Overview of Shaolin.com
This site has been developed to provide information to the
public regarding the traditions of the Shaolin order, including Shaolin
martial arts (kung fu) and philosophy. It is dedicated to those Shaolin
priests that risked their lives to flee a country wracked by civil war so
that Shaolin knowledge might survive even if the temples themselves did
not. This web site is a testament to their legacy.
The information contained herein is from eight Shaolin
priests who fled China in the early 1920's and emigrated to America.
Between them, they were masters of all Shaolin kung fu styles, as well as
many family styles. We are in the process of describing all the styles on
this web site. That process has been slower than we would like, but it is
a large project to undertake.
We have had feedback stating that "Shaolin already
has a grandmaster", and that if this information did not come from
him it must not be accurate or genuine. To this we reply that the title
"grandmaster" simply denotes one who has taught other masters,
not the unique head of a system. There is a big difference between stating
an individual is "a" grandmaster vs. "the"
grandmaster. We feel it is presumptuous for anyone to assume they are the
"only" grandmaster of the Shaolin system considering the number
of Shaolin priests that fled the temples to live elsewhere - both within
China and without.
There are also many who will contend that the information
on this website does not truly describe Shaolin since this site does not
exactly reflect the same information coming out of Honan (the place of the
original Shaolin temple in China). To them we reply that the Shaolin
temple system in China was destroyed near the beginning of the last
century, its traditions and knowledge forcefully repressed for many years,
and that its "rebirth" should be taken in the context of the
environment into which and from which it has re-emerged. Are there many
who really know what a comparison between the re-emerged Shaolin
and the old Shaolin would reveal? How much of the true teachings were left
there to be re-assembled? Food for thought....
In this web site you will find information about most
aspects of the Shaolin tradition as it existed near the turn of the last
century, including what kind of kung
fu was taught, the history
and structure
of the temples, and philosophies
that bound it all together.
This website contains a lot of information. We have tried
to address many common and not so common questions about Shaolin in
the FAQ (frequently asked questions)
section, and recommend a preliminary excursion into those pages.
If you belong to a Shaolin gung fu school, we'd like to
hear from you! Please leave a feedback.
We will be adding to this site periodically. These
additions will be both in the form of adding new sections and updating
existing sections with more detail.
Please browse on, with compassion in your heart for all
beings...