge man. Now that was DEEP. I am humbled by your words Daodejing. One of the best posts I've seen in a while.