I know there's folks here who believe ground fighting was never trained in the Shaolin arts; I disagree with this, but we can save that conversation for another thread.
So, for the sake of discussion, assuming GF was never a part of Shaolin Kung Fu; but knowing that Shaolin has a history of incorporating other styles into its' repertoire, refining and Shaolinizing them; in a day and age where GF is well known, wouldn't it be in the tradition of Shaolin to bring some of these techniques into the fold?
I personally believe that if BJJ had become popular in 17th century Henan, these techs would have been trained and refined at Shaolin.
I'm not talking about teaching the entire BJJ curriculum and calling it SKF; but at a minimum, what's so wrong about teaching how to defend/pass in guard/mount/side control?
I feel if you profess to teach self defense and your student asks, "what happens if I end up on the ground," and you say, "don't let anyone take you down," your doing him a great disservice. Ground fighting is well known and prevalent in 2013; and at a minimum, anyone interested in self defense should know enough to defend from the ground and have a fighting chance to get back on his feet, should he find himself there.
Saying, "oops you slipped, or got punched and fell, or you missed stuffing that take down; sorry but it's game over for you now," doesn't sit well with me.
So is it nontraditional and blasphemous to teach basic ground fighting as part of your KF self defense class; or is this in keeping with the tradition of Shaolin in letting the art evolve; keeping what's useful and letting go of what isn't...borrowing the effective from other arts and continuing to better Shaolin?