A Legend That Inspires Skepticism
The Shaolin Monastery is probably the most famous in all of China, thanks to the dozens of films and documentaries focused on its monks (not to mention a certain TV series). The abilities of the monks have taken the world by surprise, and the Slo Mo Guys had the chance to record one of their feats in slow motion: bursting a balloon protected by a sheet of glass, using only a needle.
The many Western works that center on the Shaolin monks have not hesitated to mix their real abilities with myths and legends, which automatically leads to skepticism. Conversations about "Qi" or the "channeling" of internal energy only furrow brows, and when we explore the particular universe of the Shaolin monastery and its teachings, we find a lot of that. Of course, none of this prevents the monks from displaying their rigorous training through exercises that would take a common person a very long time to replicate, but this time we can see all the action up close, thanks to the high-speed cameras owned by the Slo Mo Guys.
Their most recent video shows a Shaolin master making a balloon explode with a needle—which alone doesn't say much, but the key is that the needle must pass through a sheet of glass. The monk managed to throw the needle with such force that the energy transfer sends small glass fragments flying from the other side, and it's those fragments that burst the balloon. After watching the video half a dozen times in high definition and pausing at critical moments, I'm convinced the needle never actually pierces the glass—a view many YouTube commenters seem to share. Yet... the monk did it on the first attempt. How about we see another version?
The Debate Heats Up
In short, the slow-motion video of the Shaolin monk exploded across the web, and the debate is polarizing quickly. On one side are those who swear by the superhuman abilities of Shaolin masters; on the other, those who see the exercise as a simple trick performed under conditions that are never fully explained...
