The Holy Mountain

[Sal Canzonieri]

It's been proven that there's no connection between Kalari and Shaolin. Why do these myths perpetuate?

I heard this there are some other reasons there might have been some style from India that both Kalari and early Shaolin drew from.

Well, that's the whole internal vs exeternal debate.
Shaolin was considered External because of it's Indian origins (religion and thus its martial arts) and Taoist was considered internal (because its religion and its martial arts were indigenous to China).

But, most of early Shaolin's martial arts came from Chinese military (Tang Dynasty especially, but maybe earlier too.)

[wuseng33]

am I the only one that is over hearing about traveling shows? when are they gonna stop trying to cash in on everything that is vaguely related to shaolin and actualy get back to basics and real gongfu? maybe if they were to do a tradition forms/ history show like what is being talked about in some other posts I would be interested. just my 2cents on the issue

[shaolinexecutioner]

The assertion that Shaolin being external means "outside of China" arises in the 16th century. Can you date it earlier than that, Sal Canzonieri? The Bodhidharma myth arises around the same period and Bodhidharma is the one that is commonly attributed as the external figure that brought Indian influence into China. Since Bodhidharma is a myth, the Kalaripayattu connection falls apart too.

[Sal Canzonieri]

The assertion that Shaolin being external means "outside of China" arises in the 16th century. Can you date it earlier than that, Sal Canzonieri? The Bodhidharma myth arises around the same period and Bodhidharma is the one that is commonly attributed as the external figure that brought Indian influence into China. Since Bodhidharma is a myth, the Kalaripayattu connection falls apart too.

I thought that was what I was implying?

[shaolinexecutioner]

I see. I misread you. My bad. The grammar in this sentence confused me.

I heard this there are some other reasons there might have been some style from India that both Kalari and early Shaolin drew from.

[Sal Canzonieri]

I see. I misread you. My bad. The grammar in this sentence confused me.

Well, I said that I heard that there were other reasons for the connection between Shaolin and Kalari, they they perhaps once sprang from the same root, rather than Shaolin coming directly from Kalari.

Then, I pointed out indirectly what you said directly, that this was simply the old external = india idea.

My own research give me the opinion that Shaolin received their early martial art training from various visiting military people of the various dynasties (Sui, Tang, Song) and local folk martial artists.

[shaolinexecutioner]

I agree with you completely. I'd also add that there was significant Taoist influence upon Shaolin.