earlier I saw a video of a student who spent a couple years in the Temple recently, I think from 2015 to 2017, do a break down of the BBC documentary, which was very theatrical to say the least.
groups of people are always on the ready to critique and question when any “inside footage” comes from the Temple in any light, but especially a platform as big as BBC, doing a documentary of this nature.
so since he is a credible source as a youtuber, they poured in the questions asking him to watch the documentary and do a commentary. He did, and in it, he stated some obvious facts.
one of the first things he pointed out was superficial, and most of us would catch it and overlook it, is that the narrator said something along the lines of Hollywood restoring popularity to the Temple upon discovering it and revealing its skills in the 1970s, when really it was Hong Kong cinema alone.
Other than that the things he pointed out were obvious, for the most part, and some things not so obvious. Since I linked the video, I’ll share his provided insights.
namely, he says most of what we saw was purely for the camera, and not at all how these tests are handled when it comes to gongfu or wuseng.
he says that at thhe age of 18, a student has the option to become a monk or warrior monk, and if they chose to become a warrior monk, a technical, yet casual test is given, on gongfu skill alone, in the wushu training all, while wearing tshirts. lol so BBC did some romanticizing and camera work, to make it fancy and give it that old Shaolin feel. which is fine by me, as I’m not buying into a fantasy, I just like ANY and all POSITIVE looks for the Temple.
he pointed out that the monk they did the documentary on has been a wuseng for a while and taught large bodies of students while he was there as well. Also pointing out that the monk is a great person and very honest and upright. he says is you can speak Chinese well, and/or are familiar with the Temple and monks, when the cameras are not rolling, you know that what was said was scripted.
Now I spotted this immediately during the scene where he was “refining” his staff technique. I could feel their relationship was more cordial than the camera was making it and I havent met them personally, the dialogue was just obviously prepared, which is fine by me. for some reason, people expect something else from BBC cameras.
a lot of opinions are thrown around about whats real and so on, yet those who are so opinionated are not practicing Shaolin Chan or wushu, or any martial art sometimes, they are just there to say “hey that Shaolin stuff is all for the camera.”
I guarantee, none of these youtube trolls have the heart, or physical climate to endure any form of a real DAY of warriormonk training , much less years, coupled with Ch’an study and practice.
I liked the documentary because it gave a glimpse of the two dynamics working together, which is good to see in any event. As Im watching his critique I can tell he has geniuine love for Shaolin, and is tired of dealing with doubtful trolls, yet willing to deal with them from an open and honest space. which shows he got something from living in the Temple those couple years, something that he cant transmit in words, yet he’s willing to defend the Temple. I like that he pointed out when he would ask two masters the same question, he would get two answers. One monk might say, Shaolin gongfu is for pure combat alone, to him. and another monk will say , Shaolin gongfu is useless to him without Chan, that it serves as a vehicle for Chan practice.
We all know that tourist and media coverage, and to some degree exploitation happens a lot with Shaolin and its expected at this point, so to hand the monks scripts, and for them to put on a “show” of sorts is also expected to a degree. however, this doesnt take away from the truth that Shaolin is still a Temple and has regular monks doing regular monk things all day, along with warrior monks who do the same. the reality might not be so glamorous, yet to a devotee it doesnt have to be.
so since I posted it, I will address it here, because I will keep sharing whatever I find.
I was asked by someone close to me, who was listening to the video and to my talk about it, that literally “why does Shaolin have so many haters? They must be doing something right…”
I loved it and it took me a minute to answer because I had to really process the question and answer. this wasnt the first time this question came about either. so I already had a perspective on the answer.
its that people are just conditioned to prefer what seems overtly or obviously efficient in a brute force way like “MMA” or boxing, and MA that look more like that and are competition driven, like sport muay thai or TKD, would be the popular choice. Shaolin maintains its intrigue to the unlearned because what you gain cant be explained or measured the same way as in boxing, so its easy to pass judgement on it, plus a lot of people made a bad name in the past using Shaolin the wrong way. still the myth, and the con artist, and the fantasy media and cinema exploits have root in something true and factual. That factual part is what people fear, literally fear, because they know its real, yet its unknown, and we know how the modern human mind has been conditioned to receive the unknown, which is what we see with Shaolin.
the fear and will to denounce what they are unwilling to pursue, either out of sheer ignorance, or impatience, or both, is what all of these trolls base their arguments in.
not to mention people love to make any and everything unholy, so the mere fact Shaolin unifies Chan and Wushu, drives people mad. its like they say “how dare you hold enlightenment up to human action and our great combat sports which are only for scorin points and kickin asses!?” lol…so we have to deal with those “critics” who have never seen the real deal, every time Shaolin gets some shine, which is all the time. A lot of you have been to Shaolin as more than a tourist and know everything has its balance there. If anyone wants to offer a word on the BBC video, that would be cool too.
one thing I dont see, is real Shaolin monks, denouncing ANY thing ANY one does, or passing it off as not this or that. To be totally immersed in Ch’an you cant think in that way, which is another reason Shaolin takes a lot of garbage from haters, because they wont just beat the people up, lol…it just wont happen. and its supposed to be that way. no matter how many people dress up like monks and go make a fool of themselves in the ring, or in a mcdoojo, students and monks of Shaolin keep to practice and the truth keeps shining through and growing in strength.
Amituofo
[video]https://youtu.be/jHUewEWi9SE[/video]
