I've always wondered about the connection between monks that are the founders of southern (and some nothern) kf styles, and the abbotts that modern day shaolin school's trace their lineage back to... You often hear stories about the gm of xyz style, that learnt from a monk from either the southern or northern temple, or from a smaller temple across southern china somewhere (whose monk usually learnt from one of the more famous monks from the shaolin temples itself). Then u hear stories about modern shaolin schools that trace their lineage back to a 26th generation abbott or something from the shaolin temple as well. If both were the case, that means both monk and abbott must have existed at the same time, at some point in history. But you never hear either party acknowledge each other existed at the same time. i find this rather strange. Not to start a lineage debate about which style is more pure, but rather the existence of both monk and abbott at the same time, what are ppl's thoughts on this?
