the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Ramsey Dewey
Published on Dec 18, 2018

Dr. Antonio Graceffo, a mixed martial artist who lived and trained at the Shaolin temple, drops a truth bomb on the mystique of the fighting prowess of the legendary Shaolin monks:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjzGSOf8a74

Kwai Chang Caine could.

not sure about that
but the chinese government sure can detain canadians

hmm
dr Antonio looks pretty nervous , why?
1st time speakin` public?

Shaolin temple might have produced fighting monks centuries ago, but all the modern ones (post-WW2) are, IMO, phonies.

Also, Chinese government persecuted and got rid of almost all of the Shaolin monks during Cultural Revolution. It wasn't until Jet Li's blockbuster movie came out in the early 80s when they realized there was a lot of money that could be made by capitalizing on the Shaolin fame, and re-opened the temple as a tourist trap by asking people from the local Wushu schools to shave their heads, dress up like monks, and perform various Wushu stunts.

As I remember reading somewhere, Wang Xiangzhai during his travels of research found that the Xingyiba at the Shaolin was basically “extinct”, from the monk at the temple he learned that the method was basically lost, the monk could show one or two fists and Wang was not impressed. Doshin So(spelling?) the founder of Shorinji Kempo(Shaolin fist way) seemingly learned from the same monk as Wang had been in contact with, he combined those few fists with Daitō-ryū to form his MA.………(about if it was the same Monk, don’t ask me for sources. I was on two very separate occasions reading about Shorinji Kempo and then YiQuan, and rembered the same name of a Shaolin monk came up. So it could very well be two different monks with same name, but also it could be the same monk)

Trick wrote:As I remember reading somewhere, Wang Xiangzhai during his travels of research found that the Xingyiba at the Shaolin was basically “extinct”, from the monk at the temple he learned that the method was basically lost, the monk could show one or two fists and Wang was not impressed. Doshin So(spelling?) the founder of Shorinji Kempo(Shaolin fist way) seemingly learned from the same monk as Wang had been in contact with, he combined those few fists with Daitō-ryū to form his MA.………(about if it was the same Monk, don’t ask me for sources. I was on two very separate occasions reading about Shorinji Kempo and then YiQuan, and rembered the same name of a Shaolin monk came up. So it could very well be two different monks with same name, but also it could be the same monk)

It’s suspected Heng Lin 恆林～
However, I am not sure if Heng Lin was still alive when Doshin visited.

and there are lots more. And there are other fighting monks besides Yi Long (in Germany there are a few I have seen)

I'm pretty sure that's the fake Monk and fixed fights they refer to during the interview

He is supposedly "self-taught".

Still, doesn't answer the question about the monks plural. Presumably, becoming a monk is mainly done for other, altruistic reasons.

He is supposedly "self-taught".

Still, doesn't answer the question about the monks plural. Presumably, becoming a monk is mainly done for other, altruistic reasons.

I don`t know how really shaolin training looks like today,
/some of our board members knows, so they may chime in/
however, they looks pretty fit when judging from shows/demos.
I suppose, that if not, they will be able in short time if needed.

Imo, where's he's absolutely right is 1) the "dark place" and the willingness or reason to do damage to another human being, and 2) the need to take punishment beforehand. If that wasn't part of the training, it had to be part of the fighting if one continues. Number two provides an incentive for number one.