The term kung fu covers a dizzying array of Chinese martial arts, some of which have been developed through hundreds, even thousands, of years of experimentation and refinement. There are internal styles, external styles, family styles, temple styles, styles named after insects, birds, animals--real and imaginary. There are styles inspired by the serenity of floating clouds, styles employing the deceptive gentleness of flowing water, styles that take their strength from the living rock. All have their practitioners and enthusiasts.

This is welcome evidence of the wealth and vitality of the Chinese martial arts. A student of the martial arts has a multitude of choices when it comes to selecting the Chinese style he or she wishes to pursue. Those choices are growing yearly as more and more styles reach the west.

However, a student who wish to also become a martial arts scholar and learn more about the history and philosophy of kung fu in general and his or her style in particular is in for a difficult time, especially when studying the older styles. Across-style influences, lack of a complete written record, and China's own turbulent history muddy the lines between styles--even major ones. Sometimes all that remains are stories passed from sifu to sifu to student for countless generations.

Sil Lum kung fu is an apt example of the confusion that can surround a style. Sil Lum is perhaps the best-known of all Chinese styles. Most kung fu practitioners are familiar with its origins: the story of Boddidharma, or Ta Mo, his arrival at the Sil Lum temple almost 1500 years ago, and his development of an exercise program for malnourished monks. Even people who are not martial artists will, with a little prompting, recognize Sil Lum by its Mandarin name of Shaolin. They may laugh about "Grasshopper," and ask if David Carradine's new book is worth reading, but the image of kung fu they carry is of saffron-robed monks imparting philosophy and fisticuffs in equal measure.

As kung fu styles go, Sil Lum--or Shaolin--is practically a household word. And yet, despite its relative familiarity to the martial arts world, how many martial artists can recognize Sil Lum when they see it, or distinguish between it and other long-fist styles?

Sifu Kwong Wing Lam, of the Wing Lam Kung Fu school in Sunnyvale, California, believes that the question of what is true Sil Lum needs to be clarified, not only for the sake of the new student who wishes to study traditional Sil Lum kung fu, but also for the sake of preserving the style itself.

Lam contends that Sil Lum has become the generic term for all Northern long-fist kung fu styles, including the Wa and Cha styles. "Sil Lum is so broad, it covers fifty different styles," says Lam. "Of those styles, one is Sil Lum," and that one is in danger of becoming lost in the forest of other styles that share its name.

A look at the fifteen-hundred year history of Sil Lum kung fu clearly shows the problems involved in preserving the distinctions between Sil Lum and the many different styles known as Sil Lum.

The Buddhist patriarch Boddidharma is not the entire story: his Eighteen Muscle Change Classics were exercises meant to improve the health of monks. While they did contain some elements of self-defense, they were not a complete martial arts system. Hundreds of years of further development were necessary to create the Sil Lum system as it existed at the height of its renown, during the Ming dynasty.

Here arises the first point of confusion. An impression is often given that Boddidharma presented the monks with a complete, perfected system. If he did not, how was Sil Lum developed?

Outside forces and styles had a strong influence on the development of Sil Lum, says Lam. Everyone from thieves and brigands seeking sanctuary to kings and generals seeking aid brought their styles of fighting to the monastery, where the monks absorbed what was useful into the Sil Lum system. These outside styles left deep marks on Sil Lum kung fu. Also, by virtue of being passed about and studied by the monks in the temple, they gained the reputation of being "Sil Lum styles." But such styles, still labelled "Sil Lum," were and are separate from the Sil Lum system.

Further confusion came with the Qing, and the destruction of the Sil Lum temples. Countless irreplaceable records were destroyed, and the written elements of the Sil Lum tradition lost, its practitioners scattered across China and unable to work together to reconstruct the writings.

The line between Sil Lum and other styles was further muddied by the scattering of the monks themselves. As they began to share their martial arts knowledge with others all over China, they revised and adapted their techniques to fit the circumstances in which they found themselves. This gave rise to some radically different styles, using different techniques and guided by different goals--and often still known as Sil Lum.

The monks who taught Sil Lum outside of the temple left few records of themselves during this time. Still wanted by the Qing government, they taught in secrecy and seclusion, trying to train sympathizers to the Ming cause. Lam can trace the "genealogy" of his instructors to within three generations of the Sil Lum temple, but no closer. "Back then, no one cared where their kung fu came from," he says.

Yet Sil Lum, as a unique style containing the distillation of hundreds of years of study in the martial arts by Chan Buddhist monks, does exist. Lam terms it "Sil Lum Sil Lum--the original."

According to Lam, Sil Lum constitutes "the most complete style in Chinese history." The monks, favored by several dynasties from the Tang to the Ming, were given permission to raise and maintain their own standing army, first to protect their temples and landholdings, and later to join in military campaigns. As a result, Sil Lum techniques are grounded in hundreds of years of combat experience.

The ten empty hand sets that form the core of the system have been passed down intact from the time of the Sil Lum temple. These sets teach a broad range of fighting techniques, including short strikes in addition to the long strikes (both punches and open hand strikes) that earned Sil Lum the name "long-fist style," jabs, hooks, kicks, sweeps, elbow strikes, knee strikes, throws, and ground techniques. Practical applications are taught using two-man sparring sets.

Techniques for a wide variety of weapons are taught as well--everything from the broadsword, straight sword, staff, and spear (considered the basic Sil Lum weapons) to the cane, daggers, three-section staff, long knife, hook swords, kwan do, and chain whip fall into the Sil Lum arsenal, and Sil Lum contains not only single-man sets to teach weapons techniques, but also two- and three- man sparring sets to teach such combinations as staff against staff, broadsword against spear, and three-section staff against spear. An empty-hand against double daggers sparring set teaches techniques an unarmed person can use against an armed opponent.

In addition to fighting techniques, Sil Lum also includes some very specialized training: "iron hand for offense and iron body for defense," said Lam. Such techniques are an integral part of Sil Lum, representing the extraordinary control of both mind and body achieved by the Sil Lum monks, but iron hand and iron body training are highly advanced and require years of practice and dedication. A new student who walks into a studio that advertises Sil Lum and is told he can learn the Golden Bell Cover in a year is advised to walk back out again, immediately.

Studying the long and colorful history of Sil Lum kung fu (or any other kung fu style) can be a difficult undertaking. Little of the written source material that exists has been translated from the Chinese. Stories passed down from generation to generation can become garbled. But the effort can result in a new appreciation of the arts and a new awareness of the traditions of all styles of kung fu. One hopes this awareness leads to a desire to preserve these traditions, as well.