Why didn't any Shaolin monks practice Yik Gun Ging?

[Ken Cheng]

Yik Gun Ging was supposedly the most important martial art skill to originate from the Shaolin Temple. It was certainly the most coveted.

That being the case, why did not a single Shaolin monk (i.e. aside from maybe the Chief Abbot in SPW) in any of Jin Yong's novels train in this skill?

In DGSD, the Yik Gun Ging was sitting there in Shaolin's library until Ah Chu stole it, but no Shaolin monk (aside from maybe the Janitor Monk, but that's just speculation) ever trained in this skill. Why? Was it because nobody at Shaolin could read Sanskrit (unlikely, as there were so many learned Buddhists at Shaolin)? Was it because nobody had the talent to learn it (was it really that hard to learn)? Was it forbidden by some rule (that would be stupid; forbidden to learn one of your own sect's skills)?

Shaolin wasn't heard from in LOCH or ROCH, but in HSDS, Shaolin's most coveted martial art was the *partial* 9 Yeung Jen Ging it gained from Mo Sik's memorization of Gok Yeun's final recitation of the manual's text. The 9 Yeung Jen Ging wasn't even a Shaolin creation (until the retcon introduced in HSDS Ed. 3, it wasn't even a Buddhist creation) and yet, the Shaolin monks of HSDS gave this partial manual that their sect didn't create preference over their own Yik Gun Ging? Weird.

For a martial art that was supposedly Shaolin's best, the Shaolin monks certainly didn't treat it like something they greatly valued.

[PJ]

That being the case, why did not a single Shaolin monk (i.e. aside from maybe the Chief Abbot in SPW) in any of Jin Yong's novels train in this skill?

It was commonly practiced by Shaolin monks in Duke of Mount Deer.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Yik Gun Ging was supposedly the most important martial art skill to originate from the Shaolin Temple. It was certainly the most coveted.

That being the case, why did not a single Shaolin monk (i.e. aside from maybe the Chief Abbot in SPW) in any of Jin Yong's novels train in this skill?

In DGSD, the Yik Gun Ging was sitting there in Shaolin's library until Ah Chu stole it, but no Shaolin monk (aside from maybe the Janitor Monk, but that's just speculation) ever trained in this skill. Why? Was it because nobody at Shaolin could read Sanskrit (unlikely, as there were so many learned Buddhists at Shaolin)? Was it because nobody had the talent to learn it (was it really that hard to learn)? Was it forbidden by some rule (that would be stupid; forbidden to learn one of your own sect's skills)?

Shaolin wasn't heard from in LOCH or ROCH, but in HSDS, Shaolin's most coveted martial art was the *partial* 9 Yeung Jen Ging it gained from Mo Sik's memorization of Gok Yeun's final recitation of the manual's text. The 9 Yeung Jen Ging wasn't even a Shaolin creation (until the retcon introduced in HSDS Ed. 3, it wasn't even a Buddhist creation) and yet, the Shaolin monks of HSDS gave this partial manual that their sect didn't create preference over their own Yik Gun Ging? Weird.

For a martial art that was supposedly Shaolin's best, the Shaolin monks certainly didn't treat it like something they greatly valued.

There was a bunch of mumbo jumbo in XAJH about how only Shaolin disciples with the right 'karma' were allowed to learn it. That's the only answer I can give ya...

[Doc Kwok]

In DGSD, the Yik Gun Ging was sitting there in Shaolin's library until Ah Chu stole it, but no Shaolin monk (aside from maybe the Janitor Monk, but that's just speculation) ever trained in this skill. Why? Was it because nobody at Shaolin could read Sanskrit (unlikely, as there were so many learned Buddhists at Shaolin)? Was it because nobody had the talent to learn it (was it really that hard to learn)? Was it forbidden by some rule (that would be stupid; forbidden to learn one of your own sect's skills)?

It was because the only way to master it was if you didn't care about mastering it. So as soon as you picked it up with the intention of training hard in it, you were already guaranteed to fail - which kind of makes it hard to practice . So the ones who did managed to learn it were characters like a crazy monk in the past who never took anything seriously, and the sloppy and lazy You Tan Zhi (1st & 2nd edition).

[aniking_8]

The sweeper monk of DGSD probably master it because his mouth fill with all buddha talk and seem don't care about martial arts, but like to enlighten others.

[CC]

Short and quick answers :

DGSD : You had to not want to learn it to learn it. Therefore no-one except 1st and 2nd Edition You Tanzhi managed it.

SPW : The abbot didn't allow others to learn it because he thought that it would disrupt their buddhist training by making them put too much focus on martial power. (selfish bugger if you ask me. He was just hogging it for himeself!)

DOMD : Every monk and his grandma learnt it.

LOCH/ROCH and everything else : JY conveniently neglected to mention the skill at all.

[kyss of the sword]

i think the top monks probably learnt it but it's one of the skills where the more enlightened you are, the more powerful you become. practise is useless with out enlightement to make progress. the monks weren't enligtened enough to gain much while sweeper monk shows YIYINJI's full power.

[aniking_8]

Probably a lot monks learn it, but they cover themseelves by doing cooking, washing, and sweeping works over the temple.

[ChronoReverse]

SPW : The abbot didn't allow others to learn it because he thought that it would disrupt their buddhist training by making them put too much focus on martial power. (selfish bugger if you ask me. He was just hogging it for himeself!)

And yet he was going to go and teach it to LHC anyway. My sarcasm meter is broken but FZ was really one of the more enlightened Shaolin abbots in canon.

[aniking_8]

JY try make JGG powerful in SPW so only write that one person learn it.