Simple question

[r.(shaolin)]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forums so please excuse if I should have checked elsewhere or have posted in the wrong place etc.

I wanted to ask a simple question, there seems to be a lot of knowledge on here about Shaolin's history.

If you were to round up what we know now, what amount would that be in relation to what was destroyed or lost over time? One fifth? etc etc

This includes Ch'an writings, medicine, and martial arts.

Thanks

Actually this is not a simple question and if you are asking what the corpus of Shaolin consisted of historically, this is a question not easily answered. Shaolin curriculum currently as practiced at Shaolin today is recent, made up of a compilation of extant village styles in Henan province, styles which survived Mao's 50 year attempt to eradicate the ancient traditions there. Surviving Shaolin traditions there can only be respect, in that they are what remains because of the efforts of staunch and faith masters, lineage holders who have endured persecution and carried on.
I would think that a more interesting and more relevant questions concerns what remains of any specific lineage: its traditions, its scope and pedagogy.