The Shaolin Temple was a Buddhist temple orginally built sometime between 386 and 534 A.D., but most agree that it was completed around 495 A.D. At its peak, the Shaolin Temple was one of the largest monestaries in all of China. A red brick wall enclosed rows of large halls and pagodas, as well as many smaller buildings. There were training halls, meditation halls, shrines, libraries, dormitories, and kitchens, as well as other buildings used for everyday life.

The Shaolin Temples were the equivalent of universities for the martial arts. Masters were professors, each of them a specialist in a particular area of training. Temples were known for a particular style, just like medical schools of today. Monks at each temple still practiced the forms from the other temples, but they specialized in the style for which their particular temple was known for.

Over the course of time, an untold amount of martial knowledge was housed at the Shaolin temples. In order to better systemize this material, the techniques, motions and fighting applications of major systems were housed within eighteen forms; medium sized systems were housed within twelve forms; and smaller systems were housed within six or fewer forms.

In the 6th century, Bodhidharma (also know as Ta Mo or Dharmo), an Indian prince on a pilgrimage from India crossed the Himilayan mountains on foot and eventually arrived in China. He attempted to take up residence in the Shaolin Temple, where he was not well received by the head abbot. At this point, Bodhidharma took refuge in a cave high atop nearby Song Mountain where he meditated for the next nine years. As the legend goes, several years into his meditation, Bodhidharma fell asleep. He was so disgusted with himself that he cut off his own eyelids and threw them away, vowing to never fall asleep during his meditations again. Hence the reason that all depictions of Bodhidharma show him with wide and wild eyes. At the conclusion of his meditation, the abbot repented and allowed Bodhidharma entrance to the temple.

What Bodhidharma found in the temple shocked him. The monks were in an emaciated state from only studying and praying all day. They were too frail and weak to stay awake during his rigorous meditation sessions. In order to build their strength and health, Bodhidharma developed a series of 49 exercises, which became known as I Chin Ching, the Change of the Muscle, Bone, and Senew. These exercises are similar to modern day yoga and would become the foundation for Shaolin martial arts.

The monks hated Bodhidharma and his exercises. Every morning they would hide from him and he would have to find them and drag them into the courtyard to practice, beating them with a stick, if necessary. And then one morning, Bodhidharma couldn't find the monks. They were not in any of their usual hiding spots. He looked everywhere before proceeding to the courtyard to practice himself, where he found all of them waiting. They had undergone a transformation, both physically and mentally. They had seen the benefits of getting in shape and had started to like it.

As time passed, the monks continued their practice of Bodhidharma's meditation techniques and his physical exercises. Naturally, as men and boys do, they began to have competitions about who could run faster, jump higher, or carry a large rock the furthest. This eventually escalated into physical tests between the monks themselves and then into play fighting. As more time passed, the monks saw the benefit in learning how to defend themselves and, being educated, began to study the natural fighters on the Earth... the animals! The Pagoda Forest, near the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, where many of the monks are buried

During this period of Chinese history, the only members of society who were allowed an education were the royal family and the priesthood. The Shaolin monks decided to study the animals in a scientific fashion and to discover, document, and adapt to humans how each animal moved, attacked, and defended itself. Some groups of monks studied tigers, others observed all species of birds, and still others watched snakes, praying mantis, and monkeys. Slowly they began to adapt these movements to the human body and to pass on what they had learned to future generations. They created different series of movements called katas.

Because of their high level of spirituality, their extreme physical talents, and their education, becoming a Shaolin monk was a most desirable choice in life. Many parents sent their young sons to the temple in hopes of them attaining a better life by gaining admittance to the temple. However, it was not easy to become a student at the temple. The monks were very picky about who was admitted and often tested the potential students. Young boys stood at the gates for weeks, rain or shine, hoping to be selected. If they were chosen and permitted to enter the temple, they would be given chores for months before receiving any form of training. The smallest mistake could cost them everything they had worked for and they could be cast out at any time. Early training consisted of ruthless conditioning and endless stances. Once they were accepted as disciples and assigned to a master, the real training began. They received instruction in reading, writing, philosophy, and the martial arts.

The Shaolin system as taught today is comprised of more than fifty styles and nine hundred forms. From this enormous body of material, today's Shaolin-Do practitioners receive a broad-based martial arts education that covers the entire spectrum of martial arts philosophy and technique. The Shaolin-Do curriculum teaches its practitioners sound fundamentals and provides each practitioner with the appropriate mental and physical challenge for their level of training.

Shaolin-Do is a traditional martial art, providing its practitioners with time-proven self defense techniques. Shaolin-Do strengthens the body and sharpens the mind, leading to a longer, more productive, and healthier life.

Shaolin-Do is the most complete and comprehensive martial arts system in the world. Shaolin-Do starts by introducing its students to basic Shaolin martial arts concepts. The material is organized so that beginning students have an opportunity to learn animal, empty hand, internal, and weapon techniques that are straightforward with readily apparent applications. The object is to build a solid base emphasizing proper technique, stance work, spirit, conditioning, and basic practical self-defense.

Upon completion of the lower belt and brown belt curriculum, the Shaolin-Do student has a minimum of 22 long forms through which they have studied a variety of techniques such as short katas, sparring techniques, self-defense, tiger, crane, bird, staff, nunchaku, broadsword, sai, and kwan tao (General Kwan's Knife). The student now has the conditioning, material knowledge, and sparring foundation to be considered a disciple, or serious beginner, and will continue to study a wide variety of styles and techniques that not only produce a well rounded martial artist, but also an extraordinarily well conditioned body and mind.