Shi Yan Ming: More commentary

[Maestro]

btw what the hell is xuan si

[LeiYunFat]

n Anthony was a goddamn chi machine. The kid would come out of the elevator doing xuan si, no warm up. I'm not joking. So SYM liked to have him at the front of the lines, giving out the chi, keeping up the energy- and I'll tell you honestly more than once he kept me going cuz he was always encouraging. Literally, if Anthony was not there, the energy would be different in the room. SYM told me that directly, and he liked to see Anthony in the front of the line. When it came time to start class, Anthony would run to the front and he liked that.

Mortal, you should take some initiative and turn yourself some profit.

http://x.russbo.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2109

I'd totally buy a Mortal machine to help me with my training. I've been hearing wonderful things about the new Mortal machines. Of course, all the consumer testimony is only from Mortal and Arhat, so maybe Arhat is in on it...

[mortal]

arhat

You could post anything you want about the old times. I would never take it as a personal attack. I think this is a good thread. Even though I totally hijacked it. Sorry.

Allow me to address some points in a friendly open way.

"Anthony would tell you himself he rubbed a lot of people there the wrong way,"

That is because they were all kiss asses and elitists. Also none of them were tough. They weren't what us Brooklyn peeps call street guys. In one of my first classes this punk told me in a nasty way to shut up. I told him in an animalistic way that I would cave his ****ing face in. Being the smart lad that he was HE apologized after class. That put me in bad spirits with all the other beta males he was friends with. Any of who I would gladly knockout to this day.

"It was a master asking a student to do something, really something that is no big deal if you stop to think about it. if my dad asked me to go get him and his friend a burger I would just go and do it, especially if the friend was helping my dad out with money or whatever! In anthony's characterization SYM is like a spoiled brat but I don't recall him flipping out nor being smashed, I remember it was basically Shifu and Bokeem, and Sifu was saying if Anthony was hungry get whatever too. That's my memory, and maybe it's wrong."

He is not my dad. This is where you guys become a little delusional.

"When Anthony did leave, I heard through the grapevine that some people were told not to speak to him or some shit like that- well SYM knew that Anthony my brother and I were close and I never once heard any kind of shit like that come from SYM. He wouldn't say anything like that, so I think some people were just talking shit as they are wont to do."

All the guys you are refering to quit years ago and train with chen ying. It just took them longer to figure out that Yanming is just a wushu coach. Not our father or master. No one is or will ever be my master. No one is worthy.

Hope this didn't come off to nasty. Just thinking out loud.

[zachsan]

from what i'm reading, it just seems like mortal was training in a school that didn't fit him at all. i wouldn't go out to get anybody's burgers because he's a kung fu master, either. but then again, that's a big reason why i would never choose to train at a place called "USA Shaolin Temple". you paid for the whole package - chinese hierarchy bullshit included - and that's what you got. and then you left. simple.

this thread was worth it just to see mortal write down the words "beta male". i feel led to change his title, and am doing so.

[arhat]

arhat

You could post anything you want about the old times. I would never take it as a personal attack. I think this is a good thread. Even though I totally hijacked it. Sorry.

Allow me to address some points in a friendly open way.

Well I'm glad for that- you know, there's no tone in this and it's not like we're having a couple of beers so, I just wanted to make sure. i think one of the sources of major friction was over that chick.

"Anthony would tell you himself he rubbed a lot of people there the wrong way,"

That is because they were all kiss asses and elitists. Also none of them were tough. They weren't what us Brooklyn peeps call street guys.

lol...

In one of my first classes this punk told me in a nasty way to shut up. I told him in an animalistic way that I would cave his ****ing face in. Being the smart lad that he was HE apologized after class. That put me in bad spirits with all the other beta males he was friends with. Any of who I would gladly knockout to this day.

Hence my usage of the "I'm Heng Fa, bitch" technique, picked up from shifu Chappele, lol...

He is not my dad. This is where you guys become a little delusional.

He could have been like a dad to you. You asked me why I still train there. Now you know, lol...I'm not making excuses for it, I'm not saying it's monk like behaviour or it's not, I'm just sayin' that is how it is and that my training benefitted from an understanding of where he was coming from. Yan Ming was just like one of my art teachers at Pratt in some ways. The guy was a cantankerous old bastard. He pissed off a lot of people with what many considered to be nothing but egotistical bullshit. He was raw like a war and demanded respect before he earned it. But the ones who made it through that, loved the guy to death and learned about mastery.

"When Anthony did leave, I heard through the grapevine that some people were told not to speak to him or some shit like that- well SYM knew that Anthony my brother and I were close and I never once heard any kind of shit like that come from SYM. He wouldn't say anything like that, so I think some people were just talking shit as they are wont to do."

All the guys you are refering to quit years ago and train with chen ying. It just took them longer to figure out that Yanming is just a wushu coach. Not our father or master. No one is or will ever be my master. No one is worthy.

Brooklyn STAND UP!!! Zeeeeeeeeennnn....!

I still bump into a bunch of those guys. Couple of them flat out said they stopped cuz they couldn't hack it anymore. Others, might say certain things, but I guarantee you there is some back story to a lot of it that suddenly makes things look a lot different, but you'll never hear it.

At least you are pretty open with it all.

You know the funny thing is one of the reasons why I sought out SYM was because RZA said he was the only man walking he would ever call "master."

It's really a shitty word because of it's baggage, but the word sifu is really teacher and father, and that's the culture, or as Dog would yap, that's the excuse.

I knew a lot of chinese growing up, one of my steady chicks was best friends with a chinese girl who came from a huge, influential family, and we were always over there. It's pretty close culturally, in certain respects, to Sicilian culture, family first, respect the elders kind of shit, do more ask less. Plus, I'm basically at heart a decent person and the things some people consider menial or to be jumping through hoops, never were too big of a deal.

Yan Ming, as far as you are concerned, and a lot of others too, is just a wushu coach, and that is all he could ever be, if you think about it.

Hope this didn't come off to nasty. Just thinking out loud.

Not at all nasty, I just wanted to give a little voice to someone who doesn't really have one in these mediums.

vince, xuan si is the butterfly kick. I like your script, maybe add some blow, and we'll have Dog run it around the forums.

[zachsan]

"raw like a war"... "close to Sicilian culture"... you sure know how to appeal to mortal's man-loving.

[LeiYunFat]

" mortal's man-loving" That's disgusting...

[onesp1ng]

This is just getting interesting and you two are already buddy buddy. Will there be time for a kiss? Some of us are obviously loosing our profound abilities to antagonize. Perhaps there's a group hug thread some. Or should we try to get on hubz together to hear more about Mortal's man loving adventures?

Anyhow, I think what Arhat said is important.

It's really a shitty word because of it's baggage, but the word sifu is really teacher and father

family first, respect the elders kind of shit, do more ask less.

Is this at the heart of the matter? Could we be attacking personalities as a result of cultural differences? I've been here for over three years and there is an order to things. People have positions. If you don't fit the mold, it's not likely that you -- a person from "another culture" -- are going to change anything, or open the other person's eyes to a different approach.

I have some of these little misunderstanding here too with my teacher.

Doesn't the saying go something like... You can take the fish out of China, but you can never take the China out of the fish?

[doc]

I'm just curious.

What name does Yanming use officially, that is, in his passport and driver's license?

[arhat]

The name he always uses is Shi Yan Ming.

I'm sorry if you guys were looking for blood, but sorry to dissapoint, Anthony and I shed a lot of sweat together but no blood. My brother and I were one of the few people who got along with him. We had a blast. Not in a gay way, not that there is anything wrong with that, but just because he left the temple and never got along well with Shifu or his kindergarten class when he was 5, lol, doesn't mean we have to be at each other's throats.

Raw like a war and what not, well...that's how you can tell a New Yorker who is born and bred from the pussies who move here and bring their shitty pizza with them.

You would be obtuse if you can't see cultural differences at play in some interactions that get fu¢ked up between Chinese and Americans. And personally i do feel that Anthony's experience is a perfect example of it. but of course, we all know deep down I am just making up excuses.

What many people do not realize is that in China, many of these monks are celebrities in their own right, being a well known Shifu has a lot of social cache. There's like 20 gong fu magazines there!!

Walking around a corner in Beijing, we saw billboards for Shaolin gong fu. Who was on the billboard? Yan Ming. I mean, a huge billboard on the side of a building.

We go through some caves, way the fu¢k out in the sticks, and in the book store for all the chiney tourists what's on sale? The Real Shaolin Gong Fu of China. Sifu is immediately recognized by a couple of young chinese kids who beg autographs. They even wanted our autographs. The shit some of these wushu students would do, just to get taught cai jiao by some of these monks was eye opening. During the destruction, kids would line up in the midst of piles and chunks of concrete, just to train with their master- who often wasn't there- and show respect.

The degree of loyalty and dedication that is demanded and expected is practically of kool aid drinking level. Shaolin is in many ways a military order so it's not that surprising to me.

True, this is not China, this is NYMFC, but even so...I would wager that you would find vestiges of this kind of mentality, culture of master/student if you will, in most chinese shifu. I have heard of quite a few Chinatown masters being ornery crotchety bastards who pull and demand far worse of their students than a burger run, lol...sounds very karate kid and all but there is a degree of truth and I am living proof!!

Surely you guys have heard some Chan Tai San stories....where's good ol' jeffpeg when you need him. I have heard from a few different people he dropped a student dead. Rumor to be sure, but could be a kernal of truth as he had that kind of rep, and it was well deserved as he was a known dojo buster. He kept a lot of the same kind of ways here, although I don't think he killed anyone.

He even came for a visit with us. A real sweetheart, according to Yan Ming.

[shaolinstylee]

Surely you guys have heard some Chan Tai San stories....where's good ol' jeffpeg when you need him. I have heard from a few different people he dropped a student dead. Rumor to be sure, but could be a kernal of truth as he had that kind of rep, and it was well deserved as he was a known dojo buster. He kept a lot of the same kind of ways here, although I don't think he killed anyone.

He even came for a visit with us. A real sweetheart, according to Yan Ming.

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34317

That thread has a lot of stories about CTS...

One of which you just mentioned

[doc]

Arhat, how does he use "Shi Yan Ming", in his passport? Or, on his driver's license? Have you seen either? Can you post them for us? I just can't believe that he officially goes by that name.

[mortal]

I know things are different in China culturaly. You hit the nail on the head. Why would any self proclaimed enlightened buddhist monk want to be a celebrity? Or give any of our barely talented celebrity's special treatment? Were you there when Rosey Perez layed on the floor exhausted in the beginning of an average level one class? If anyone else did that they would be out of the school on the spot. She got to lay there and catch her breadth ON HER BACK! Meanwhile I lead the line and bring all the energy to the class and he shit on me any chance he got. Where was the awkward clash of cultures then? The best part is I trained there 3 years and wasn't allowed to touch a weapon. Then Rosey comes in lays down in the middle of a shaolin class and afterwards gets to take pics with Sifu holding staffs. SHE NEVER SWUNG A STAFF IN HER LIFE! Now the pic is up on the wall in the temple. Talk about poser. lol What a joke. What a double standard. He lies and tells everyone she is his student. lol Yeah right.

As a master from a different culture you have to lay out EVERYTHING you expect from your students. And you have to expect the same thing from your celebrity students. Then when they disobey you punish them. Not lay out certain rules for students and have a double standard with your celebrity friends.
You can't expect people to guess how you want your ass kissed.

I didn't tell him no when he asked for the burger run. I hesitated for a second and he jumped all over me. He said "oh yeah you'll see". What the **** is that supposed to mean? That I'm going to get treated like a redheaded step child for the rest of the time?

I like being that step child in a way. Like when he never let me on the demo team. New students would be warming up while the demo team was practicing. Then I would start warming up. My kicks were 10 times louder then any of the demo team. Everyone would be watching me. Everyone used to say why aren't you on the demo team? Your so devoted and talented. I would lie and say it wasn't for me.

[arhat]

I think the celebrity thing was kind of forced on them, conflated with the master respect thing, and now it gets used to help further their goals of spreading Shaolin. It's not just Shaolin monks or even other Buddhist monks that use celebrity stuff as a tool. Plenty of examples.

I missed Rosie, but I liked watching Bjork heave a lung up. If Rosie was in line just doing what everyone else was doing and she stopped, that would be one thing, but I have seen other people who were doing trial classes bow out and 'rest.'

I think you would look good with red hair.

Maybe he didn't let you on the demo team because he was afraid you might crack a bottle over someone's head, lol...

Doc- you want me to pick his pocket? lol...SYM driving is not something you want to have happen...TRUST ME, he doesnt have a drivers license.

Anyway, yes, important things and important docs like his green card say "Shi Yan Ming" on them. I don't think I can provide pictures, lol...

[mortal]

"Maybe he didn't let you on the demo team because he was afraid you might crack a bottle over someone's head, lol..."

LOL That was great! I guess there is more than a grain of truth in that. lol

If you recall someone that threatened me with a bottle in the temple was on the team.

So that shouldn't be the reason.