The Shaolin Grandmasters- Text- History- Philosophy- and Gung Fu of Shaolin Ch-an
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The Shaolin Grandmasters- Text- History- Philosophy- and Gung Fu of Shaolin Ch-an Deluxe
Author Company: Tuttle Publishing
The Shaolin Grandmasters- Text- History- Philosophy- and Gung Fu of Shaolin Ch-an Deluxe 5 stars (Clarification) - I am a contributor to The Shaolin Grandmasters' Test,
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The Shaolin Grandmasters- Text- History- Philosophy- and Gung Fu of Shaolin Ch-an Deluxe - 5 stars (Clarification) - I am a contributor
The Shaolin Grandmasters' Text: History, Philosophy, and Gung Fu of Shaolin Ch'an review:5 stars (Clarification) - I am a contributor to The Shaolin Grandmasters' Test, and would like to make some comments about the book. I will do my best to represent other contributors, both living and deceased. Complaints that we fail to shower compliments upon the People's Republic of China (in general) and the resurrected Shaolin Temple in Honan Province (specifically) are not without substance. Many reviewers who are affiliated with the new Shaolin Temple may be offended by our book because we have tried to be truthful. Our perhaps it is simply the blunt presentation.
The PRC today employs tens of thousands of human and computerized monitors to censor the information accessible by the Chinese people. Internet sites with the word "freedom" typically do not make it onto the computers of Chinese citizens. The PRC continues to imprison Tibetan Buddhists who so much as say something positive about the Dalai Lama. The Shaolin Temple is the nucleus of a massive tourist industry, and has given rise to kung fu schools nearby for 10,000+ Chinese boys - keeping many young men "occupied" in a nation where the ratio of men:women is horribly skewed. Shaolin kung fu schools in Europe have been sued for using the "Shaolin" name - by an entity intimately connected with the Shaolin Temple. Stating these sorts of facts earn us the distinction of "having no room in our heart[s] for mainland China".
Our book is far from perfect. Many of our now-deceased priests were old enough to feel some personal bitterness over the incompetence of the Ch'ing dynasty, and many of our senior members had negative personal experiences with "Red China". In some places in the book, this bitterness shows. Deciding to leave some of these sentiments in the book was not a simple decision, but perhaps it was a wrong one. Buddhism does indeed reside in the heart. Anyone can choose this path. The Buddha even made provision for self-ordination, for those spiritual seekers who could not find a Sangha. I do not doubt that the Shaolin Temple in Honan houses some devout Buddhists, and human beings deserve compassion and fairness regardless of spiritual persuasion. But being a Buddhist and practicing martial arts are not sufficient conditions for being Shaolin. Shaolin is a sect of Buddhism, comparable to how the Jesuits are a specific order of the Catholic Church. One might say, "Being a Jesuit is all in the heart - just don a collar, study theology and logic, and believe in your own Jesuit-ness." It isn't that simple. The presence of martial arts in Shaolin is what makes it distinctive to most people. But what makes Shaolin _Shaolin_ is its underlying interpretation of Buddhism - an interpretation which allows for these martial, moving meditations. There is also the matter of a historical tradition. Although we have not personally witnessed these elements with respect to the Shaolin Temple in the PRC, that isn't to say they aren't there. If anything, we will strive to better reflect our own ignorance of such matters in future editions.
On a less serious note, OF COURSE our book doesn't reflect many developments in martial arts post-1900! Ours is a meditative discipline that came out of imperial China. This book is an attempt to explain our own tradition. If we were elitists of some kind who only felt scorn for those in China today, why would we have published a book detailing much of the philosophy that makes Shaolin Buddhism unique? Our goal in making the book available was to allow anyone at all to BE as Shaolin as possible (if that's what they want) with respect to the practice of Buddhism.
I believe that The Shaolin Grandmasters' Text, despite its flaws, will prove an invaluable resource for people interested in Shaolin, martial arts, Buddhism, or any combination thereof. The book details Shaolin oral history - and even though oral history is sometimes inaccurate, much can be learned from it. Some of the oral history is surely allegorical, but still has something to teach about Shaolin. There are also large sections on the traditional animal styles of Shaolin and various training methods. But the most important part of the book is the presentation of Shaolin's take on Buddhism, which we have tried to make as straightforward and clear as possible.
Finally, throughout the work, we have tried to balance fairness with truthfulness. The foundation of Buddhism is the conquering of ignorance (in Tibetan sutras, the Buddha is often referred to as "The Conqueror"). How can one begin to develop compassion and wisdom if she does not know what those things are?
1 stars (Hypocrisy) - Let me start by saying that some of the Kung Fu information in this book is decent.
Unfortunately for me, that information is hard to digest given the preamble and premise of the book. This book is published by a small offshoot of imperial China established in the US in 1900. The authors of the book go to great pains to say that Buddhism is about lack of ego yet then follow this up by saying that only they are the real Shaolin, not the monks in China. If they are true Buddhists they should have said that Shaolin exists in the heart and that anyone from anywhere, including monks from the main temple in China are as legitimate as anyone from an offshoot order in Oregon.
In addition, to this happening outright in the beginning, subtle jabs lay throughout this book that when taken as a whole make it apparent that they have no room in their heart for mainland China. The romanization system they have chosen is Wade Giles. A system used primarily in Taiwan and taught in few schools where students learn Mandarin (Pinyin is the dominant method). They make no mention of developments in Kung Fu since 1900. They constantly talk about the superiority of what their version of Shaolin means.
This book may be about Kung Fu. But its a poor example of Buddhism and the lack of ego and compassion Buddhism has for others and other schools of thought.4 stars (History of the Shaolin Order) - This is a book I've been looking for for a long time. It is a book that give answer the questions: What is Shaolin? What's their story? How did the differnt styles of kung fu develop? and so on. It also gives a good insight in the Shaolin Buddhism. I think it is one of the best overviews you can get today on the subject in english.
It is written by different writers, and, in a very ambitious sense, try to cover all important facts of the history of Shaolin up until today.
In their own humbleness they also says that they mayby don't cover everything and it its possible errors, because there is always another story to be telled, and the order today is spread around the world and much knowledge and history is also lost.
One thing though is that these authors lives today in the USA, with roots from the Shaolin grandmasters who came there in 1927; In the 80-ies they claim to have been in the Shaolin Monastery in Henan and "found no Bhuddist or traditional gung fu practice..."
This is a little odd, because I happen to know that from the beginning of 80-ies they officially opened up the Shaolin activities in the Temple again, after it was shut down at 1949 during the cultural revolution of Mao.
In the meanwhile the martial arts training by the monks was done in secret, and when it was "legal" again the monks counld start up all over again (even though some of them fled the country).
Today it is a lot of "profane" martial art centers outside the Temple at Henan, where it's a lot of wushu and similar modern martial arts training, but inside the monastery there is still "ortodox" martial art training and typical Shaolin Bhuddist activity.
Over all, for anyone with genuine interest of the story and real nature behind the myths of Shaolin, this book is a goldmine.
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