Shaolin Monks, Youthful Idealism and the Truth

[NHB7]

You get a real sense of a posters age on these boards when you hear their advice based on life lessons. People don't really realize it, but a lot of their advice is based on movies!! I was once complaining to a friend about a situation with a girl. This 18 year old co-worker of mine, and virgin, came up to give me unsolicited advice. He told me what girls really like....needless to say his advice was awful and he pretty much described treating women like men in romantic comedies do without realizing it. He is 23 now...and still a virgin.

Movies don't only lead us astray in love, they lead us astray in other almost all aspects of our life. First time posters often ask the question, "How would Bruce Lee do in MMA?" "How would Jet Li do in MMA?" And they believe that these men are the best fighters the world has ever offered. Indeed, people that have never watched MMA think that the traditional martial arts are the begining and end all of fighting, so do the people that do them. I've talked to so many mcdojo martial artists that swear their fighting style is the best and that their instructor would beat anyone in the UFC, he just doesn't want to take away from the sacredness of the martial art. Yeahhhhhhhh.

I once had this youthful idealism as well, and to me one thing was for certain, the toughest and most enlightened fighters in the world were the Shaolin Monks. I grew out of it, but recently I started reading a book, American Shaolin. It is about a guy that had that very same youtful idealism when he was a junior at Princeton and decided to drop out and move to China to train with the Shaolin monks. Well, it is a fun read because I finally realize that I've come of age as I read it and none of it shocks me the way it would have rocked my world when I was 16-23. So let me just debunk a few myths that may be in some of your mind. Some of you may be like, "Duh?" But others will read and never post in here because they simply aren't ready to hear it yet:

Myth:

The Shaolin monks Spend almost as much time meditating as they do practicing Kung Fu.

Truth:

Nope, infact they remind me of myself. I'm the type of guy that says, "Damn I really need to pick up meditating. Maybe I'll try it for a half and hour one morning" Then I try for 10 minutes and go, "This sucks."

The communist party in China tried to ban religion including buddhism. This was obviously a huge set back for the Shaolin monastary. Well banning buddhism proved to be near impossible, so they allowed it, but the Monstary would have to find away to keep itself afloat. Hence, tourism. What do tourists want to see? A bunch of monks sitting and meditating for 16 hours, or high flying acrobatic martial arts? Obviously the latter, so the monks that are there now spend almost all their time dedicated to Kung Fu, not buddhist meditation.

Myth:

The Shaolin monks are extremely peaceful enlightened men.

Truth:

You picture a shaolin monk and you think it is the love child of the dalai lama and a ninja. But no, they aren't quite little passive peaceful men. Some are very hotheaded in fact. Getting in fights is not infrequent whatsoever. Some have spent time in jail for beating up cantonese tourists!

Myth:

Shaolin monks believe their martial art is the strongest martial art in the world.

Truth:

Yes and No. They certainly believe it is the strongest Kung Fu. But when the Communist party took power in China, they tried to ban martial arts as well. Another thing that is hard to ban in china is martial arts. So instead the government allowed three types, Tai Chi (which is hardly martial anymore) Wushu (which is basically like olympic gymnastics mixed with ineffective punching and kicking. It wasn't meant to be lethal, it was meant to be beautiful. This is what Jet Li learned and in fact he truly is one of the best at this form. He won six tournaments which are basically gymnastic displays in China, before he was asked to act in movies) and a sport form that was a watered down version of Kung Fu. The monks certainly still practice the same Kung Fu that they always practiced and at the height of communism they simply kept it secret. But they put a lot of focus on Wushu when the communist party took over. During now as the country becomes more capitalistic and the restrictions are less severe, they are free to practice what they wish. However, because it is more capitalistic, they practice mostly what sells to tourists and that is they high flying acrobatic wushu. Indeed if you see a Shaolin monk perform, you aren't watching Shaolin Kung Fu, you are watching Wushu.

Finally the author of the book asked the monks in 1992 who was the toughest fighter in the world. Expecting them to say their master or some ancient legend, he was shocked when they all unanimously said "Mike Tyson!" and began emulating Tyson's punching.

Myth:

The Monks don't care about monetary wealth and fame.

Truth:

Well we understand now that they need some wealth simply to stay afloat these days which requires at least some fame. What you probably don't realize is that the Shaolin Monestary struggles with a bad attrition rate these days. A lot of the monks defect from the monestary to come to the US. The reason they most often site, "I wanted to be movie star."

Myth:

Shaolin monks are celibate and content with it.

Truth:

Yeah they are celibate, but that doesn't mean they don't constantly long for women. Many have wives and many have girlfriends. Occassionally, one may even have sex...its considered a no no, but they site the fact that Siddartha had sex before he became buddha, so they can't hardly be expected to be as perfect as buddha.

Myth:

They are quiet withdrawn men.

Truth:

They frequently joke, curse, gossip, flirt etc.

So there are some things to chew on. Hope you enjoyed.

[Nodecaf]

Yeah, thanks for the read, especially the first part with guys who think they are theoretical geniuses when it comes to life, but never experienced any practice.
As for the monks. Good read, but I really dont care about the monks.
Impressive, sure, but I dont like groups that tries to mystifie themself, or groups that others mystifie for that matter..

[NHB7]

Yeah, the guys that have no life experience but have more advice then a sage use to annoy me. Now they only annoy me if they are above 25. Before then it is just people reiterating life lessons out loud so that they can reaffirm it for themselves and calling it advice. Eventually they learn better. But once you are past 25 and you have done nothing in life but coast by and you start giving advice about finances, relationships, mental anguish....its time to reflect and consider a new strategy at life. There is nothing more pathetic than a guy that has been depressed for two years trying to tell you the secret to happiness.

[NHB7]

Oh, one thing I want to add. When you read about the monks in this light, the impression that you get about them is, these are just normal dudes...like your buddies.

They like to joke, they like to play video games, they like to hit on girls, they talk trash behind each others back, they can get jealous of each other. They have also had hard lives. A lot of them were simply orphans that had nowhere else to go. They didn't want this lives for themselves, but it was a way to survive. Hence a lot of them leaving when their older to try to start lives in America. They aren't magical sacred beings, they are just like any other 19 year old dude, only they know a lot of about kung fu! And not much else, they are also horribly educated. Most of them are illiterate.

[Rinksterk**]

Shaolin Monks aint monks at all. Shaolin gymnastics is what it should be called.

But yeah, I hate it when people give advice about shit they know nothing about. I had a virgin give me on advice on dating. I saw a noob teach other noobs that escaping side mount is near impossible so you shouldnt waste energy on it. Met kids who support a political party and dont even know why. Etc etc etc. I think people in general think they know more than they really do.

I always say, people are arrogant about their ignorance and ignorant of their arrogance.

[Jay Pan ROKK]

Great thread thanks for posting it here.

[dracons]

Shaolin monks are not true monks. In some Communist countries, the government hired people to become monks to undermine Buddhism. That's why the Westerner should watch out for them.

[Shaolin Bushido]

I learned all of these things from documentarys and books not to mention the odd "martial arts expert". I started in tkd only to find that not only were the movements watered down karate but that the history of korean martial arts they taught to us dedicated students was bullshit. They tried to distance themselves from karate and all things japanese due to the prolonged japanese invasion of their land and the atrocities visited upon them during that time.

Of course, they could have just told that to their students instead of grandmasters today still teaching that bullshit 40 years later.

[Shaolin Bushido]

There are still gung fu experts around but they're probably not doing 480 degree reverse wheel kicks.

[NHB7]

Interesting input Shaolin Bushido. I saw that you were the last to post and I thought I was going to have my first critic Here is another interesting one.

Myth:

Those Monks that master in Iron Kung Fu, which is recognizable whenever you see a monk having some wooden or stone object slammed against his body with apparently no injurous effect, use chi or qi to make their bodies impervious to injury.

Truth:

Actually, its more that they train their bodies the way anyother athlete would train. A marathon runner runs often. A baseball player bats a lot. A guy that does iron kung fu, beats his body until it is so calloused and nerve damaged that he doesn't really feel pain in a given area. Also, injury is not uncommon. They often times break bones during their demonstrations. And worst of all, most of the Kung Fu masters that are experts in Iron Head Kung Fu now have stutters....due to brain damage.