Quote Originally Posted by Fei Li View Post
Hi all.

To me the most comprehensive and reasonable summary about what shaolin is or is not,
I read in Adam Hsu's "A sword polishers record" and "Lone sword against the cold cold sky".

I will scan it if I find the time.
(It is by the way one of the best if not THE best book about kung fu I ever read)

Just a brief summary of what he found out in his travels to the temple:
There was only one Temple, the one in the north.
Shaolin itself was not really known for a long time, but became popular trough the Swordman tales. As a result many MA Schools tried to take advantage of this popularity.
He also states that Shaolin was more of a MA Melting pot than a distinct style.
The monks had a life before entering the temple and they brought different styles in.

Again this was just a brief resume from what I remembered, read the book, it's worth your time!
oh come on, his book is plain old OPINION.
he didn't talk to the many researchers in china, he didn't see the preserved material that was taken out of Shaolin during the 1920's fire, he didn't talk, met with, or look at anything.

To be respectful I won't say more, but come on, many people in the field know him and he is an essay writer, not a deep researcher that looks at archived material.