Yesterday evening I went to see the Shaolin Warriors. My son has been begging me for kung fu lessons for well over a year now. I'm a non-violent person and really don't want my son learning how to fight. What I found out last night was that this is a martial art which is poetic,amazingly meditative,and great exercise.These gentleman and 2 boys are monks from China who tour to promote understanding about Buddhism and Shaolin kung-fu. Omar ended up on stage with them learning a demonstration. This didn't help my cause any at all. It is a commonly held understanding that Buddhism and certainly Buddhist believers have a philosophy of non-violence and non-aggression. After seeing them last evening I would agree that watching their skills and technique would not be interpreted as "violence" or aggression.
One notices that they fight almost in silence and have a stillness to their thinking. This is cultivated through many hours of meditation and visualizing their art. So this has given us much to think about.It is good exercise and discipline. We are going to go and visit a shaolin kung fu place here in our area and look into it further. If the shaolin warriors or monks come to your area go and see them. It was an evening wonderfully spent.
All of this martial arts has me wanting to see some of my favorite chinese movies which are:
- Crouching tiger, Hidden dragon
-Hero
- House of Flying Daggers
I like all of these movies because they show delicate and strong women who are completely capable of taking care of themselves and others. Another movie that came to mind while watching the warriors was "Little Buddha". This film is a wonderful movie about siddartha , with keanu Reeves. It also has nothing to do with martial arts. Included today is a new recipe from Rachel Ray called sort of Soba. It is really good to eat especially while watching some chinese movies.
