I got my copy and am devouring it before my very eyes.
~g gets props almost right away in it. So it must be somewhat good. 
man you all are so enthusiastic about this book…and I’m still waiting for mine in the mail…
…sad panda…
oh man, I am at page 108. Youb are really missing out SoCo. Really missing out.
oh man! page 109 is sweeeet! lol
just messing with ya.
seriously though, it’s a pretty interesting piece. am enjoying it.
Whoohoo!!! My copy came in…got the email from Barnes & Noble today so I rushed on over before they closed. And with my card its 20% off
Now I won’t be like the poor kid that couldn’t afford a nintendo to know what all the other school kids were talking about…
25 copies available from a seller on ebay for only $45
[QUOTE=Mas Judt;828801]Obviously it can’t be a legitimate scholarly effort as there is no mention Su Kon Taijin nor a recognition of Grandmaster Sin The’.[/QUOTE]
You are so right Mas. It can not be legit if it doesn’t have Hair Man or GM Sin in it. :eek:
I was a bit disapointed that he did not mention the modern wushu/traditional developement. It sounds as if everyone in and around Shaolin does Kung Fu like in the
old times.
I found it also onteresting that he mentions Wudang but says nothing about martial arts being practised there. So does this mean Wudang has no martial arts tradition?
Anyway, it is an interesting book, but I feel it could cover more ground.
not quite finished yet, but overall it is good. he seems to have spent his time translating the many stele and got ihs hands on some old documentation. drew the lines between confirmed historical characters and the reality behind a few myths and lack of it behind others.
the interesting part for me was about the worship of the military god and the whole sinews and flesh eating thing. that cleared up a few questions.
anyone ever notice the similarity between paintings of bhodidharma and the god vajraprani. minus the fangs of course. also, black tiger whirlwind character from ootm bears similarity to this god.
all in all, at least it gives you an idea of the actual history as opposed to all the “there were 10 temples of shaolin and several of them were dedicated to black scorpion and steve johnson krotty as far back as 6 thousand years ago” that we are all to familiar with in various cheesy little flyer’s that get pushed around. lol
[QUOTE=Fei Li;858068]I was a bit disapointed that he did not mention the modern wushu/traditional developement. It sounds as if everyone in and around Shaolin does Kung Fu like in the
old times.
I found it also onteresting that he mentions Wudang but says nothing about martial arts being practised there. So does this mean Wudang has no martial arts tradition?
Anyway, it is an interesting book, but I feel it could cover more ground.[/QUOTE]
Its a book about SHAOLIN, the old traditons and history of Shaolin.
Hey sanjuro_ronin you read the title! 
I think you misunderstood my post, or I did not understand yours.
[QUOTE=Fei Li;858105]Hey sanjuro_ronin you read the title!
I think you misunderstood my post, or I did not understand yours.[/QUOTE]
I was making a point that the book was about Shaolin, not Wudan ( so going into detail about Wudan was not needed) and it was about the history of shaolin and its MA, not the “modern” state of it.
[QUOTE=sanjuro_ronin;858107]I was making a point that the book was about Shaolin, not Wudan ( so going into detail about Wudan was not needed) and it was about the history of shaolin and its MA, not the “modern” state of it.[/QUOTE]
That is true, but he goes into detail about Emei and the other neighbouring temples that were also not Shaolin.
I also think that if you write about the history of Shaolin the present is also an important factor, even more when as he divided the story in staff and bare-handed era, so why not mention further developments? I think it is important to conclude such a book with the present situation, this is what I am missing.
[QUOTE=Fei Li;858214]That is true, but he goes into detail about Emei and the other neighbouring temples that were also not Shaolin.
I also think that if you write about the history of Shaolin the present is also an important factor, even more when as he divided the story in staff and bare-handed era, so why not mention further developments? I think it is important to conclude such a book with the present situation, this is what I am missing.[/QUOTE]
There is a lot of loosey goosey info about wudang out there.
probably deserves an investigation of it’s own eventually.
phenomenal read.
halfway through.
anyone know if this book is released in china, and where to find it?
[QUOTE=LFJ;859897]anyone know if this book is released in china, and where to find it?[/QUOTE]
Best thing to do is get if from Amazon.com and they can send it there.
It’s a small university press, so I doubt they are doing much exporting.
great book!
[QUOTE=NJM;849740]I was told that this book makes the claim that Shaolin martial arts began with the worship of a Hindu deity named Vashalutherpalshujaj at or some such at the shaolin temple and that Bodhidharma’s exercises came later. Any truth to this claim?[/QUOTE]
Actually Shahar is not claiming that at all. He is instead claiming that at one point in Shaolin’s history, the guardian deity, Vajrapani was used by its monks to sanction their practice of fighting/ combat arts.
Shahar lists three factors which were important in the early development of Shaolin martial arts: 1st economic - protection of the Monastery’s wealth; 2nd strategic - the Monastery’s proximity to the Imperial capital and its militarily important location; and the third, which is connected to the 2nd, Imperial sanction of martial arts training at Shaolin.
He also suggests that in the late Ming and Qing period the function of martial arts at Shaolin shifted from fighting to healing and religious self-cultivation. He further suggests that in this time period, Shaolin drew inspiration and methods from Daoist daoyin gymnastic traditions and turned its interests from weapons to barehand methods .
r.
Well, I recommend this book as it has some very interesting aspects to it and absolutely tosses a lot of the doubtful stuff that we have all over the net. lol.
I wonder how this book will effect how people present their shaolin kungfu in the next few years.
should be interesting to see what pops out ofthis.
I’m not convinced, as Shahar suggests, that late Ming hand combat was not created for fighting but were designed for healing and religious self-cultivation and that Shaolin monks turned their attention away from weapons training during the Qing period.
I would suggest that bare-hand combat was integral and practiced in conjunction with weapon combat at Shaolin from its very beginnings. There is good historical evidence that bare hand combat was integrated and used in combination with hand held weapons particularly sword and short bladed weapons from the earliest times. The techniques of bare-handed close combat were sophisticated effective during the medieval period well before the Ming dynasty. Unarmed fighting was part-and-parcel of weapons combat. Close bare-hand combat tactics were taught for their relevance to to real combat in all old school Chinese martial arts, either on their own or in conjunction with various weapons. The distinguishing features of pre-modern Shaolin martial arts was the assumption that close quarter tactics could be used and might often prove decisive when fighting with swords, or with staff weapons and that unarmed combat could be effective against an armed assailant. This was the real business of serious fighting where there was no rules and one would need to be prepared to use a foot, head, or knee when fighting at close quarters with weapons. These ‘wresting’ like tactics were not for sport but were designed to disable, kill an enemy or to deal effectively with an armed adversary in the event of a weapon being dropped or broken. Effectiveness was central to Shaolin as it was with most martial art training even during the Qing Dynasty. Healing and religious self-cultivation, although were important, had their own sets.
Generally the curriculum of traditional Chinese martial arts systems, including Shaolin, included more weapons training than bare-hand training that began to change after 1911 during the Republic of China.
r.