Dear Alan, Gunnar and friends,

having looked at the site, the so called "(Red Lotus) Temple" is at
best what is in Chinese a "Wu Guan", or a Martial Arts Hall, with a
built-in shrine, which has a Buddha/Bodhisatta image and some other
religious objects. This is very common at Chinese Martial Arts
Halls/Schools.

In Chinese, the word temple can be anything, Buddhist, Taoist,
Confucianist (which is usually state-run in pre-communist days), even
some (older) Islamic mosques use the word "temple" in their names.

All martial arts students, even famous ones like Bruce Lee, are trained
in a "Wu Guan". And the picture of Virupa lying on the floor lifting a
leg in the air isn't what a monk would normally pose for a picture. The
word "venerable" may be a translation from the Chinese "Shi Fu". And,
in Chinese, anyone can be a "Shi Fu", including such traditional
professions as doctors, acupuncturists, school teachers, performance
artists, cooks/chefs and butchers, and of course monks and martial arts
instructors.

Interestingly, Red Lotus' symbol is a Taoist "Tai Chi". On the website,
there are pictures of Chinese paintings of Bodhisatta, and there are
Tibetan characters. And the name Virupa Arya is (honestly) I don't
know, it looks Pali.

Virupa might have learnt martial arts from a Chinese Buddhist monk, who
set up this Wu Guan. And in Ohio, with only 1.2% Asians, it must be
very hard to find a successor who is interested in Buddhism, Chinese
culture, kung-fu, and want to be a monk.

So, I totally agree with what Gunnar wrote in his messages. However, I
like to note that, as an ethnic Chinese myself, we are not against
Virupa using any title or name. Chinese people are used to it. It is
not that we don't care, but there is just no big deal about it. I just
hope Virupa is aware of possible error in his selection of words, as he
can be teased at in Chinese communities. Otherwise, I can assure no
harm in any form will come to him. ;-)



metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gunnar Gällmo wrote:
>
> --- Alan McClure skrev:
> http://www.geocities.com/redlotustemplekungfu/court.html