Shaolin monk arrives in Minnesota!

[Inevitable]

damn sorry to hear about that

[zachsan]

Santa did all those things to me. And... sometimes, he would touch me.

[doc]

Yo momma from Vegas?

[LeiYunFat]

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

[blooming tianshi lotus]

yeah gotta agree with you there, it seems that the lure of money is to great for most monks, its sad to see that

It's really sad that it's come down to that. Unfortunately though, that 'is' the way that that 's gone and it's even worse here with the secular chinese. I've done alot of lectures regarding all sorts of stuff during my last 3 mths travels and usually relating in some way to the WTO and the new trade agreements etc between the west and China . From that, I think that it's really getting to a climatic carrot for these ppl. Now more than ever, being so intimately exposed to all the apparent riches Western ppl seem to have, and being forced in schools and businesses and so on to be a usually exploited and subordinate part of that dynamic of how it all spins and changes hands, it has turned into a serious survival of the fittest - dog eat dog - and scamm and whatever for whatever the hell drop you can yet.

Sad and harsh , but welcome to the new reality.

Blooming Lotus

[zachsan]

The big question to me is, why do we assume it used to be different? There seems to be a lot of nostalgia for a time at the monastery that none of us were actually a part of, both in regards to the politics of the place and the gongfu itself.

[tetsumaru]

That's a good question...I ask that alot and people always think it was so much better "then". People watch too many movies and play too many video games. The gong fu was probably way better back then but the politics were still there and probably just as bad. If I remember correctly there was a king during some dynasty or another that used the monks as bodyguards. I'm sure being that close to the gov't corrupted things an infinite amount. Same thing is kind of happening now. Yong Xin is hob nobbing with politicians so he can create a profitable corporation. Shaolin Corp.....