What Actually is Shaolin Kung Fu 

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Nice summary Will! I think many people forget Shaolin isn't super isolated, that was a great point! I'm not sure if you have heard any confirming information about before the movie Shaolin Temple, but my teacher was training in the area at that time and said he remembers when they came to film the movie. He said there were already schools around the area before the movie. He begged his teacher to introduce him to a master at the Temple so he could train there...which eventually did happen and he moved into the Temple. Then when the gov't opened the Wushu Guan(1988?) he was "told" to live and teach there for visiting foreigners. It sounded like it wasn't much of a choice on his part. I got confirmation from a few other first generation Wushu Guan monks, saying they didn't want to leave living in the Temple but were "told" to. One who arrived at the Temple in 1986 said that the silver lining of having to move to the Wushu Guan was they did get paid a little and so were actually able to send money back to help their families.

Excellent. A fair and accurate description of the resent evolution of Shaolin temple and its martial arts. Today's Shaolin temple is a tourist theme park, much like Disneyland and many of the monks are professional performers.

I love these “history of ..” videos because it explores the literal history, philosophy, some applications and some interviews. It’s awesome to see this

Thanks for the substantial and honest explanation. I've watched a documentary that said most SL young monks strive to earn a place in a performance group that travels the world with a show. I haven't heard this fact articulated in other videos...

Excellent approach as always, Will. As a 北少林拳門 practitioner for the past 35 years, I've always said the same things and received bad responses, mostly from people who believe the "warrior monks" story and the "Shaolin is the origin of all kung fu" saying. My teacher always focused on the real and practical side of Shaolin, showing how what we practiced came from 甘鳳池, who is to be said learned from Shaolin, but is also related to 花拳, which both share many principles of 長拳 . Being to Hong Kong a few times, I never had the interest in visiting Shaolin exactly because of that stigma. Also, in 2001, had a chance to confirm the point you stated of the government's politics of Shaolin's curriculum when I met a Wushu teacher who was one of the many that participated on that program.

Proud of your work you really are bringing history.. keep up the good work in training and study in historical culture.. also thanks you for sharing

Thank you so much for the video. When I was researching the history I ran into so many snags. This was super helpful especially With the neighboring village

Shaolin Kung Fu is the combination of martial arts, meditation and medicine. Study of Shaolin Kung Fu should emphasize the development of skill in each of these three domains.

When I was living in China I've visited SL temple couple times but every time I had a feeling it's just a circus for tourists...

Some of this makes a lot of sense. Looking at forms like Xiao Hong Quan, Da Hong, Luohan, Qi Xing Quan etc there is zero acrobatics and they're completely combat-focused. Even forms like Tang Lang or Eagle. The acrobatics are cool, but they aren't very practical for self-defense. Completely agree on the somewhat disconnect between forms and application (taolu and sanda). I think a lot of people don't really grasp the actual application of the traditional forms.

The first time I have seen Shaolin Wu Gulun I thought this is rather traditional Shaolin but I guess its not that simple.

Thanks :) great explained . I:ve been a fan of shaolin since early 1990:s

Straightforward and reasonable ✨ thanks for the video 😊🙏

Great truth in there with your experience in searching true Kungfu. At lot of people actually believes shaolin temple now had not broke its lineages of studies interms of Buddhism and martial arts. Thank you for the verification. 🙏

That was amazing. Truthful, insightful, fantastic job 😉🤟💯

very accurate. Thanks

Shaolin culture is unfathomably deep. They deserve more attention. When i say Shaolin culture i mean the whole of Henan.

Very nice job on this presentation

Very interesting. Many thanks :)

Great explanation 👍🏿

Before I started taking Choy Li Fut and Chen Tai Chi, I thought they just looked cool, and was amazed at the sheer amount of of bone breaking moves in both styles. For example, the famous twirl that you see in the CLF staff forms are actually strikes coming down on your opponent from an overhead swing. You would never guess that Chen Tai Chi has some gnarly disabling stuff in it. 6:23 What is the application here, with the cat stance, the right arm over head, and the left fist on the knee? I cannot figure it out to save my life.

Thank you so much for this video sir...

When I visited I bought a book and they described various animal styles of kung fu starting with Shaolin 18 Hands Luohan or Luohanquan 18 Hands.

Thank you for this mate.

Thanks for explaining! It sounds a bit like a movie theme park 😅

To me. It’s learning to use balance, not the kind where we walk on a right rope and try to stay up. The kind where, we use ACTION and lack there of to win a decisive victory. It’s using simplicity, and economical balance to maximize our efforts. So we do less work overall ☺️🙏💯

Great analysis and I think going back to Ba Tuoi, the Indian Monk that started the Shaolin temple trying to get away from the Mystic Daoist sect of its time to Er zhu cutting off his arm wanting to learn from Dharmoi.. I believe originally exercises were performed to counter the long hours of sitting and meditating... Once more monks joined that had martial arts background , they began to add the martial aspect along with meditations... And of course through centuries of diversified folks and integrations... Became hard to say what a Shaolin style is... I do believe that the five Basic art of a martial artist is more pronounced within the Shaolin system: Martial, medicine, meditation, art (drawing/writing/music), philosophy (Mahayana Buddhism)and science Have gone from flourishing to diminishing... Xin Yi Ba, for example, is becoming a lost art in shaolin due to hard dedication and life long commitment that don't appeal to many... In the end ,the Shaolin system really is in name mostly with other systems utilizing its name and glory...

It's funny because I found your channel after Ranton recommended it on his Micheal Jai White video. Full circle.

Hey Will, I didn't realise you have studied at Kunyu Mountain. That's the academy I'll be applying to stay at for a year or two. However, I'm finding it difficult to decide whether to focus on Shaolin Quan or Kaimen Bajiquan as the main traditional practice. Just bought a t shirt from your shop. Looking forward to wearing that! 🙏

What about all the Song Dynasty era arts? Shaolin was a hotbed of martial arts at that time. Its also the time period that the Emperor Zhao Kuang Yin was sending his military Generals there to document thier martial arts. A huge amount of martial arts there today, comes from this time period.

If the traditional training is so great why are there so few schools in the USA but there are Taekwondo schools "everywhere"?

With all the study of history so far that I've done, I am not convinced that in reality any Shaolin boxing existed until someone got the idea perhaps from some fictional stories, and martial arts of Asia are loaded with fanciful tales. But I wouldn't discount that especially in some rural areas, you'd find a few people with a more practical boxing form and not necessarily tied to any temple. Shaolin is a very romantic tale, but to me that's all it is. I studied a short time with a guy from mainland China, who didn't speak English. He was a gambler, drank whiskey, smoked. But his boxing demanded discipline and was not all that flowery.

Great video, thank you! Just a question: would you say a similar process (at least regarding the 20rh century events) happened also for the martial arts schools located in Wudang mountains, or do you reckon there was something different going on over there?

thanks!

Well, I just watched that Ranton Clip where he says, “ I’m done with Shaolin Kung Fu,” but Ranton right away issued a modifier😉: I’m done “Kinda.” And Ranton Admits he still practices the Shaolin forms that he’d worked so hard to learn, even as his focus has shifted to more Modern Martial Arts, such as BJJ, Kick Boxing etc. Now, as Will points out, When the Chinese Government reopened the Shaolin Temple after it was closed for many years, the Chinese Government brought in Sports College professors to design a curriculum that was Modern( Modern Wushu) but also at the same time Traditional( by inviting Traditional Shaolin Practitioners from the Villages surrounding the Shaolin Temple to teach at the reopened Temple: But in order to really “understand what Shaolin Kung Fu really is,” one should understand that in Pre-modern China there was no such thing as a separation between Church and State: So Shaolin Kung Fu in in the pre-Modern era was a Chinese Kung Fu informed deeply by a Sinicized Chinese Buddhism, or Chan( Zen in Japan) Buddhism. When the Shaolin Temple was destroyed during the 1920’s, Shaolin Kung Fu retreated to the surrounding villages and the Shaolin Martial tradition survived: But by the time Shaolin Kung Fu was rehabilitated and by the time Shaolin Temple was renovated during the 1980’s, the new Modern Shaolin Kung Fu as practiced by Monks and Students today, while certainly both powerful and Athletic, is for sure a watered down version of the original Shaolin Kung Fu, because the Cultural revolution and more than 70 years of Communism in China greatly weakened the Shaolin Buddhist Martial Art Tradition: But real traditional Shaolin Kung Fu still exists even if is only known and practiced by very few in our modern era: Here is an excellent example of real Shaolin Kung Fu: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QbVF6oA4DTo.html Ironically, one of the Best examples of real Shaolin Kung Fu is not from any of today’s Shaolin Temple Warrior Monks, but instead a Brit by name of Josh Viney seems to have inherited the Original Shaolin Kung Fu tradition Here he demonstrates Jin Gang Quan-which speaks to wrathful Deities in the Buddhist tradition( this is I’d point out very different in flavor from the Martial arts practiced in the Chinese Hui Muslim Community as evoking deities runs counter to Islams Monotheistic tradition: Josh Viney does a very good Job of Showing what Authentic Shaolin Kung Fu really Looks like: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TQJRDfYylP8.html

Hey I'm researching into this topic right now and wondering if you can help me out here. What exactly are the styles of kung fu taught at shaolin/the surrounding areas traditionally? I've heard that Xinyi Ba, Tong Bei Quan, and Luohan Quan are taught there, but I am wondering what else makes up shaolin kung fu.

Will you agree that shaolin had influence from outside the temple through the military and local people?

nowadays it's all about tourism and performing in front of a public to gain money, they don't teach kung fu for personal growth,improving health and awareness of your body. real shaolin/siu lam kung fu was a prayer to buddha, a treasure they kept secret. after the ming dynasty took control they were forced to teach people kung fu removing all traces of it being from shaolin( prayers, mantra hand signs ecc..); that's how the famous 5 family styles were born: hung, lau, choy, lee, mok.

Last year, I demonstrated Wuzuquan to an instructor of a "Shaolin Temple" affiliated school. I explained how we systematically progress from forms to partner drills, to continuous hands (similar to "Sticky Hands"), to step-sparring to sparring. Thus we learn to apply principles and techniques from the forms to our sparring, rather than merely switching to kick-boxing (as so many CMA schools do these days). He looked bemused and he said, with a furrowed brow, the most astonishing thing I've heard a CMA instructor say: "So you practise forms for application and not for exhibition."

Here's what it isn't: A quick method of becoming a proficient martial artist.

yer, all true. as far as it went. But you know mate, it would be nice to hear you talk about this stuff too. As someone who lived in China and speaks Chinese fluently it would be nice to hear you thoughts on such things. But I understand, I know why you are too afraid to talk about it. I was in China three years myself... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2zfFc_zw4ks.html

Have you ever read Meir Shahar’s book on the Shaolin? It is a more academic take on Shaolin. I would be interested in your review of that work….

I practice Béi Shaolin 北少林 or also called 北舒林 Bak siu Lam . Our master descends from the lineage of the Grand Master Chan Kwok Wai , he brought Kung-fu to Brazil and South America.

i know its an honest typo but i cant help laughing at "shaoling" for some reason 😂

monkey steals peach😂🤣 🐒偷🍑

Anything done by a old asian man....is the real Gung fu

Nothing what Bodhidarma taught... Chinese watered it down.The ego as high as the highest building.

99% of shaolin temple and wudan mountain are fake . If you want real martial arts and practice this in a temple there is only one place left in china . Email mountain and their jiu long bagua zhuang (9 dragon bagua) is still authentic. Stay away from going to shaolin temple. A good example is the price of noodles around the temple , which are like 10 times the normal price . Before people start discussions with me, I have lived 9 years in china to study Chinese and wushu with my Hebei teacher who Lived in Hangzhou

You are drinking Shu Puer from "Cha Shu Wan" company ? 😃☕🫖