Planning the next documentary as soon as Covid allows. If you wanna support this ongoing project to document Chinese martial arts, you can make a donation at www.buymeacoffee.com/monkeysp or grabbing a t-shirt from the merch shelf above
What would really mean something to me Is Bhodi Dharma is not the progenitor of Zen, who was it that imported the Indian/Southeast Asian/Himalayan religion of Buddhism to China? If Bodhi Dharma was the progenitor regardless of what might be said, the use of pranayama or breath and physical yogas has always been a part of Dharma though it has been kept secret more less in certain schools all schools of Buddhism use Trulkhor or Pranayama or Chi Gung in their practices so I cannot accept that there isn’t some truth to the spiritual exercises having links to Shaolin. Can you please share any leads??
THIS IS SPECTACULAR AND MOST BEAUTIFUL AMAZING ART AND LAND WITH THE 2 MOUNTAINS AND VALLEY- TREES AND ROCKS AND IT'S SO PEACEFUL LOOKING WITHOUT ALL THE POLLUTION AND THE SKYSCRAPERS OF CITIES TODAY... ‼️✅👍✅👉 I WISH I COULD HAVE GONE AND SPENT HEALTHY YEARS ENJOYING LEARNING. ✅👉 BUT AT THE LEAST I'M ENJOYING THIS ACCOUNT, VERY WELL DONE- and I think right this second whilst typing this, 😨 ⁉️👉 ARE YOU EVEN READING THIS NOTE TO YOU ? ARE YOU DOING WELL AND STILL EVEN CREATING "CONTENT" FOR THIS SO CALLED CHANNEL I'VE SUBSCRIBED TO⁉️ 👍✅👉 I VERY MUCH HOPE SO.
Your channel is a recent find for me - and I am grateful. I appreciate your content. Well done. Continue your Kung Fu journey - I am virtually following along.
Having worked on this for the last couple months, we're super grateful for all the fantastic feedback here! Thanks guys! Will, Tomas, see you soon hopefully!
This documentary has answered so many personal questions I had as a kung fu student and practioner that I just wanted to say thank you guys for doing this. Amazing job! Amituofo!
Watched this a couple times now since it was released, great job from everyone involved! Your martial arts insights were excellent as always, but I can tell you really upped the production quality of this one, too - it looked and sounded fantastic!
What the first master said about modern vs tradition and this knowledge being lost I feel is true for so much of the country undergoing change so rapidly. It's brilliant to see people valuing this heritage. Such knowledge and passion put into this film - awesome work! I learnt so much. I've always wondered about doing something on martial arts on our channel, but glad we haven't yet. We could never do it this justice!
If you would like to support this project and other future ones, please consider clicking Join above, joining Patreon, or grabbing yourself a T-shirt or Hoodie!
Excellent documentary. I don't know if the guys who directed this film have any formal film education, but if they don't, they did a hell of job putting that together. I appreciated the aerial shots, & the content was very interesting. Well done. 👍
Young man you did an incredible job on this documentary! I can't express enough how amazing this was. My favorite practitioner of Shaolin is Ro Shehlik from Toronto. She is amazing as a woman, a practitioner, and just all around. I'm throughly impressed with everything about this film too though. From the videography to the writing speaking and being, it was perfect. I'm truly grateful for this small peek into such a mesmerizing esoteric dynasty....I learned a lot of new information and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for all your work and best wishes for you in whatever it be your will to do!
Been watching your videos from the latest ones, like the trip to Taiwan and this is the most recent one I’m watching. Love your respect to Chinese martial arts, it’s amazing how much knowledge and wisdom you’re getting from these different teachers.
That was fantastic! I can't wait for the next "journeys"! I am sorry that I have been unemployed for some time and cannot contribute to Mr. continue your search! 😞 Health and Peace to you, shifu, and success to the Monkey Steals Peach channel! Greetings from Brazil! 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Thank you for a great documentary. So much wisdom can be heard in the words of the old one, like it's a life long practice, connect your mind with the heart. And finally, the meditation. In time being, we all get old, the body vanishes, but awareness stays, the stepping stone for meditation.
Very good documentary! Well done! I personally had the honor to be introduced to Master Cui Zhongwu back in 2015. He is ‘the real thing’, among bunch of crap around the Temple and Dengfeng! Good work guys!
This is an amazing documentary, you guys are doing such a great job a preserving this knowledge. Your channel has helped me understand how to train and how to treat my teacher as well as the style I’m learning. It’s also helped me understand the variety of King Fu and how it’s been falsely portrayed. Thank you for your hard work, please keep documenting this amazing knowledge, it’s guiding some of us on the martial way.
I really enjoyed that, it was entertaining and informative, with beautiful imagery. Something else that stood out to me was 90 year old master Xu. I've seen it time and again; the oldest healthiest people in the world always live in small villages, towns in the middle of nowhere, or up in the mountains... about as far away as you can get from trendy diets, big city doctors, and pharmaceuticals. Anyways, thank you so much for sharing!
This beautifully produced insight into Shaolin heritage is just so impressive. While acknowledging the popular myths of the Shaolin temple it gave me the clearest understanding I have ever had of the actual history and status of Shaolin and the communities and practitioners attached to it. I have to really congratulate Will, Joel, Tomas on their hard work and deep insights into unlocking truths and presenting key characters such as Hu Zhengsheng who are carrying the Shaolin tradition and knowledge forward. I will share and recommend this video to my MA friends everywhere.
thank you so much. i very much enjoyed and learned a great deal. I come from a daoist, meditative background, and this was a much needed shaolin perspective. it gave me such great CONTEXT to it all. I started wanting to learn kung fu to be tough, but with my practice i realized what i really wanted was peace and harmony with my surroundings. i think this was a great reminder
Thank you Will for this fascinating Documentary. I trained in Shaolin Kung Fu and did a pilgrimage to Shaolin. You deeply inspired me with this... Full of precious training keys.
@@MonkeyStealsPeach I can't tell, have not been back ever since unfortunately. I met a guy there who was from former Eastern Germany and went there on his own to train with the monks when he was 15 (!). He spoke fluent Mandarin.
That was really well done. I think it's the most accurate and informative documentary I've seen on the Song Shaolin martial arts in the English language.
Thank you all for the great VIDEO and job you made! My heart is filling! To tell the true in Russia interest to a Traditional Martial Arts is dying. It is not good... I try to give the atmosphere of old masters to my students, but... time chamges...
I think that it's great that you study all of these traditional martial arts. I, too, was interested from a young age and studied with many instructors including Bruce Lee but my very best one was from Southern Shaolin, Joe Chu. Many of these arts are very good for one but you have to remember very few are actual Boxing and Wrestling. The combat sport aspect of Shaolin is quite different from the forms and requires youth, determination and the willingness to endure injuries. If the combat sport aspect of the art is not practiced one should not expect to do well in contest with someone who endures it.
A beginner in chinese martial arts, I first and very recently noticed the importance and impact of intention when practicing bian gan. Suddenly the staff strikes neatly and barely staggering. I do not think about how to move my body differently. The simple intention of striking effectively does the trick. Since my teacher told me that this is no fluke but actually part of the practice I try to apply the concept also in everyday life. To know its relation to my other favourite style, hebei xingyi quan, is all the more motivating - but I believe I need to run another few hundret drills for the bare mechanics, before I can take that step.
the one i love from chinese martial arts is how artsy is the movement are it has a beautiful form, a slow movement but at the end of each movement it shown a person power , it first it is as calm as a river and in the end it shocks a power like a thunder idk how to explain other than that
Amazing video. Love the intro music at the beginning. But i dont see it listed in the description, only the other 2 songs. What is the song that starts at very beginning ends at 1:33?
Nice one Will, many thanks for taking so much trouble with this. BTW, those dents in the floor from monks stamping at Shaolin are not a recent tourist industry addition; they were there when I visited in 1985, and the temple was still part ruin.
Joël did all the editing, so the trouble was his lol! I knew the dents were there, they are in the old Jet Li movie. As to their real origin could it just be uneven ground/dampness/result of the fire? Or actually monks training?
Great job, Will! I'm all for a Xinyiquan documentary. And a Xingyiquan one after that. Of course, my screen name is the English translation of Hengquan, so I might be a little biased.
Nice to see you getting into the documentary style videos now. Still waiting on the General Qi Jiguang pin point xD It's amazing how it starts with some army training to families learning to defend themselves, to everyone trying to create their own styles and run to Shaolin with it. The folk lore and stories are lovely but in hindsight, Kung Fu comes from poorly educated men who knew how to fight essentially and proved their worth back then by fighting for money & respect, then turning into everyone trying to teach their styles for a living and having the Kung Fu wars and roof top duels. To nowadays where they teach people to look and feel good doing some fancy techniques and try to keep them coming back to rake in the money. Instruction has changed so much over the years going from teaching principles and how to effectively deal with your opponent to really focusing on each individual technique and selling the idea it takes years and years to master the style (an army doesn't have years and years to focus on techniques, bare this is mind if you are a believer in this concept that it takes years to master Kung Fu). And even with modern Kung Fu that springs up during the late 1800's, mid 1900s such as Wing Chun, another style trying to recreate General Qi Jiguang's Southern short strike boxing, that takes all its inspiration from the theory and principles of Yong Chun White crane and Xingyi Quan as those styles are lead to be believed are more closely related to the scriptures back from the 1600-1700s when Kung Fu was first developed. This is hugely the main reason that Kung Fu is not popular in China, due to the messiness and diverse misconceptions due to the Qing revolution. This is why in China the majority will practice Tae Kwon Do, Boxing, San Da and not traditional Chinese martial arts (except Tai Chi in the park for the elderly). The main styles across China seem to be XingYi Quan, Bagua Zhang, Baiji Quan, Chen & Yang Tai Chi. Sad part is, doesn't matter if we are talking about temples, styles, or lineages, there are so many misconceptions and lies it is virtually impossible to say yeah this is 100% fact and this what it is and where it comes from. Nonetheless, I love Kung Fu and have learnt not to get involved in the politics and just enjoy the practice of health. It is nice to see that some of the Chinese are starting to implement the Western science into their styles such as the Sp02, HRV, and all that stuff. After all if you can't use it to kill people, at least use it as a sport to make the most of the style, unless you are doing it for spiritualism and health then you don't need rigorous training systems to train like an athlete to further your development in your Kung Fu. Anyway I could be here for ages, I will stop there haha
Great watch. From 36mins a butchered way of understanding from the heart would be muscle memory and the unconscious intent to fight. Either way what a very logical philosophy to be at one with Kung Fu.
Wonderful, great work! One thing I wonder a bit about the Shaolin practitioners (especially outside the temple) - is about how Buddhism itself may or may not be a part of their lives.
Thanks! Well for a lot of rural Chinese its most definitely a part of their daily lives, regardless of whether they practice martial arts or live near a big temple
@@MonkeyStealsPeach Thanks for the response! I guess what I meant was - Shaolin is very interesting in that it is also the source of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, which became one of the main sects of Buddhism in East Asia, and is famous for its emphasis of meditation to achieve enlightenment. But as Shaolin is so famous for its martial arts as well (and the public's interest is more there), many questions remain about the state of Chan itself, e.g.: 1) What kind of meditation is still practiced there (e.g. "just sitting" and wall staring like the Caodong sect, or contemplating koan puzzles like the Linji sect)? 2) Perhaps the practices were strongly repressed and much lost due to the government changes, etc.; 3) Yijinjing and xisuijing seem more esoteric Buddhism than Chan Buddhism; would be interesting to know Buddhist-related qigongs (not only wugong) that may be practiced within Shaolin and how they related to Buddhism. But anyway - just my rambling, really great documentary of course!
Interestingly enough, in the surrounding area of Dengfeng, a folk religion which worships the deity Jinnaluo is more influential than orthodox Chan. Historically it was a large cult, but now only bits and pieces remain
@@MonkeyStealsPeach Ah - interesting, but disappointing, too! I guess that, like Daoism, Buddhism may tend to degenerate into typical folk religion instead - it's much simpler to follow. But interesting that any religion persisted at all despite the Communism.
Well, to say its “degenerated” is a huge oversimplification. The Jinnaluo cult is partially influenced by Tibetan Buddhism and is typical of martial cults throughout China, and it is those cults which have much more influence on martial arts than orthodox religion. Also its a very western-centric way of thinking to regard “orthodox” Buddhism as being free from superstition or dogma. And regarding the communist suppression of religion, that has definitely had an affect although I’d argue its nothing new, these cults were always suppressed to varying extents and I would argue that its more down the successful use of technology and infrastructure in suppressing them than it is specifically about CCP doctrine.
Hello Will! Hope you're doing well. Loving the new series! I was going to ask if I could could your brain on something. I will potentially be joining a discipleship program in a couple of years based in Thailand in a style called Tiger Crane Combination, a lineage passed down through Singapore in a Organization called Nam Yang Association. Do you have any insights about this system? It is said to be Fujian Southern Shaolin in origin but its not something I've seem before and I'm debating whether or not to pursue a discipleship under them or under the Shaolin Temple in Yunnan/Chengdu instead. Thanks Will! Doing great!
Hi Phil. No idea about the one in Thailand, but the Shaolin Temple Yunnan is just a commercial tourist experience. There is only one Shaolin Temple and that’s in Henan province
Master Chen Yong Fa in Sydney, a 5th generation Shaolin Master of Choy Lee Fut, holds a very authentic transmission of the Yi Ji Jing called the "18 Lohan Hands" as far as I can say with my very superficial knowledge about the topic. But maybe worth checking out Will! I'd love for you to interview him. I was in China training with him in 2001 travelling to Shaolin.
Sounds interesting. There are so many different sets calling themselves Yi Ji Jing that are very different. The original document described a theory not an actual set of movements, so the sets are probably of no real relation to each other
@@MonkeyStealsPeach I see. This makes sense. So the story about the scroll being found in the brick wall of the Shaolin monastery is not likely to be true Will? Here is a video from my former teacher. He was very kind to me. ua-cam.com/video/Bq2yIH6boQQ/v-deo.html
Monkey Steals Peach So before it was passed on orally from student to teacher mainly yes? Another question for you Will. Is the Buddhist Shaolin Tradition in any way related to the Bodhisattva Vajrapani (sanskrit: Diamond in Hand)? Often in the lifestory of Buddha Shakyamuni he gets represented as a young and strong male figur standing behind Buddha to protect him. Have you ever heard any teachings about this?
I think Yi Jin Jing isn’t particularly old tbh. Regarding Vajrapani his name in Chinese is Jin Gang and he is an important deity in Shaolin folklore. There is even a style named after him
Re: Xingyiba... "Is this not meditation?" Yes (so I'm told). It's meditation in motion: moving meditation. These 'internal' arts (Xing-Yi Quan, Bagua Zhang, & Tai-Ji Quan) are purely Chinese in origin (so I'm told - not from India or elsewhere outside of China as in the 'external' arts); & such are literally forms of moving meditation (I believe based in Daoist meditation). Since Shaolin seems to be a martial-art magnet (essentially gleaning martial art knowledge from all who pass by), I wonder if they've made their own versions of western wrestling & western boxing yet (it would be interesting to see & compare). 🤔
Planning the next documentary as soon as Covid allows. If you wanna support this ongoing project to document Chinese martial arts, you can make a donation at www.buymeacoffee.com/monkeysp or grabbing a t-shirt from the merch shelf above
push your tongue later in west called mewing
What would really mean something to me Is Bhodi Dharma is not the progenitor of Zen, who was it that imported the Indian/Southeast Asian/Himalayan religion of Buddhism to China? If Bodhi Dharma was the progenitor regardless of what might be said, the use of pranayama or breath and physical yogas has always been a part of Dharma though it has been kept secret more less in certain schools all schools of Buddhism use Trulkhor or Pranayama or Chi Gung in their practices so I cannot accept that there isn’t some truth to the spiritual exercises having links to Shaolin.
Can you please share any leads??
THIS IS SPECTACULAR AND MOST BEAUTIFUL
AMAZING ART AND LAND WITH THE 2 MOUNTAINS AND VALLEY- TREES AND ROCKS AND IT'S SO PEACEFUL LOOKING WITHOUT ALL THE POLLUTION AND THE SKYSCRAPERS OF CITIES TODAY...
‼️✅👍✅👉 I WISH I COULD HAVE GONE AND SPENT HEALTHY YEARS ENJOYING LEARNING.
✅👉 BUT AT THE LEAST I'M ENJOYING THIS ACCOUNT, VERY WELL DONE- and I think right this second whilst typing this, 😨 ⁉️👉 ARE YOU EVEN READING THIS NOTE TO YOU ? ARE YOU DOING WELL AND STILL EVEN CREATING
"CONTENT" FOR THIS SO CALLED CHANNEL I'VE SUBSCRIBED TO⁉️
👍✅👉 I VERY MUCH HOPE SO.
Thoroughly enjoyed watching this documentary; it was professional enough to be on a TV channel!
Thanks mate! Maybe one day we will!
too good for tv!
@@CatoniusBingo!
Boomers.
Your channel is a recent find for me - and I am grateful. I appreciate your content. Well done. Continue your Kung Fu journey - I am virtually following along.
This documentary is so valuable for traditional martial arts practitioners. Thank you for your research and work, and for sharing it with us!
Having worked on this for the last couple months, we're super grateful for all the fantastic feedback here! Thanks guys! Will, Tomas, see you soon hopefully!
Thanks guys. Will and Joel, looking forward for the next journey together.
Looking forward to seeing your documentary too!
This documentary has answered so many personal questions I had as a kung fu student and practioner that I just wanted to say thank you guys for doing this. Amazing job! Amituofo!
So glad to hear it was of benefit to you!
That was amazing. I really appreciate all the cultural nuances.
Watched this a couple times now since it was released, great job from everyone involved! Your martial arts insights were excellent as always, but I can tell you really upped the production quality of this one, too - it looked and sounded fantastic!
What the first master said about modern vs tradition and this knowledge being lost I feel is true for so much of the country undergoing change so rapidly. It's brilliant to see people valuing this heritage. Such knowledge and passion put into this film - awesome work! I learnt so much. I've always wondered about doing something on martial arts on our channel, but glad we haven't yet. We could never do it this justice!
If you would like to support this project and other future ones, please consider clicking Join above, joining Patreon, or grabbing yourself a T-shirt or Hoodie!
Excellent documentary. I don't know if the guys who directed this film have any formal film education, but if they don't, they did a hell of job putting that together. I appreciated the aerial shots, & the content was very interesting. Well done. 👍
Thank you! No we don’t have any formal education in film making, was just a project of passion
Done. Very happy to offer some support. It's very meaningful to preserve this tradition. Thank you for your work Will!
Young man you did an incredible job on this documentary! I can't express enough how amazing this was. My favorite practitioner of Shaolin is Ro Shehlik from Toronto. She is amazing as a woman, a practitioner, and just all around. I'm throughly impressed with everything about this film too though. From the videography to the writing speaking and being, it was perfect. I'm truly grateful for this small peek into such a mesmerizing esoteric dynasty....I learned a lot of new information and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for all your work and best wishes for you in whatever it be your will to do!
Thanks for the kind words
Been watching your videos from the latest ones, like the trip to Taiwan and this is the most recent one I’m watching. Love your respect to Chinese martial arts, it’s amazing how much knowledge and wisdom you’re getting from these different teachers.
That was fantastic! I can't wait for the next "journeys"!
I am sorry that I have been unemployed for some time and cannot contribute to Mr. continue your search! 😞
Health and Peace to you, shifu, and success to the Monkey Steals Peach channel!
Greetings from Brazil! 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Thank you for a great documentary. So much wisdom can be heard in the words of the old one, like it's a life long practice, connect your mind with the heart. And finally, the meditation. In time being, we all get old, the body vanishes, but awareness stays, the stepping stone for meditation.
It's gonna be a long 20 hours...
I'm going to get comfy af for when this drops.
Thank you very much for the Documentary Will. It's professional quality!! 😀
Very good documentary! Well done! I personally had the honor to be introduced to Master Cui Zhongwu back in 2015. He is ‘the real thing’, among bunch of crap around the Temple and Dengfeng! Good work guys!
Thanks man! Yea, Master Cui was great! A real honour to spend time tome him!
Beautiful. Will watch again!
I love your content. Your video are worth to watch. Keep connected always.
Very nice documentary, it’s also very interesting to see how close the principles of the different styles are.
Nicely done! This is one of the best documentaries I’ve seen on the subject.
Absolutely beautiful documentary extremely well done hats off to you gifted sharer of knowledge 👏👍😎
Thank you kindly!
High quality production by guys who take the culture seriously. The next best thing to being there. Thx!
You made a beautiful documentary! Thanks for sharing this. Looking forward to see more.
Great documentary Will I look forward to the rest of your work.
Yessss
This video is an amazing achievement! Great Job! I will have to watch it at least twice.
This is an amazing documentary, you guys are doing such a great job a preserving this knowledge. Your channel has helped me understand how to train and how to treat my teacher as well as the style I’m learning. It’s also helped me understand the variety of King Fu and how it’s been falsely portrayed. Thank you for your hard work, please keep documenting this amazing knowledge, it’s guiding some of us on the martial way.
I really enjoyed that, it was entertaining and informative, with beautiful imagery. Something else that stood out to me was 90 year old master Xu. I've seen it time and again; the oldest healthiest people in the world always live in small villages, towns in the middle of nowhere, or up in the mountains... about as far away as you can get from trendy diets, big city doctors, and pharmaceuticals. Anyways, thank you so much for sharing!
This beautifully produced insight into Shaolin heritage is just so impressive. While acknowledging the popular myths of the Shaolin temple it gave me the clearest understanding I have ever had of the actual history and status of Shaolin and the communities and practitioners attached to it. I have to really congratulate Will, Joel, Tomas on their hard work and deep insights into unlocking truths and presenting key characters such as Hu Zhengsheng who are carrying the Shaolin tradition and knowledge forward. I will share and recommend this video to my MA friends everywhere.
Thanks so much James!
thank you so much. i very much enjoyed and learned a great deal. I come from a daoist, meditative background, and this was a much needed shaolin perspective. it gave me such great CONTEXT to it all. I started wanting to learn kung fu to be tough, but with my practice i realized what i really wanted was peace and harmony with my surroundings. i think this was a great reminder
sungguh indah pemandangannya.
Great work. Thoughtful and informative. I am thankful to see this final product.
Wow- great documentary. Keep the videos rolling...
appreciate the work put into it, this video is so amazing, thank you so much for sharing it with us .. Great content man.
Dude, this was good. Thanks for going to China and researching/filming all of this.
Thank you Will for this fascinating Documentary. I trained in Shaolin Kung Fu and did a pilgrimage to Shaolin. You deeply inspired me with this... Full of precious training keys.
Let's be more precise... Watching this made me TRAIN. Even more important after nearly 15 years of no practice... Thank you Will.
Glad to hear you got back into it! I bet Shaolin changed a fair bit since you were there!
@@MonkeyStealsPeach I can't tell, have not been back ever since unfortunately. I met a guy there who was from former Eastern Germany and went there on his own to train with the monks when he was 15 (!). He spoke fluent Mandarin.
I can't wait for this!🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
That was really well done. I think it's the most accurate and informative documentary I've seen on the Song Shaolin martial arts in the English language.
Excellent disposition. Loved it. Great explanation... Thank you.
Thanks for your effort!! Best for you all!
I can put into words how wonderful this is! Amazing work and research!
Thank you all for the great VIDEO and job you made! My heart is filling! To tell the true in Russia interest to a Traditional Martial Arts is dying. It is not good... I try to give the atmosphere of old masters to my students, but... time chamges...
Thanks from Argentina. Awesome!!!
great video man
Excellent content! 👏👏👏
Very enjoyable and left me want to learn more and more. Nicely done!
thank you for sharing this . loved every minute . well documented and represented.
Great work, always a good thing when you see and hear others instil what you were taught/teach, peace, love and happiness... 阿弥陀佛 🙏🏻🙏🏼🙏🏾
Such an amazing work 😇😇😇
Well done Will. Great documentary
Beautiful my brothers
Wow, awesome to get to see some real explaining! Good job with this, give us more! :)
Thanks! More coming soon!
Nice production. Well done!
Wow i love Martial Arts
Nice video thank you for sharing stay safe stay healthy stay connected good luck with your wonderful days wow Kung Fu very great 👍
Nice documentary. I shared it on our facebook page 🙏
Awesome, thank you!
awesome work as usual man, very well put together
Thanks for fulfilling my dream, brother.🙏
Thank you for sharing this video. :)
I think that it's great that you study all of these traditional martial arts. I, too, was interested from a young age and studied with many instructors including Bruce Lee but my very best one was from Southern Shaolin, Joe Chu. Many of these arts are very good for one but you have to remember very few are actual Boxing and Wrestling. The combat sport aspect of Shaolin is quite different from the forms and requires youth, determination and the willingness to endure injuries. If the combat sport aspect of the art is not practiced one should not expect to do well in contest with someone who endures it.
A beginner in chinese martial arts, I first and very recently noticed the importance and impact of intention when practicing bian gan. Suddenly the staff strikes neatly and barely staggering. I do not think about how to move my body differently. The simple intention of striking effectively does the trick. Since my teacher told me that this is no fluke but actually part of the practice I try to apply the concept also in everyday life. To know its relation to my other favourite style, hebei xingyi quan, is all the more motivating - but I believe I need to run another few hundret drills for the bare mechanics, before I can take that step.
Really enjoyed watching this. Inspiring and motivating 🙏
Muy interesante video que muestra parte de la cultura de un pueblo
the one i love from chinese martial arts is how artsy is the movement are
it has a beautiful form, a slow movement but at the end of each movement it shown a person power , it first it is as calm as a river and in the end it shocks a power like a thunder
idk how to explain other than that
Amazing video. Love the intro music at the beginning. But i dont see it listed in the description, only the other 2 songs. What is the song that starts at very beginning ends at 1:33?
beautifully done!
Well done, and quite interesting. Lots of similarities with my own xing yi quan practice indeed.
Nice video, great job
I feel bad that the original temple was burned. It’s like the burning of the library of Alexandria.. I’m glad that the tradition still continues
Good job!!!
FINALLY!!!👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🎉🎇🎆
Nice one Will, many thanks for taking so much trouble with this. BTW, those dents in the floor from monks stamping at Shaolin are not a recent tourist industry addition; they were there when I visited in 1985, and the temple was still part ruin.
Joël did all the editing, so the trouble was his lol! I knew the dents were there, they are in the old Jet Li movie. As to their real origin could it just be uneven ground/dampness/result of the fire? Or actually monks training?
@@MonkeyStealsPeach Ah well, congrats to Joel then :-) So difficult to know anything's true origin...
nice to see you Will!
Hello 白鸽！好久不见
I would have loved to have been able to learn with those masters and been able to learn to speak Chinese with them.
Good stuff! Thanks a million!
Great job, Will! I'm all for a Xinyiquan documentary. And a Xingyiquan one after that. Of course, my screen name is the English translation of Hengquan, so I might be a little biased.
Yep, that is the plan. I will probably do Xingyi and Xinyi as one documentary released in two parts though.
Well done! ✊
Documentary of southern shaolin just like this one and talk about the 5 family legend
thanks for this!
Nice to see you getting into the documentary style videos now. Still waiting on the General Qi Jiguang pin point xD It's amazing how it starts with some army training to families learning to defend themselves, to everyone trying to create their own styles and run to Shaolin with it. The folk lore and stories are lovely but in hindsight, Kung Fu comes from poorly educated men who knew how to fight essentially and proved their worth back then by fighting for money & respect, then turning into everyone trying to teach their styles for a living and having the Kung Fu wars and roof top duels. To nowadays where they teach people to look and feel good doing some fancy techniques and try to keep them coming back to rake in the money. Instruction has changed so much over the years going from teaching principles and how to effectively deal with your opponent to really focusing on each individual technique and selling the idea it takes years and years to master the style (an army doesn't have years and years to focus on techniques, bare this is mind if you are a believer in this concept that it takes years to master Kung Fu). And even with modern Kung Fu that springs up during the late 1800's, mid 1900s such as Wing Chun, another style trying to recreate General Qi Jiguang's Southern short strike boxing, that takes all its inspiration from the theory and principles of Yong Chun White crane and Xingyi Quan as those styles are lead to be believed are more closely related to the scriptures back from the 1600-1700s when Kung Fu was first developed. This is hugely the main reason that Kung Fu is not popular in China, due to the messiness and diverse misconceptions due to the Qing revolution. This is why in China the majority will practice Tae Kwon Do, Boxing, San Da and not traditional Chinese martial arts (except Tai Chi in the park for the elderly). The main styles across China seem to be XingYi Quan, Bagua Zhang, Baiji Quan, Chen & Yang Tai Chi. Sad part is, doesn't matter if we are talking about temples, styles, or lineages, there are so many misconceptions and lies it is virtually impossible to say yeah this is 100% fact and this what it is and where it comes from. Nonetheless, I love Kung Fu and have learnt not to get involved in the politics and just enjoy the practice of health. It is nice to see that some of the Chinese are starting to implement the Western science into their styles such as the Sp02, HRV, and all that stuff. After all if you can't use it to kill people, at least use it as a sport to make the most of the style, unless you are doing it for spiritualism and health then you don't need rigorous training systems to train like an athlete to further your development in your Kung Fu. Anyway I could be here for ages, I will stop there haha
Fantastic job. Stuff never seen before.
great video, I can see a picture on the wall of of the master wu sanlin.
Good job! Very well done!
Thanks Dom!
Amazing brother
Great stuff
very nice video
Do you have news about Jiang Hu ?
His tutorial missed to me.
Hi there, could you do a video on Longfist mantis? It’s my system from Qingdao but sadly I can’t find more information on it.
Great watch. From 36mins a butchered way of understanding from the heart would be muscle memory and the unconscious intent to fight. Either way what a very logical philosophy to be at one with Kung Fu.
Vocês vão longe com o canal parabéns mesmo!
Ancestral or not, the qi xing quan form is really beautiful..
Wonderful, great work! One thing I wonder a bit about the Shaolin practitioners (especially outside the temple) - is about how Buddhism itself may or may not be a part of their lives.
Thanks! Well for a lot of rural Chinese its most definitely a part of their daily lives, regardless of whether they practice martial arts or live near a big temple
@@MonkeyStealsPeach Thanks for the response! I guess what I meant was - Shaolin is very interesting in that it is also the source of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, which became one of the main sects of Buddhism in East Asia, and is famous for its emphasis of meditation to achieve enlightenment. But as Shaolin is so famous for its martial arts as well (and the public's interest is more there), many questions remain about the state of Chan itself, e.g.: 1) What kind of meditation is still practiced there (e.g. "just sitting" and wall staring like the Caodong sect, or contemplating koan puzzles like the Linji sect)? 2) Perhaps the practices were strongly repressed and much lost due to the government changes, etc.; 3) Yijinjing and xisuijing seem more esoteric Buddhism than Chan Buddhism; would be interesting to know Buddhist-related qigongs (not only wugong) that may be practiced within Shaolin and how they related to Buddhism. But anyway - just my rambling, really great documentary of course!
Interestingly enough, in the surrounding area of Dengfeng, a folk religion which worships the deity Jinnaluo is more influential than orthodox Chan. Historically it was a large cult, but now only bits and pieces remain
@@MonkeyStealsPeach Ah - interesting, but disappointing, too! I guess that, like Daoism, Buddhism may tend to degenerate into typical folk religion instead - it's much simpler to follow. But interesting that any religion persisted at all despite the Communism.
Well, to say its “degenerated” is a huge oversimplification. The Jinnaluo cult is partially influenced by Tibetan Buddhism and is typical of martial cults throughout China, and it is those cults which have much more influence on martial arts than orthodox religion. Also its a very western-centric way of thinking to regard “orthodox” Buddhism as being free from superstition or dogma. And regarding the communist suppression of religion, that has definitely had an affect although I’d argue its nothing new, these cults were always suppressed to varying extents and I would argue that its more down the successful use of technology and infrastructure in suppressing them than it is specifically about CCP doctrine.
Hello Will! Hope you're doing well. Loving the new series! I was going to ask if I could could your brain on something. I will potentially be joining a discipleship program in a couple of years based in Thailand in a style called Tiger Crane Combination, a lineage passed down through Singapore in a Organization called Nam Yang Association. Do you have any insights about this system? It is said to be Fujian Southern Shaolin in origin but its not something I've seem before and I'm debating whether or not to pursue a discipleship under them or under the Shaolin Temple in Yunnan/Chengdu instead. Thanks Will! Doing great!
Hi Phil. No idea about the one in Thailand, but the Shaolin Temple Yunnan is just a commercial tourist experience. There is only one Shaolin Temple and that’s in Henan province
@Monkey Steals Peach Oh really?! I didn't know that. Only one eh? That's mad. Thanks a lot
Would’ve loved if you were able to speak with Shi Dijian of the San Huang Basilica
He’s pretty reclusive these days
Really leaves me wondering what Northern and Eastern courtyard boxing motion would have had been like
Me too!!!
great!
Master Chen Yong Fa in Sydney, a 5th generation Shaolin Master of Choy Lee Fut, holds a very authentic transmission of the Yi Ji Jing called the "18 Lohan Hands" as far as I can say with my very superficial knowledge about the topic. But maybe worth checking out Will! I'd love for you to interview him. I was in China training with him in 2001 travelling to Shaolin.
Sounds interesting. There are so many different sets calling themselves Yi Ji Jing that are very different. The original document described a theory not an actual set of movements, so the sets are probably of no real relation to each other
@@MonkeyStealsPeach I see. This makes sense. So the story about the scroll being found in the brick wall of the Shaolin monastery is not likely to be true Will? Here is a video from my former teacher. He was very kind to me. ua-cam.com/video/Bq2yIH6boQQ/v-deo.html
As I said in the documentary, that’s just a myth and the manual was really written centuries later by a Taoist called Zi Ning Dao Ren
Monkey Steals Peach So before it was passed on orally from student to teacher mainly yes? Another question for you Will. Is the Buddhist Shaolin Tradition in any way related to the Bodhisattva Vajrapani (sanskrit: Diamond in Hand)? Often in the lifestory of Buddha Shakyamuni he gets represented as a young and strong male figur standing behind Buddha to protect him. Have you ever heard any teachings about this?
I think Yi Jin Jing isn’t particularly old tbh. Regarding Vajrapani his name in Chinese is Jin Gang and he is an important deity in Shaolin folklore. There is even a style named after him
Re: Xingyiba...
"Is this not meditation?"
Yes (so I'm told).
It's meditation in motion: moving meditation.
These 'internal' arts (Xing-Yi Quan, Bagua Zhang, & Tai-Ji Quan) are purely Chinese in origin (so I'm told - not from India or elsewhere outside of China as in the 'external' arts); & such are literally forms of moving meditation (I believe based in Daoist meditation).
Since Shaolin seems to be a martial-art magnet (essentially gleaning martial art knowledge from all who pass by), I wonder if they've made their own versions of western wrestling & western boxing yet (it would be interesting to see & compare). 🤔
spoken words fly away, written words remain, written words fly away, forms remain
Well done Bro!