Shaolin Do Kung Fu

[Flying Crane]

I got to black in shaolin-do before I decided to move on. If you want an uncontroversial style, or even one that's well received in the Chinese martial arts community, shaolin-do isn't a good choice.
Shaolin-do passed through Indonesia and was changed there, then was brought to the U.S. in the mid or early 60's and changed again. In my opinion, it would be most appropriate to refer to shaolin-do as a branch of American kuntao.
Shaolin-do was time well spent for me, however. I'd never had any exposure to any Chinese martial arts, and the shaolin-do curriculum certainly gives you a fantastic overview. A good friend who stopped just short of black years before I joined up called shaolin-do, "kung-fu's greatest hits". The training is typically forms (or kata) heavy. You begin with short forms which are similar to the Chinese muslim art of Tan Tui, though from a different source. On the road to black you "get" a few Tigers, 3 Cranes, 3 "Big Birds" (sometimes called shaolin hawks at some schools), a form said to be a prerequisite for mantis, and 2 "china hand" forms...sort of like long fist. You also get weapons forms: 3 or so staff, broadsword, short stick, sai, kwandao. This is all pre-black, after black the curriculum COULD go almost any direction depending on your teacher. Many schools have a seperate "internal" curriculum with tai chi, ba gua, tai chi sword, tai chi fan, etc. Though after reaching black in the "normal" curriculum you end up studying the internal anyway.
In any case, as was advised earlier, you probably don't want shaolin-do if you seek to avoid controversy. Statements like, "We offer the most comprehensive martial art in the world." And a pretty shakey martial history (hair covered shaolin grandmasters no one outside of shaolin-do have heard of) hurt shaolin-do's credibility in the martial community.

thanks for this post. Since my own time with this system, I have often wondered about it, and your post has shed some light on the subject.

I was never formally ranked by the man with whom I trained, but he did give me most of the material to Brown Belt, all within about one semester. This is why I feel I didn't learn it well and can't claim to understand it fully. I don't know why he taught me so much so fast, I guess he felt I was capable of swallowing it all. He was a nice, good hearted person and I have a lot of respect for him in that regard. He did not teach out of a formal school, rather we just met up in the exercise rooms on campus and worked out each day. He never asked me for a dime of payment for what he taught me and I was grateful of that as I was a broke college student at the time.

Since then I have run across the group on the internet a few times, and it just doesn't settle well with me as a system, based on what I understand their Historical claims to be. They actually claim Sin The is the rightful Grand Master of the Southern Shaolin Temple. Pretty far-fetched, in my opinion.

They may have some capable people, and Sin The has a remarkable physique for a man his age (I have seen his picture on the internet sites, he is not especially old but could be in his 60s by now). But I don't think I would ever train with them again if the opportunity arose.

 

[TaiChiTJ]

Just some additional information for those interested in Shaolin-Do. There is a site called www.ShaolinLegends.com that has several DVD's for sale concerning their material.

This includes applications of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (Xue Sheng, check it out !!!)

I guess these guys who are teaching this stuff have been students of Sin The for a long time or something.

Anyway I would appreciate hearing peoples reactions to it.

 

[TaiChiTJ]

In addition to a videoclip of their Yang Style self defense applications, there is a guy who teaches how to figure out all the applications in all there kung fu forms

take a gander at this:


After more than nine years in development, Master Nance and Sifu Berryman have released this video which teaches you how to get the most from your applications. KAT takes the basic beginning forms and shows you how to use statistical analysis to figure out any application in the Shaolin Do system. KAT was designed for any student of Shaolin Do and can help your material come alive.

Statistical Analysis ??? What? :idunno:

 

[Radhnoti]

Flying Crane - "They actually claim that Sin The' is the rightful Grandmaster of the Southern Shaolin Temple."

Yep. This is the biggest weakness in their historical presentation, in my opinion. They claim Su Kong Tai Djin was the original Grandmaster who then passed the title to Ie Chang Ming and then to Sin The'. Shaolin-do has lots of Su Kong stories, but no other Chinese martial art...some of which claim to have originated at the Southern Shaolin Temple as well and are able to compare monk names from that time...indicate they've heard of a GM or even a monk completely covered with hair. It's inconceivable that NO ONE else from the same place and time would have mentioned such a unique individual. Heck, he'd be a folk hero!

Again, I like the system...loved my teacher...my sparring improved as did my fitness level. It just really doesn't have a good name because of the history gaps and occasionally outlandish claims. The politics are pretty intense as well. The guy that taught you, if he didn't ok it with the higher ups, would have been booted from the system...all the areas of the country are divided up with only specific people being allowed to "own" an area.

 

[Flying Crane]

Flying Crane - "They actually claim that Sin The' is the rightful Grandmaster of the Southern Shaolin Temple."

Yep. This is the biggest weakness in their historical presentation, in my opinion. They claim Su Kong Tai Djin was the original Grandmaster who then passed the title to Ie Chang Ming and then to Sin The'. Shaolin-do has lots of Su Kong stories, but no other Chinese martial art...some of which claim to have originated at the Southern Shaolin Temple as well and are able to compare monk names from that time...indicate they've heard of a GM or even a monk completely covered with hair. It's inconceivable that NO ONE else from the same place and time would have mentioned such a unique individual. Heck, he'd be a folk hero!

Again, I like the system...loved my teacher...my sparring improved as did my fitness level. It just really doesn't have a good name because of the history gaps and occasionally outlandish claims. The politics are pretty intense as well. The guy that taught you, if he didn't ok it with the higher ups, would have been booted from the system...all the areas of the country are divided up with only specific people being allowed to "own" an area.

Good points.

That's pretty crazy about the geographic distribution of teaching rights. I dunno, maybe he had rights in that area or something. This was back in about 1991 or so, in Minnesota, maybe things were different at that time, in that place.