monksgiving this year?

[hvillarruel]

Doc, you know that you do not need a monk to give training. You must be a Master on your own, and you must have more traditional training that the younger monks.

Do not be sad, everything will take their course. You have helped a lot of people in USA and outside US in very different ways. This Forum is one of those ways.

Keep up the good work. The monks today are not like before, maybe because of the amount of them studing in the schools there in China. Some of them are just young men with good not-so-traditional trainig in all ways. But they are good performers.

You have the training of Master Shi De Cheng, the training of that old Chin-na Master and other training also. You should take students.

[doc]

Well, I appreciate the support from everyone. It has been helpful, considering the fact that here in Vegas (and from what I hear, in Shaolin), the apparent deceit and defamation continues.

I've had a lot of training over the years, in various forms of martial arts. But my approach, as I've gotten older, has been less towards performance ability and more towards a deeper understanding of the concepts and the art, including the applications, and how the various martial arts styles interact, and how they have influenced each other. I was never very good at any of this stuff, but I have learned a lot about traditional gong fu, along with sanda, muay thai, kenpo, american boxing, and some Okinawan arts. My goal was never to teach any of this; my goal has always been, to promote it, and to provide it to others.

Lately, this has become even more the case, all because of my health. Almost three years ago, in January, I came down with a sudden and horrific case of allergic asthma, which was difficult to diagnose because of various factors. It lead to a botched attempt at desensitization with allergy shots, which did nothing but trigger anaphylaxis, and subsequently, super sensitize me to the very things that I was allergic to. Constant bronchospasm and pulmonary inflammation, along with almost daily low grade anaphylaxis, turned me into an almost pulmonary invalid and an anxiety ridden mess. From a over confident guy who used to hike the mountains of Songshan, and train in gong fu upwards of six to eight hours a day over there, and, who used to walk his dog here in America about three to four miles each day, I turned into a virtual pulmonary cripple who couldn't walk more than fifty feet without getting seriously short of breath, and who became fearful for his life if he was more than five minutes away from a hospital. My SARS infection two years ago certainly didn't help things. It was hell, and it lead to the cessation of virtually all of my training. It's a story that I haven't yet written about, but, it's an educational one to say the least.

So what little gong fu skill I had, is now gone, having not really trained for three years. The knowledge remains, the ability is shot. I'm in no position to teach, nor do I think I'll ever get back to where I was. My sojourn to the fresh environment, free of allergens, in Thailand, has done wonders for my health, but I feel that it will take some time still before I can get my physical activity level up to where it once was.

[hvillarruel]

I understand Doc.

3 years is not so much. You have the knowledge and i think that you will find the health soon.

[hvillarruel]

Doc, you should write a book on all your experiences at shaolin. The training in traditional kungfu, the forms and all that you already know. Even the links to other arts. You have witnessed the late evolution of kungfu at shaolin and the not so late.

Shi Xing Wei was just a worker, and a friend wih other interest in life that were not the same as yours. You give him everything. If he is saying bad thing about you, you are not the only one receiving that kind of sh*t. Just behave like a real Master (that you are) against all this, with honor and class.

[SongshanMonk]

Hey Doc,

That's some pretty serious stuff, man. Sorry to hear about the losses and the school. I have kinda witnessed a similar incident so I can relate to it. It's just one of those things that happen and perhaps maybe with everything else it's a risk taken. It's really not so much the incident itself that is the problem...it's what comes afterwards that stirs the pot. I have kept up with your web site for years doc and as with everything you will bounce back.

As for the situation itself if XW wants to talk to you by all means hear him out and you have a chance to tell him how you feel. Perhaps there can be a halfway point for both of you or a common understanding as you both may cross paths in the business end of it. I don't know, it's a tough situation as I am sure there are many feelings hurt over this.

[Elrond]

You have my support as well. Thanks for filling me in a bit.

Xingwei always seemed a little too full of himself whenever I was around him. Still that he would do all this to you is fairly unfathomable to me.

[doc]

As for the situation itself if XW wants to talk to you by all means hear him out and you have a chance to tell him how you feel. Perhaps there can be a halfway point for both of you or a common understanding as you both may cross paths in the business end of it. I don't know, it's a tough situation as I am sure there are many feelings hurt over this.

There are many feelings hurt over this.

There's our mutual good friend Yong in Dengfeng / Beijing, whom XW owes a bunch of money to (as Yong and xw has told me), whom XW hasn't paid yet (it concerns an apartment that they bought together; apparently from what XW has told me, he also owes another friend over there over seven grand for a loan for the same apartment). Yong isn't too happy that he's stuck for the loan, and stuck paying for the apartment that he co owns with xw, that xw doesn't contribute anything to. So much for that .

There's Kevin, an incredible human being and a good friend of mine, who has been investing a great deal of his time and energy trying to make our school work for xw, who has been devastated by this betrayal.

There's Shi De Cheng, xw's master, who is appalled at xw's past and recent behavior.

There's a whole bunch of students who, as I'm told, have left our school, and have left the whole concept of Shaolin, because of these recent events. Disgusted might be a good word to describe their feelings.

There's me, who's not too happy with the evidence of defamatory remarks that xw has made to others, especially the local Chinese community.

And, not doubt, there's xw, who has been, from what I've been told from various sources, spreading all sorts of bullshit sob stories to the monks in Houston, Yanming, and the local Chinese community, about how poorly Kevin, Steve, Rick and I have been treating xw over the years. Abuse, oh, the abuse. Not enough money. No freedom. Wants to run the school by himself. Wants the house to himself. Outrageous.

In my opinion, can't speak English worth a shit, with no education to speak of, in a new and foreign largely unknown country, and he wants to control my mail, my bills, my house, and our business.

Interesting that you bring this point up. XW desperately wanted to meet me in Beijing two months ago; in fact, for some reason, he arrived in Beijing the same afternoon that I was supposed to arrive. (I didn't go, as I had one hell of a flu in Thailand, with some signs of a possible impending viral meningitis, which fortunately didn't evolve). But we "spoke" on Skype, with Yong being the interpreter. The conversation was interesting to say the least; in it he made mention of his "girlfriend" (not wife), "many problems", and the fact that things were not going well. He wanted to see me back in the US, and had planned on getting in touch with me to talk to me.

What is also interesting, is that he made mention that this new school he was opening in Vegas, was supposed to be for him and I. I found that quite absurd, as this comment not only ignored the presence of Kevin, who has selflessly contributed over three years of his life towards making our present school work, and, make XW's reputation in town, but, also because I've been making our present school primarily for XW and Kevin. I was planning on spending more time in Thailand with that school, so XW was going to inherit what we put together in Vegas. Bizarre. Why would I want anything to do with a school that he was going to open, when I had already spent five years putting together a school, for him? Ignorance? Stupidity? Greed? I just don't know what I'm dealing with here.

But things became clear when I got home to the US. I found out from many sources that XW had rented a place, for about $2500 a month, which he had been renting for the previous four months without any students or income. He had allegedly borrowed money from MY students, and MY student's parents. And, others, including, allegedly, some of the monks in Houston, who no longer seem to communicate with me. He has apparently had some of his devotees, students from our present school, scouring our student rolls and trying to get what's left of our student base to desert and go to his school. From what people have told me, he's in debt. If you include what he owes the two friends in China (over ten grand, from what xw has told me), and what he owes Shi De Cheng (over two grand, from what they both told me, part of the basis of a huge fight they had years ago that I had interceded in, rather unsuccessfully, which had led Shi De Cheng to fire him from his employ back in China), it becomes clear that XW has some financial obstacles to surmount.

It is my opinion, that I can only surmise that he had only wanted to talk to me, because he views me as his only source of true financial stability in the US, or anywhere else. Which, over the past few years, I have been. His communication with me was highly evasive; typical, in my opinion, of the bullshit that we've been dealing with over the past year.

Bullshit. I get nothng but bullshit. I truly tire of the bullshit.

[LeiYunFat]

What a dumbass. You should make your own temple in your house and start out with little kids who you can raise youself, instead of big babies who don't know the difference between their thumb and their dick.

Because after the initial (and huge) investment of raising like 30 kids, you then set them forth amongst your schools and watch the progress grow.

I wish you well in all your efforts, Doctor RussboDoc.

[onesp1ng]

let us know if we can be of any assistance doc...not sure how...but...still....there are a lot of us.

[doc]

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. "

- Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

[LeiYunFat]

I was thinking about that quote the other day and thought Winston Churchill said it...yes, very appropriate.

[tetsumaru]

I have been reading all of this BS about "your" monk. I say "your" monk because he should be forever indebted to you for all of the things you have done for him (My opinion is strictly based according to information on this site....I am, however, curious to what XW has to say about the whole thing). I can understand him (XW) from one perspective. He was tired of getting an allowance. He wanted his own finacial freedom. He tried running before he could even walk and fell into a pit of debt. Why would you want to F it up? It all boils down to ego, of course. There's also that whole thing about not doing business with friends or pleasure and business...er...something. I want to know who these people are that have blindly followed XW. "Oh you are a "shaolin" "monk" please I'll do anything to learn from you! (シャブリ？スカトロスケベ？)" I think we all can understnad that feeling of finally finding a teacher you deem worthy to learn from. Espcially amongst all of the fecal matter floating around selling their dellusions and preying on the false hopes of others. I can't believe they gave XW enough money to stay in a $2500 a month apartment! What happened to humbleness!? I want to quit doing martial arts because of this crap! rant rant rant ramble blah blah dum blah ....and some more indecipherable rambling from a man trapped in a windowless box breathing exhaust fumes..............