Temples and styles

[Secret Executioner]

Here's a tough one, but I guess we may have connoisseurs out here: which styles are practiced/taught at which temple(s) ?

For instance, what variations of Shaolin styles are taught/practiced at the Temples on Mount Emei or at the Monastery or what variations of Wudang kung fu are taught/practiced at Purple Cloud Temple ? You get the idea.

Looked over the history of Shaolin on the Internet before my class, and I figured maybe I could find more detailled informations here (as I couldn't find specs about this).

[laagi]

I don't know how it is in Shaolin or Emei... But in Wudang the factor that matters ist the Taoist Group (Pai) you belong to. There's countless groups which all practice certain aspects of a style differently and may even include styles which others don't practice.

Basically Wudang Tai Chi can be practiced by followers of the San Feng group as well as followers of the Long Men, Xuan Wu etc. Which means i.e. you'll see a form called Zhang San Feng (Founder of Wudang Tai Chi) 13 Steps in all groups but with slight sometimes even big variations.

To cut a long story short, you won't find just one style at any temple IMHO. Also keep in mind that many styles have their origin even in other places. Zhang San Feng i.e. is believed to have come from Shaolin Temple. Hope this helps!

[Secret Executioner]

Thanks for the input. Seems a bit more complicated than I expected (though still really interesting) - I didn't know for instance that there were several Taoist Groups. That said, I didn't expect one temple to be entirely dedicated to only one style (say a variation of Mantis for one of the Shaolin temples).

[laagi]

You're welcome. For me this was also the most "confusing" aspect with the different groups. There's even talk of North and South Wudang similiar to North and South Shaolin.

Also what's interesting is the age of the different groups; i.e. San Feng Group is still relatively young (15th Generation) as opposed to Long Men (25th Generation).

And than there's this brief story of the founder of Wudang Kung Fu/Tai Chi:

Zhang San Feng was expelled from Shaolin Temple (his extraodinary Martial Arts talent was a thorn in the Monks side). After having left the temple he wondered around China and finally settled in a secluded cave in the Wudang Mountains. Mainly focusing on meditation, he one day watched a fight between a Snake and a Crane. He noticed that no matter how the crane tried to hit the snake with its hard beak, the snake with its soft body/movements always evaded it. Forcing the Crane to finally give up... Thus he realised that the Soft will always overcome the hard. Wudang Tai Chi was born