Shaolin Kung Fu refers to a collection of Chinese martial arts that claim affiliation with the Shaolin Monastery. Of the tens of thousands of kung fu wu shu styles, several hundred do, in fact, have some relationship to Shaolin; however, aside from a few very well known systems, such as Shaolin Five Animal, the 108 Movements of the Wooden Man Hall, Enchanted Staff, White Eyebrow, etc., it would be almost impossible to establish a verifiable connection to the Temple for any one particular art.
Internal and external arts
Huang Zongxi described Chinese martial arts in terms of Shaolin or external arts versus Wudang or internal arts in 1669. It has been since then that Shaolin has been popularly synonymous for what are considered the external Chinese martial arts, regardless of whether or not the particular style in question has any connection to the Shaolin Monastery. Some say that there is no differentiation between the so-called internal and external systems of the Chinese martial arts while other well known teachers have expressed differing opinions. For example, the Taijiquan teacher Wu Jianquan:
Those who practice Shaolinquan leap about with strength and force; people not proficient at this kind of training soon lose their breath and are exhausted. Taijiquan is unlike this. Strive for quiescence of body, mind and intention.
In 1784 the Boxing Classic: Essential Boxing Methods made the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as Chinese boxing's place of originAgain, this is a misconception, as Chinese martial arts pre-date the construction of the Shaolin Temple by at least several hundred years.
History
The attribution of Shaolin's martial arts to Bodhidharma has been discounted by some 20th century martial arts historians, first by Tang Hao on the grounds that the Yì Jīn Jīng is a forgery The oldest available copy was published in 1827and the composition of the text itself has been dated to 1624.
Huiguang and Sengchou were involved with martial arts before they became two of the very first Shaolin monks, reported as practicing martial arts before the arrival of Bodhidharma. Sengchou's skill with the tin staff is even documented in the Chinese Buddhist canon.
Records of the discovery of arms caches in the monasteries of Chang'an during government raids in 446 AD suggests that Chinese monks practiced martial arts prior to the establishment of the Shaolin Monastery in 497.]Monks came from the ranks of the population among whom the martial arts were widely practiced prior to the introduction of Buddhism. There are indications that Huiguang, Sengchou and even Huike, Bodhidarma's immediate successor as Patriarch of Chán Buddhism, may have been military men before retiring to the monastic life. Moreover, Chinese monasteries, not unlike those of Europe, in many ways were effectively large landed estates, that is, sources of considerable regular income which required protection.
In addition, the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, the Bibliographies in the Book of the Han Dynasty and the Records of the Grand Historian all document the existence of martial arts in China before Bodhidharma. The martial arts Shuāi Jiāo and Sun Bin Quan, to name two, predate the establishment of the Shaolin Monastery by centuries
List of styles presently taught at the temple
Xiaohongquan - Small 'Hong' fist
Dahongquan - Big 'Hong' fist (after Hong Hei Kwang 洪熙官, a Shaolin boxer, not a monk)
Tongbeiquan - Through the back fist
Liuhebafa Chuan - Six harmonies fist
Taizu Changquan - Emperor Taizu's long fist( this refers particularly to the 1st Emperor of Sung dynasty who was a military commander)
Qixingquan - Seven star fist
Da paoquan - Big cannon fist
Xiao paoquan - Small cannon fist
Changhu xinyi men - The heart will protect the gate
Meihuaquan - Plum flower fist
Luohan - Arhat (enlightened follower of Buddha) fist
Tongzigong - Shaolin child training
Dan Dao - Single sabre technique
Loong – Dragon technique
Chi Lu Chuan - 8 Animal
72 Shaolin Arts
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