Shoaling is an ancient Chinese Religion that has been under a shroud of secrecy for more than a thousand years. The Shoaling order was begun in about 540 A.D. by an Indian Buddhist priest named Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma traveled to china then taught these monks moving exercises to help enhance their Chi-flow and to build their mental and physical strength. These movements were also based on the movements of the main 18 animals in Indo-Chinese iconography. These exercise movements later became martial arts. The name "martial arts" came about be because the monks did their excursuses on the martial side of the temple. The shoaling philosophy began with Buddhism. Even though the Buddhist religion does not condone violence, the monks used the martial arts to protect themselves form invasion. An excellent example of this happening was in the 1300's when the Shoaling monks had to defend themselves against the Mongols. As a result of this the art gains a touch of softness and it reaches its height. .
The population of shoaling monks has grown but very gradually. For a religion that is a thousand years old, it still does not have 1% of the followers that Christianity has.
The Shaolin/Buhdist religion has many different sects, but there can be only one being practiced in one temple at a time. The different styles consist of Pa Hue Kung Fu, Black Dragon Kung Fu, Monkey Kung fu and many more. There is no head priest because the temples can handle themselves on his or her own. There were also temples scattered throughout the forested mountains of china. (There were 5 main temples at the top of shoaling order. These were the names of these temples: Henna- This is the Shoaling temple seen in Chinese Kung Fu movies, and the one portrayed on the ABC- TV "Kung Fu" series of the 1970's. The physical premises, located in Laying, small mountain town southwest of Beijing, have been restored by the Chinese government in the mid 1970's.
