Yesterday's Journey snsn

[ShaolinDan]

That was about 15 months ago.

[ShaolinDan]

Cool. Good to know.

[GeneChing]

Typically when a monk takes up a new Yan-generation name, it's because of re-discipling under the abbot - a political move. Shi Yanneng did the same thing. He was formerly Shi Xingwu, if memory serves, but everyone called him 'Lunzha'. Xing to Yan actually drops back a few generations. Heng to Yan raises up one so it might not be the Abbot, but likely. Many disciple names are symbolic now.

[wiz cool c]

Seems logical Gene, personally I really don't know. The guy in the middle of that same photos owns a really nice school. He is one of the mentioned Master's Teachers. He had his students perform for us. I really enjoyed the performance it showed a lot of interaction between the students in mock fighting weapon vs weapon empty hand and empty hand vs weapon which was a pleasant surprise for a demo. There was almost no solo routines in that show.

After we went to his office which is big and decorated with all kinds of cool furniture and where he does his calligraphy and such. He showed us a video of some foreign family that lived there for a month[wasn't impressed,] then got into bragging for a while about how they teach the deeper meaning of Shaolin over some tea, and he asked me to do a form which I knew was coming. I did Lian Han Quan, and I busted it out beautifully. His response was Zhen De Bu Cuo[really not bad] which in realty mean **** was good. Later in our conversation he went on to say, "he studies martial arts, but not the culture". In a way he is right, I am not overly interested in all the customs and rituals. I'm more interested with living it then speaking about it or showing it as a display. But in the end we all die, and it really boils down to what makes the indivual happy right? So to each his own.

[GeneChing]

Ha. I was always delighted whenever I got a 'bu cuo' comment, because that's about as good as it gets most of the time.

But as for studying martial arts versus culture, well, there's more to culture than just customs and rituals, especially the way Chinese see it. Wen (文) and Wu (武) must always be balanced like yin and yang. You're living there so you're immersed in the culture. You don't have to study it to be present with it. And you're a writer so you are interested in speaking about it, only through writing. Okay, end of rant from publisher to freelancer. Keep doing what you do, Shaolin brotha.

[wiz cool c]

Thank you Gene I will do my best.