I ask every teacher I train under how to use such and such. They've always told me, including the monks. Actually, most of the monks just thumped me with it. After a while, I stopped asking and starting looking more, so I wouldn't get thumped so often. Now I only ask if I really can't see the app in a form. But usually, I can now. I find my own apps too, mostly becuase I'm not fast/agile/powerful enough to make all the apps work verbatim to the masters' execution. I've got a quirky physique, so I got to modify stuff to fit.

As for Dejian's apps, it's pretty harsh to judge him based on a short video. I'm still curious about where that video came from. And I think there's some decent stuff in that video. Sure, it's playful, but we can't all practice like steroided MMA guys all the time. The critics here just want to bash Shaolin. FWIW, the monks do tend to laugh after they've thumped you. I'm not sure why that is. It's a playful laugh usually, not an evil maniacal bwahahaha kind of laugh (although I'm generalizing here - I've heard a few evil monk laughs too).