All the kung fu in the world comes from Shaolin.

[@JohnSmith-d9o1v]

Martial arts existed long before Shaolin. They had martial arts in ancient Greece, Sumeria, Rome, there were even Buddhist monks that were former soldiers that brought their martial arts to their monasteries and taught their students, long before the Shaolin Temple created a name for itself in China. As long as there has been warfare, there have been martial arts. As long as there has been Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, there have been soldiers that have been trained in battle, they have put down their weapons and lived a monastic life. Martial arts in the monastic life is not relegated only to Shaolin. It’s been around for thousands of years.

[@MikeAmerica219]

That's true , I thought I read the Indian monk Bodhidharma brought it and taught the monks it as a way to exercise and protect themselves from bandits

[@JohnSmith-d9o1v]

@@MikeAmerica219 he brought the 13 postures to the shaolin temple in northern province, which are just exercise routines, and possibly some of the oldest calisthenics ever recorded, but there is zero evidence of him bringing a fighting art to the monastery. the monks throughout china already had martial arts in their monasteries due to veterans leaving the service to live a monastic life. shaolin just made it popular and became the central hub for martial arts of that region, and became famous as they started to take sides in politics and offered support for their communities by providing body guards for travelers that were going on Buddhist pilgrimages, similar to the knights templar a few hundred years prior in Europe. Shaolin produced wonderful martial arts masters, but.... if another monastery has a monk that is a martial arts master, you will probably never hear about it, because he lives a monastic life. you would only hear about it if he interjects his skills in political warfare or public exhibition. that is why shaolin was destroyed multiple times, they were living less like buddhist monks and more like mercenaries for hire. I'm studying buddhist right now, there is no mention of a "warrior monk" anywhere in the suttas that I'm being taught. The shaolin monks created a need for their communities that escalated into their image being too powerful and that is why they were wiped out in the 1600s and in the 1900s. but al martial arts didnt come from them. they just centralized and popularized it. Like Bruce Lee, his popularity and the 'lore' of him is larger than his actual accomplishments and skill. he made less than 5 movies and he never fought. everything else is just 'story' and nothing more. shaolin is awesome but its mostly story and nothing more. as a war veteran, the real stories are on the battlefield, not in a dojo from someone that has never carried a rifle to war.

[@MikeAmerica219]

​@@JohnSmith-d9o1vok thank you for letting me know this , good luck to you on your reading and learning Buddhism 🙏