How much fighting does a shaolin monk do?
I asked my teacher this[he lived in the shaolin temple for 7 years] couldn’t get a very clear answer, but later he told me they do applications about once a month, and spar at testing’s ever 6 months, and play different types of fighting games amongst themselves in the evening. Anyone here have any other info on this topic?
For Bagwot ahead of time. "How do you kill that which has no life"
That really depends on the individual monk
Most of the monks that teach laowai are forms specialists. The genuine ones have a solid grasp of applications, but they might not be big on free sparring. Shaolin troupes typically keep a few sanda guys too, as they used to get a lot of challenges and still do every once in a while. If I were to make a gross generalization, I'd say look to the taller monks for the fighters. A lot of the taller monks don't have as many forms. They generally don't have as many long weapons in their curriculum because they take up too much space when practicing in formation like they do at Shaolin. But the bottom line is that each monk is an individual with individual skills.