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History of Grand Master O. E. Simon |
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1990’s At some point in the early '90's there is a major rift comes between Olaf Simon Richard Shergold. There is much speculation as to what really happened here, the end result being that Dereck Piercey becomes owner of all the Canadian studios and the Spokane location while Robert Jones takes over ownership of the Seattle studios. We am not sure what happened to Master's D. McDonald & J. Jakubowski. In 1995 R. Shergold took Olaf Simon & Temple Kung-Fu Studios & Temple Arts to court, which is were the “Discovery Transcript" comes from. The Examination for Discovery on Grand Master Simon happened on March 10, 1995 in Edmonton, Alberta. Much of this history is either paraphrased or taken directly from that document. After this, under the guidance of Master Dereck Piercey Temple Kung Fu Studios maintained their success. Olaf Simon had for some time taken a back seat in the day to day operations of the studios, claiming he was "retired" and that Dereck Piercey was the declared successor of Grand Master Simons Style, (previously this had been Richard Shergold). With that knowledge in hand the studios thrived. Four new studios were built in Ontario and there were plans to build a new studio in Ottawa and third studios in Vancouver & Calgary.
"On the "Tonight
Show", Chuck Norris was being interviewed by Jay Leno (I think) in the
early to mid nineties. Jay Leno asked Chuck Norris who he didn’t
want to be kicked by, and Chuck Norris actually mentioned Olaf Simon on
national television. There is probably a transcript somewhere to
verify this fact... When I first joined PHS, I noticed that the Sil
Lum Pai Chinese characters were upside down, and I remember mentioning it
to Mr. Stokowski, Area Supervisor of Winnipeg. In the newer
uniforms, they have been fixed. I thought it was kind of strange
that an organization that teaches Shaolin (as per the term Sil Lum Pai
written on the back of their uniform) kung fu would make that big a
mistake... Other Chinese discrepancies, the Chinese part of the belt
document is written so that someone who speaks Cantonese can read it.
Some of the Chinese characters are used to mimic Grand Master Simon’s
name. However, I could see this as a problem for someone who speaks
Mandarin. However, White Tiger Style in Cantonese is translated as
Bak Fu Pai and not Pai Hu Shih. That may be another Chinese dialect, but
I am not too sure. To me, Kung Fu, sounds like an Americanized term
for martial arts just like chop suey or egg fu young (which are not really
Chinese food). With the popularity of the term, Chinese people now
use the term kung fu. However, I remember watching some old Chinese
shows and they referred to martial arts as “moh gung”. I wonder if
back in the 60’s, 70’s etc when Grand Master Simon was training with Ed
Parker and Stan Lee etc., this is where the name Moh Kempo originated? Here a information on the style Mok Gar (Mo Jia)/ "Mo Family Fist". The connection to Moh Kempo may be in name only but there are other connections that could possibly be made. "H.H. The Dalai Seng
Shi, Grand Master Simon, 23rd Succession, Shaolin-Ssu Temple" "Grand Master Simon,
known as H.H. The Dalai Seng-Shih upholds 23rd Succession of
the Tookien Shiu-lin Monastery together with the 2nd most
distinctive person of the Temple, the next Dalai Seng-Shih to be, D. June
Simon, known by the Temple name “Nanlao”. (Previous 21st
succession was held by Grand Master Lin Fie Hung and the 22nd
succession was entrusted to Grand Master Li Kwin Yan.)" "Master Robert L.
Jones, 24th Succession, Shaolin-Ssu Kung-Fu" "His Holiness:
The Compassionate Spirit of Buddha, Founder of the Stream of the Defending
Temple of the Dalai Seng-Shi... No one on record is sure where the "23rd Succession of the Tookien Shiu-lin Monastery" title comes from. As referred to earlier in this history, this may be a title awarded to him by a group of visiting Chinese Masters. It may also be another self-appointed title. Sources claim they have researched Olaf Simons claims and there is no such thing as the "Tookien" monastery and question the odd spelling of Shaolin, "Shiu-lin". Perhaps "Tookien" is a purpose misspelling of "Fukien"? There has also been research done on the existence of Grand Master Lin Fie Hung and Grand Master Li Kwin Yan but no-one at this time has been able to find out who they really are. A complaint from former students in the past is that when joining Temple Kung Fu Studios they were told by the teachers in their respective studios they were learning authentic Kung-Fu direct from the Shaolin Temple and that Grand Master Simon was one of only three living silver sashes in the world teaching this style etc. Later these students discover on their own that Simon's style is not "Shaolin" but rather a style combining Kempo with Kung-Fu. They feel they have been lied to and the schools are misrepresenting themselves. This has been a major issue amongst the Temple Kung Fu detractors. After a conversation in 2006 with the present owners of the NEW Alberta "Temple Kung Fu Studios" it was said that this never should have happened. They have said that Grand Master Simon never claimed to teach true Shaolin Kung-Fu. His styles are Moh Kempo (MOO-Pai), Pai Hu Shih etc (As above), and that the misinformation coming from the teachers at the studios is the fault of past owners and Masters, not Grand Master Simon. It is possible that over time misinformed or over zealous teachers might exaggerate a claim regarding Olaf Simon's lineage and then the myth would grow as it is passed on from one teacher to the next. Olaf, not being in the studios much would never hear these untrue claims people are making about him and they could be perpetuated for years. The problem with this defense is that the above quotes posted in the Temple Kung Fu Studios and in his books do imply some sort of true lineage to the Shaolin Temples. When teachers at Temple Kung Fu in the 1990's were asked by students about the meaning of the plaques, most shrugged their shoulders and said "I don't know", others try to explain and fall into this trap. Add to this the Sil Lum (Shaolin) references in much of Olaf's writing and it all indicates Simon's martial arts lineage coming from the old Chinese Temples. Several of the past Masters of TKF confirm that they have personally seen the document (mentioned earlier), that Olaf Simon received from the three visiting Chinese Masters authenticating his lineage and style. When asked why he doesn't put copies of it in the studios his response is "Nobody wants to see that silly thing". Olaf Simon has said many times that he has never published his martial arts history for several reasons. "Back in the day" as a Caucasian with a German accent he would instantly get discriminated against by the Martial Arts community, "You're not Chinese, how can you be a Kung-Fu Master?" is the stereotype. If he posted a lineage showing how he learned from Master SoandSo who trained at this Temple under Master Soandso, then people would say to themselves "Why learn from this German white guy when I can go directly to his Chinese teacher and get the training straight from the source". He always wanted the training and the knowledge of his styles to begin and end with him.
(without prejudice) |
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