FEATURE: Monks shun Zen for showbiz at Shaolin Temple

0 Comments | Asian Political News, April 29, 2002

While Liu avoided directly criticizing other martial arts schools in the area, he was disparaging about schools run by monks and men posing as monks.

''If monks run schools that is their business. If people dress up as monks they have the right to do what they like. But if you ask me, they are just using the pretense of being monks,'' he said.

Seeberg Elverfeldt, a 17-year-old German who came to study kung fu at a nearby school in Dengfeng four months ago, said he was disappointed at what he had found.

''I had wanted to learn about traditional martial arts. But I have found many of the monks are just people dressing up for show,'' he said.

''Many foreigners have come to the school I am attending, but not two of them have paid the same price.

''Regarding some of the monks who are owners of the schools, you could use the word corrupt,'' he said.