I just received an uncorrected proof of Yanming’s new book, The Shaolin Workout. It’s being published by Rodale, a major publisher in the world of health publications. They do the magazines Prevention, Men’s Health, Runner’s World, Women’s Health, Organic Gardening, Backpacker, Best Life, Bicycling and Mountain Bike. Will Yanming be on one of those covers next? Rodale also published several New York Times Bestsellers like Martha Stewart’s The Martha Rules, Bill Maher’s New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer, as well as The South Beach Diet and The Abs Diet franchises. Most martial arts books are published through small publishers or vanity published. Rodale is a whole new level for a Shaolin book.
The Shaolin Workout is well marketed - just what you might expect from Rodale. It’s subtitled “28 Days to Transforming Your Body and Soul the Warrior Way”. I haven’t had a chance to do more than skim it, but it looks like a general outline of Shaolin basics - mostly stretching and warm ups, basic stances and kicks. The presentation is very clean and professional. It’s slated for release on June 2006. It’s be hardcover, 7 1/2" x 9 1/8", retailing at $29.95.
I’ve always thought that of all the monks that have immigrated to America, Yanming had the kind of charisma that could lend itself to exactly this kind of project. I spent a week with him back in '99 and his enthusiasm on the training floor is contagious, like Billy Blanks pushing TaeBo, or any workout guru. He inspired you to put out more, not to hold back, which was great for jibengong. The Shaolin jibengong by itself is a great workout. You just need to add music. Wonder if RZA can handle workout music?
I remember a demo by Yan Ming for a show on TNT. He used the wutang’s shame on a n**** beat. It seemed to get the audience pumped up.
I always thought about using RZA beats especially the ones with the shaw brothers samples when doing demos for non martial artist/non Chinese groups. I don’t know what the effect the wong fei hung music would have on people who aren’t “in the know”.
I wonder if a workout series ala “taebo” would be considered after the book release. I also wonder how it would be recieved by martial artists. I know taebo wasn’t particularly well recieved by most. Billy Blanks lost me when during the infomercial the soccer moms said they could “kick butt” and defend themselves because of taebo. Would Yan Ming run into the same critisism?
I thought Shi Yan Ming was extremely against learning from books and videos. What is this all about now? It’s going to be funny to see all the McDojo’s with a new crappy workout routine. Way to go Yan Ming!
The trend seems to be that the temple is discovering its economic power as a “brand,” and finding ways to apply it. Can you blame them? That’s the impression I formed anyway.
I will probably buy a copy as well, but like DJ i am doing a shaolin workout already anyway and will have time to wait until i can buy one here in softcover.
TaichiMantis, you could start a trend - a massive legions of Shaolin soccer moms. Just imagine. It would be glorious.
Banjos_dad, you shouldn’t make the mistake of confusing what individual monks are doing with ‘the temple’. Yanming is independant of the temple, as are most of the monks that have immigrated out of China. They all retain ties to the temple and various Shaolin masters in Dengfeng, but they are not ‘official’ representatives. Shaolin Temple is a huge organization, a tradition with 1500 years of history. Throughout that history, there have always been splinter factions. In short, I doubt that any of the profit from this book will go back to the temple, nor was the temple consulted on it at all. That’s why the abbot is trying to trademark the Shaolin ‘brand’, but at this point, you might as well try to trademark ‘zen’.
rickyscaggs, I wouldn’t call Shaolin jibengong a crappy workout routine. Quite the opposite. And if all the McDojos started doing it, that would be fantastic. It’d be like all the McDonalds offering choice prime rib.
I’ve always thought a good Shaolin jibengong program was in order. Guolin’s Fundementals of Shaolin is the only one readily available and that doesn’t cover a lot of it. Yanming’s new book doesn’t cover all of it either, but in all fairness, he’s writing to a different audience and this is only the first in what could be a potential series. Jibengong is where it’s at. That’s the foundation. All the forms videos that everyone else put out are useless without basics.
I would rather see people doing shaolin basics as a workout routine than taebo/cardio kickboxing.
If kungfu basics became a popular workout routine then it would be a good way to bring more intrest to TCMA. That means more places would be interested in having classes, more people training, more opportunity to get the word out about your style etc. Of course there also may be an influx of hot gym chicks in your school. Now would that be so bad?
I wouldn’t call it a crappy workout either. I’m talking about how the McDojo sensei’s will learn it from a book and teach it like crap and depending on how much SYM talks on it they’ll be missing a lot. What good does it do? Basics are also useless if learned from a book!
What audience is he writing to? I’ve always heard he was extremely against learning from books and videos. Now he’s writing a book of his own to teach it? What a money loving hypocrite. He’s no different than the rest of 'em. You know he loves money. Monk? My @$$. He’s milking that thing for all it’s worth!! :rolleyes:
rickyscaggs- I think it is hypocritical for us to question monks morals and motives with money. Not because they are above question but because we are beneath that kind of questioning. Everyone here is living a pretty materialistic life. I don’t feel it’s my buisness to question his personal life due to the fact that I don’t belong to his order.
But your comments pose an interesting question- I also don’t really think you can learn from a book. I personally feel direct instruction is the only way to go. Yet recently I’ve been working on some articles. Now the question is that if yan ming is against learning from written materials/videos etc. then why does he have several articles and a video published? Why, if I am not for learning from video/books am I working on articles?
I wonder if I am slightly hypocritical in my stance. Was YM already a hypocrite to make a stance against indirect learning, then publish articles? What is the cut off? Is an article ok but a book isn’t? That wouldn’t make sense. Is it the motive behind it? Most articles are soley for informational purposes. If a book is written in the same spirit is it then ok?
So then is it only “unethical” to publish material if you give the impression that you can learn from it without assistance?
Or is it the fact that YM is a “monk” that makes it worng for him to be successful?
I also heard he was not pleased with the video and wishes they are all out of circulation and is highly against them.
Is it the motive behind it? Most articles are soley for informational purposes. If a book is written in the same spirit is it then ok?
His motive is what I question. He puts on a show acting like he’s Bodhidharma trying to spread Chan to the western world, yet he hardly even lives like a lay Buddhist but milks the “monk” title for all it’s worth.
So then is it only “unethical” to publish material if you give the impression that you can learn from it without assistance?
I think so, if first of all you are against it and think no one should learn from it, then you publish material giving the impression people can learn from it. What the heck is that? Money money money.
Or is it the fact that YM is a “monk” that makes it worng for him to be successful?
He’s not a monk. As I said he hardly lives like a lay Buddhist. He does things for money not for spreading Chan and MA. That’s a show. He’s full of it. There are many things he could do to spread it with the money he already has, but he won’t unless it gets him more money.
I notice that you say “I heard” allot. Do you know SYM? Are you a former student? I’m just curious about your background because you seem to feel very strongly about this.
In my home, we have this hanging that says “Buddhism is passed from warm hand to warm hand.” It’s a familiar adage to practitioners. Regardless, there is a tremendous library of Buddhist books, a small portion of which I have in my own library. I learn from them all the time.
In the martial arts, people are always going on about how ‘you can’t learn from a book or video’. What they are really saying is that you can’t become a master just by a book or a video. Of course you can learn from different sources other than a live teacher. It’s totally absurd to say you can’t. In fact, I don’t think you can even claim that your a serious student of the martial arts if you don’t read books and watch videos. They just can’t be your only road to mastery; they’re just stepping stones. It’s a long road to mastery and you need to step on every stone - leave no stone unturned - to get there. What’s more, not all of us have the ambition to be masters. I’m no master and the more I get into this, the more skeptical I become about ever being one. There’s plenty of room in the martial arts for Shaolin soccer moms. If you’re just dabbling, or doing it as a hobby, martial arts books and videos are an easy and low cost way to get some exercise. Even a little martial practice, even taebo, is beneficial if only for the cardiovascular. These days, in our toxic world, every little bit of samsara-burning workout helps.
As for the other issue of Shi Yanming and his validity as a monk, clearly he is the most controversial of the American immigrants. A carniverous father who hangs out with bling-toting rap stars certainly doesn’t qualify as a fully indoctrinated Buddhist monk, but Shaolin has this special class of warrior monks, and Yanming has yet to be formally ejected from that order. In contrast, Shi Wanheng, a senior warrior monk, was formally ejected, but he was still at Shaolin part time. Yanming has only gone back twice I beleive, and both times he ran into some trouble, but I haven’t heard that he’s been officially black-balled yet. Every order has their black sheep and loose cannons. Personally, I find Yanming a fascinating character study and I wish his success with this new book effort.
I am sorry Gene. I had not made the distinction. In the statement you made about Yanming and Wanheng: “A carniverous father who hangs out with bling-toting rap stars certainly doesn’t qualify as a fully indoctrinated Buddhist monk, but Shaolin has this special class of warrior monks, and Yanming has yet to be formally ejected from that order. In contrast, Shi Wanheng, a senior warrior monk, was formally ejected, but he was still at Shaolin part time. Yanming has only gone back twice I beleive, and both times he ran into some trouble, but I haven’t heard that he’s been officially black-balled yet…,” their status seems cloudy, perhaps even to the temple walls themselves.
Here i am making statements from a center of ignorance again! I am hungry for material from Shaolin though, so i will most likely get the book regardless of Shi Yanming’s official status
I just wanted to apologize, but i can’t resist saying that books are a valid way of gaining insight, when they lead your mind to turn in ways it hadn’t done before. Maybe the content shifts the focus of your attention onto things it had overlooked. There is no substitute for the hard exertion of kung fu training, for more than one reason, including the way that your body chemistry is altered and shiftfs your frame of perception. Learning to perform difficult movements well over time can deliver abstract lessons somehow… dharma. A big problem with books is that the illustrations can only capture a fraction of the form. Martial arts techniques most often involve specific body motions or a series of motions, which is the opposite of a book’s static mode of transmission. DVD’s and videos trade a book’s capacity for hundreds of pages of insights and step-by-step explanation for the advantage of being able to see the movements in precise detail, but share the book’s non-interactive limitation so at best one is just mimicking the actor. I do regular training with a sifu and a class because it seem obvious that that is the only way to develop beyond a very limited point. The recorded material is like “elective” training for fun, or because I want to explore the dynamics of a different style’s forms.
Just the Shaolin conditioning and warm-up techniques are so beneficial over time, that i will be glad to see some jibengong techniques that aren’t included in our school.
to me conditioning etc. like arm or leg striking, iron bridge training, ring training, is just added insurance. a lot of people wouls skip this part and go along to something ‘sexier’ like forms or something showy. this is something that could be easily overlooked by someone who tried only learning from videos & books…
it would also be easy to learn this from the dharma of doing fingertip pushups without even consciously realizing it. Or stance training. At first you’re like:‘…this sucks…this sucks…please tell us to switch…awww this really sucks…’ Then later you look around one day and say, wow, i am one of the good ones now. Look at the hard time other people are having with this. They need to learn how to just go ahead and take that low stance before sifu tells you to, and just hold it until he says switch, even if you’re legs are shaking like the proverbial dog eliminating a peach pit
that is something you can’t learn so easily from a book.
anyway, sorry for making unqualified statements about Shaolin, and now for the epic post.
…and extra kudos for plugging our forum sponsor . Shaolin is seriously complicated, the most complicated manifestation of martial arts in the modern era. Frankly, that’s why it interests me so. And I’d be the last person to cap on anyone for ‘epic’ posts. Maybe a troll post is worthy of some capping, but honest opinions fuel the discussion. After all, isn’t discussion exact what the forum here is all about?
