The genesis for this topic sort of sprung out of discussions had elsewhere in this forum about Shaolin Kung fu which got me thinking about Shaolin Kung fu as a "living art".

Historically speaking Shaolin's growth as a Kung fu centre has in many ways been to a large extend due to the ability of its fighting monks to assimilate the best of the rest, so to speak. There are numerous tales of outside experts impressing the monks of Shaolin and being persuaded to stay and help them develop their skills. Indeed, it was the genesis of Xinyiba and the role of Ji Longfeng that got me thinking around this topic.

Essentially Shaolin has up until now been a living art which grows as it encounters new ideas which, I suppose, is in part why its library of techniques is so vast.

However, with Martial Arts no longer as important in the modern world as they would have been in pre-modern societies that did not have 21st century law enforcement systems it seems this situation is bound to change. In the era of guns and CCTV there is no longer a strong driver for new martial arts systems that Shaolin can cream off to appear.

Do you think then that Shaolin will remain a living art or will it become increasingly ossified with the way things are done now likely to remain the way they will be done decades from now as a result in the societal changes we've seen in recent centuries?

Just wanted to put that out there and see what people thought?