Shaolin here, Shaolin there, Shaolin everywhere...

[Songshan]

Shaolin Temple today is still in existence and instructs quality Kung Fu. Excellent martial arts masters still emerge from the modern Shaolin temple (martial monks). Don't fall into the void that monks are poor and 100% buddhist monastery type. The martial monks at the temple today are mainly disciples with the main focus on studying kung fu and of course buddhism. The thing you have to remember is that China is a communist country so naturally the government is going to play a role in what is "taught" these days. Traditional Shaolin still exists, however, you just have to dig a little deeper than what's put out there. You also have to remember Shaolin Temple has been "exploited" throughout history by its own society so there is no recorded "lineage" and the roots are difficult to trace. Also the way Shaolin Temple is run today is more of a "college" oriented atmosphere. Students that are accepted live and train there and basically get a "degree" in kung fu. Wushu is part of the training curriculum but not all of shaolin is wushu.

I train with one monks in Houston. There are now 4 shaolin schools taught "monks" in the Houston area. The monk I train with does an excellent job of separating wushu from traditional. Anyone living in the Houston area is more than welcome to stop by or visit the link in my profile for more info on the school.

[Goju_boi]

^^^ that guys school is one of the best in town. I'd recomend it if u want great and serious training in shaolin.

[TigerCrane]

I have heard that the Shaolin Temple was one of the few foundations on which other Kung Fu styles were created and derived. I have heard that the five animals did not originate in the Shaolin Temple (not sure how accurate this is).

I visited the Shaolin Temple in the Henan province of China in January. The Chinese government bans all forms of martial arts training on the mountain, but many masters have opened up schools on the base of the mountain and in the cities. Many of them are actually Wushu schools; I even saw the one that Jet Li had trained in!

And also, has anyone heard of the quote, "All the martial arts in the world derive from Shaolin"? (Or something along the line?)

[Traditional-Fist]

And also, has anyone heard of the quote, "All the martial arts in the world derive from Shaolin"? (Or something along the line?)

I have not heard it in those terms. I have heard the remark that all Asian martial arts have been influenced by shaolin. Wether all of them have, I don´t know, but I do know that most of the major ones have.

Also, we must remember that all of the shaolin styles were not created in the temple. Some styles had existed before the founding of the shaolin temple. It was much, much later that they came to be integrated into the shaolin system, meaning that not all fighting systems had originated in the Shaoling Temple.

It is also worth researching into the main Wudang styles of kung fu, namely Tai chi, Pakua and Hsing I.

[elbows_and_knees]

I have heard that the Shaolin Temple was one of the few foundations on which other Kung Fu styles were created and derived. I have heard that the five animals did not originate in the Shaolin Temple (not sure how accurate this is).

I visited the Shaolin Temple in the Henan province of China in January. The Chinese government bans all forms of martial arts training on the mountain, but many masters have opened up schools on the base of the mountain and in the cities. Many of them are actually Wushu schools; I even saw the one that Jet Li had trained in!

And also, has anyone heard of the quote, "All the martial arts in the world derive from Shaolin"? (Or something along the line?)

All martial arts derived from shaolin.

Western MA, like pankration, fencing, etc had no shaolin influence.

shuai chiao predates shaolin

sumo was influenced by shuai chiao. I would wager it has no shaolin influence.

jujutsu has no verifiable shaolin influence, despite claims that jjj originated in china.

If jjj has no shaolin influence, then it's reasonable to say judo and bjj have no shaolin influence either.

shaolin's influence extends primarily to styles created after it's inception via china - like karate. It's been said that te was around before the chinese brought their art to okinawa. If that's true, than it was not influenced by shaolin either, although karate was.

[bushido_man96]

I have heard that the Shaolin Temple was one of the few foundations on which other Kung Fu styles were created and derived. I have heard that the five animals did not originate in the Shaolin Temple (not sure how accurate this is).

I visited the Shaolin Temple in the Henan province of China in January. The Chinese government bans all forms of martial arts training on the mountain, but many masters have opened up schools on the base of the mountain and in the cities. Many of them are actually Wushu schools; I even saw the one that Jet Li had trained in!

And also, has anyone heard of the quote, "All the martial arts in the world derive from Shaolin"? (Or something along the line?)

All martial arts derived from shaolin.

Western MA, like pankration, fencing, etc had no shaolin influence.

shuai chiao predates shaolin

sumo was influenced by shuai chiao. I would wager it has no shaolin influence.

jujutsu has no verifiable shaolin influence, despite claims that jjj originated in china.

If jjj has no shaolin influence, then it's reasonable to say judo and bjj have no shaolin influence either.

shaolin's influence extends primarily to styles created after it's inception via china - like karate. It's been said that te was around before the chinese brought their art to okinawa. If that's true, than it was not influenced by shaolin either, although karate was.

I would also like to add that European styles, like wrestling and boxing, had no shaolin influence. Savate probably didn't either. On a side note, by reading many different Medieval Combat manuals, under the sections on gryps and wrestling, you can see many similarities between what the Europeans did, and what the Asians did in their styles. My point is this: the body works in the same ways, and has the same limitations, no matter where you are from. Any society that spent any amount of significant history in warefare learned how to abuse the body in efficient ways. Westerners were just as knowledgeable as Easterners. One of my pet peeves is that when people hear the term "martial arts" is that they immediately think of Eastern styles alone.