The Shaolin Monastery PDF Download

Author: Meir Shahar
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824831101
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
This meticulously researched and eminently readable study considers the economic, political, and religious factors that led Shaolin monks to disregard the Buddhist prohibition against violence and instead create fighting techniques that by the 21st century have spread throughout the world.

Author: Matthew Polly
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101216840
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Bill Bryson meets Bruce Lee in this raucously funny story of one scrawny American’s quest to become a kung fu master at China’s legendary Shaolin Temple. Growing up a ninety-pound weakling tormented by bullies in the schoolyards of Kansas, young Matthew Polly dreamed of one day journeying to the Shaolin Temple in China to become the toughest fighter in the world, like Caine in his favorite 1970s TV series, Kung Fu. While in college, Matthew decided the time had come to pursue this quixotic dream before it was too late. Much to the dismay of his parents, he dropped out of Princeton to spend two years training with the legendary sect of monks who invented kung fu and Zen Buddhism. Expecting to find an isolated citadel populated by supernatural ascetics that he’d seen in countless badly dubbed chop-socky flicks, Matthew instead discovered a tacky tourist trap run by Communist party hacks. But the dedicated monks still trained in the rigorous age-old fighting forms—some even practicing the “iron kung fu” discipline, in which intensive training can make various body parts virtually indestructible (even the crotch). As Matthew grew in his knowledge of China and kung fu skill, he would come to represent the Temple in challenge matches and international competitions, and ultimately the monks would accept their new American initiate as close to one of their own as any Westerner had ever become. Laced with humor and illuminated by cultural insight, American Shaolin is an unforgettable coming-of-age tale of one young man’s journey into the ancient art of kung fu—and a funny and poignant portrait of a rapidly changing China.

Author: John Fusco
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462908861
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 53

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Book Description
"Engaging and knowledgeable…brings magical light and clarity to veiled martial arts history. In a cocoon shell, a man 'tis not a mantis til Fusco's faithful rendering of true life hero Wong Long bugs the Shaolin elders into accepting the teachings and virtues of the world's most dynamic insect…the praying mantis.--Dr. Craig D. Reid, Martial Arts Historian"

Author: Paul Burkinshaw
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1728385202
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
The Fall of the Southern Shaolin Temple and the Rise of the Ten Tigers of Canton tells the legendary story of the Southern Shaolin Temples in Fukien Provence, China, and of the renowned Shaolin Kung Fu masters who trained there. Events and betrayals led to the destruction of these Southern Shaolin Temples. The survivors fled from the Ch’ing/Qing army and dispersed around Kwangtung/Guangdong Province. Many of these eventually settled in or around the provincial capital city of Canton. They, in turn, taught their kung fu among the general population, which led to the rise of several eminent kung fu masters. The ten best were chosen and from then on would be known as the Ten Tigers of Canton.

Author: Nick Hurst
Publisher: Sportsbooks
ISBN: 9781907524219
Category : Kung fu
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Nick Hurst was working in London when he threw in his job in advertising to train for four years in Malaysia and China with a kung fu grandmaster, Sugong. This book is a mix of Nick’s experiences in South-East Asia and the story of Sugong’s extraordinary life. Initiated into kung fu by an opium-addicted master, Sugong was expelled from school, kidnapped, and nearly killed in a family feud. All by the age of sixteen.He fled army conscription in China, only to be engulfed in a world of gangsters and blood-brothers in Singapore.Saved by a Shaolin warrior monk, his penance was eight years of fiercely-enforced temple training. A near-fatal fall-out with his master, love affairs, race riots and gangland vendettas all followed as he travelled through South-East Asia. Throughout, he struggled to adhere to martial arts’ ethics in an imperfect world.His story spanned fascinating periods of history of four Asian countries in Asia: war-torn 1930s China; instability in post-war Singapore; racial tension in the newly independent Malaysia; and a gangster-led Taiwan in the aftermath of its Chinese breakaway.The origins of Shaolin kung fu and triad organised crime are explored to provide a context to his life.

Author: Benjamin Zephaniah
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408818175
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
Benjamin Zephaniah decides he has had enough of London. So he takes off to China, specifically to Shaolin Temple, the spiritual home of martial arts and kung fu. Benjamin wants to take on an instructor who will teach him more about kung fu. But finding a good instructor is difficult, and the instructor he does finally locate is not only called 'Iron Breath' but also proves a very hard taskmaster . . . An extraordinary snapshot of Benjamin's life plus Benjamin's own views on politics, Buddhism, kung fu, vegans and much else. But this is also a fascinating insight into China itself, and the huge variety of people who Benjamin meets - who react very differently to the appearance of a Rasta in their midst: on occasions even fainting or bowing to Benjamin, thinking he is a god!

Author: Hongjun Wang
Publisher: China Books & Periodicals
ISBN: 9789620401589
Category : Buddhist monasteries
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description

Author: Rene Ritchie
Publisher: Montréal : Remnant-Hunter Media
ISBN: 9780973880403
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Boklao, a rogue fighter, and Wingchun, a small town girl-but together they must face the Imperial Army, the Heaven & Earth Rebellion, the Bandits of the Eight Immortals, and a ruthless killer from the very edge of the world, all in a desperate quest to discover the truth behind their own pasts-a truth that threatens the lives of everyone around them-and to unravel the mystery of the Fist of the Elders-the secret martial art that caused the utter destruction of the Shaolin Temple itself... Destiny and consequence collide in the first novel from acclaimed martial arts author Rene Ritchie. Legends of Wingchun: Embers of the Shaolin brings the classic folk-story behind the fighting system of Bruce Lee to stunning new life in the grandest tradition of the Chinese hero epic (wuxia).

Author: Zen Lee
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1906221545
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Traces the history of Shaolin and kung fu, while following the trials of Flint, Bussie and Tobie as they learn the skills they need both in their fight against evil and to become real Heroes of Shaolin.

Author: Lu Zhouxiang
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 0429523742
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Shaolin Monastery at Mount Song is considered the epicentre of the Chan school of Buddhism. It is also well known for its martial arts tradition and has long been regarded as a special cultural heritage site and an important symbol of the Chinese nation. This book is the first scholarly work in English to comprehensively examine the full history of Shaolin Monastery from 496 to 2016. More importantly, it offers a clear grasp of the origins and development of Chan Buddhism through an examination of Shaolin, and highlights the role of Shaolin and Shaolin kung fu in the construction of a national identity among the Chinese people in the past two centuries.