Quotes:

“To suffer and learn a lesson, one pays a high price, but a fool can’t learn any other way.” 

“I do not fear the 10,000 kicks you have practiced once; I fear the kick you have practiced 10,000 times.”

“It is only when a person gets into a difficulty that one can truly see his heart.”

“Only those who have tasted the bitterest of bitter can become people who stand out among others.”

“Nothing cements a friendship like agreement on whom to hate.”

“God is one but the scholars call him by many different names.”

“The sayers do not know, and the knowers do not say.”

“Styles make fights, but rules make styles.”

“Power is generated by speed, not size. Don’t you see what a tiny bullet can do?”

“It doesn’t take much courage to fight when you believe you can win. Real courage is to keep fighting when all hope is gone.”

“America is so rich that the poor people are fatter than the rich.”

“Martial arts and cultural learning are two halves of the whole.”

“A club hurts the flesh, but evil words hurt the bone.”

“A steady diet of the same dish, no matter how rich, dulls the palate.”

“An able person does not boast, A boaster is not able.”

“To trick others, trick yourself first.”

“One chopstick can easily be broken, but a dozen can hardly be bent.”

“Reduce big problems into small ones, small problems into big ones.” BUT “if no problems become small ones, and small problems become big problems, then sword, staff, spear.”

Culture:

Humility.

Saving face.

The Chinese people have great respect for the family. 

In China, the offering of a cigarette was the equivalent of saying, “Let’s be friends and do business together.” The Exchange of Cigarettes was the opening act of all banquets. Accepting someone’s cigarette meant you were willing to enter into a relationship. Rejecting a cigarette meant you didn’t want to be friends and didn’t want to do business.

Shaolin’s pedagogical style was profoundly corporal. China has a saying that parents often use with their children when they punish them, da shi teng, ma chi ai (smacking is fondess; scolding is love). 

History:

In 1979 China had established a fairly strictly enforced one-child-per-family policy to control population growth.

Shaolin was founded in 492 A.D.

Over the 1500 years of Shaolin’s existence, it has gone through some rough times. The twentieth century was arguably its roughest patch. Shaolin’s problem was the introduction of firearms. Immediately, the self-defense efficacy of being a twenty-year master diminished. In 1900, the Boxers – members of Chinese secret society who believed they could harden their bodies through iron kungfu practice to the point where they were impervious to bullets – attacked British soldiers stationed in Beijing. When the smoke cleared, only the British soldiers remained standing. One moment the kungfu masters were at the top of the warrior food chain, and the next they were helpless.

Mao Zedong, who wanted a clean break with China’s feudal past and also feared Shaolin’s historical role as a sanctuary for revolutionaries, banned the practice of kungfu in the 1950s. Because the Chinese were obsessed with kungfu, Mao Zedong knew that he had to rechannel that passion. To replace traditional kungfu, Mao Zedong created two new sports: Modern Wushu and Sanda (Chinese kickboxing). 

Fun Facts:

The tradition of martial monks probably began with guards who were responsible for defending the temple.

In China pale skin was considered more beautiful than tanned because it showed you were rich enough not to have to labor outside under the sun like a peasant.

Amituofo means May the Buddha bless you.

When meditating, men are supposed to place the left palm on top of the right in their laps, while women do it the other way around.

“Do you know why laowai (foreigners) are so hairy? Because when we were humans they were still monkeys.”

Marxism in a sentence: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

Shaolin Monk Training Routine:

9:00-9:10 Run around to warm up.

9:10-9:20 Perform a series of basic calisthenics.

9:20-9:25 Basic kungfu moves and basic gymnastic moves (flips, rolls, back handsprings, leaping kicks.)

9:25-9:40 Stretching with a focus on splits.

9:40-9:50 Stretch kicks.

9:50-10:00 rest.

10:00-10:20 Practice individual movements in the particular form that one is working on, or a specialized type of iron kungfu.

10:20-10:50 Take turns to do the entire form one is trying to perfect.

10:50-11:00 cool down.