Originally Posted by
RD'S Alias - 1A
One thing I would like to comment on; In Indonesia, it is commonly held that they have preserved the original Shaolin, especially the combat aspect, where it has been lost in China. At least, this is what they say there.
They don't necessarily care about the choreography of the form. It's all about application and usage there. So you have all of these Indonesian families, with Chinese arts in them. They have all their own forms, and may don't even have forms, just drills and such.
When they look at stuff, it's on an individual technique, by technique basis, combined with the stepping, angles of entry and how the defender responds and manages his opponent's structure. What the form looks like is irrelevant.
I have had the opportunity to compare the stuff I have from the DeThouars family Kuntao Silat, to the stuff Sal Canzonieri does. Technology wise, there is an uncanny and high degree of over lap. Since Sal is one of the more known authorities on Shaolin Kung Fu in the US, I was able to come to the conclusion that the Old School Shaolin is alive and well in Indonesian lineages, even if all the forms themselves are unique.
The Chinese arts, over all seem to be much more focused on maintaining the original 'Style of Expression', than anything. They identify the art by the curriculum, and the choreography of the forms in the curriculum. So someone looking at an Indonesian Kung Fu line, from a Chinese perspective is going to see all these new forms ans a completely made up fraudulent system.
An Indonesian on the other hand, because they are much more 'Zoomed in', and looking at the details much, much closer will not care about all the recently made up forms and instead see real Shaolin. After all, they make up and forget forms all the time over there. To them it is just the package, not the contents.
Just a thought, when people feel Sin The' made up routines somehow mean his Shaolin, is not Shaolin. You have to look closer. Look at the strategy of usage, the way the art steps to position itself, the angles it uses to enter in, how the art receives and redirects energy. You have to ask if it uses the same types of lever based takedowns as old Shaolin, as well as the same types of uprooting. You have to look at the types of body mechanics used. Are they common Shaolin Temple internal external body methods? or are they somehting else?
Then you also have to consider the fact that many, many schools from Shaolin have lost all or part of the above, so you need to look at Shaolin Do and ask if you can at least see the shadows of what WAS there at one time. This may be a clue to how much original training Sin The actually had.
If you look to other arts out of Indonesia (like the DeThouars stuff) that is well known for preserving Old School Shaolin skills, and you can clearly see these skills are lacking in SD, you may want to consider moving on to more complete transmissions in order to fill in the missing pieces.