Did Shaolin incorporate 9 Yeung Divine Technique into its canon?

[Ken Cheng]

Without the 9 Yeung Jen Ging, even in fragments, the Mo Dong Sect and Ngor Mei Sect's martial arts would not have developed in the manner that they did. The 9 Yeung Jen Ging had a profound influence on the martial arts of Cheung 3 Fung and Gwok Seung, and became the foundation of their respective sects' martial arts.

By the time that the 9 Yeung Jen Ging entered the picture for Shaolin, the Shaolin Temple had been renowned for its native martial arts canon for centuries. In light of this, did Shaolin incorporate the 9 Yeung Divine Art into its own martial arts? A number of Shaolin monks, including Gok Yeun, Hung Geen, and perhaps a few others were trained in the 9 Yeung Divine Art. Wouldn't the authorities at Shaolin have problems with this? During DGSD, Shaolin made a big deal about its acolytes not learning non-Shaolin martial arts. Wouldn't Shaolin consider it shameful that it must "borrow" someone else's martial arts to be competitive with the other elite sects of wulin?

[Dennis Chen]

Considering Shaolin's top internal energy cultivation techniques rival that of 9 Yang Shen Gong, I would have to say Shaolin incorporated 9 Yang Gong into it's canon. I would think they kept 9 Yang Gong only as a matter of record. And maybe just as a beginning stepping stone to something better.

[kyss of the sword]

shaolin kept it's 9yang seperate from it's 72 divine skills. their inner power skills were no less then 9yang so they did not need to try to incorperate it. through in many instances, experts from other schools have entered into shaolin and it's possible that they added their knowledge to shaolin's library. in DOMD, it was stated that shaolin kept it's own martial arts in one place but had another hall where the martial arts of other schools were recorded and studied, through not practised.

[bliss]

The original Kuihua Baodian was also stored at Shaolin. It would've been quite a sight if that was incorporated into Shaolin martial arts canon.

[Doc Kwok]

In the original edition of the novel, it was said that the Shaolin monks looked upon Shaolin 9 Yang with disdain - not because it weak (which it was not), but because it came from the outcast Gok Yuen. Very few monks ever bothered studying it, and since Wu Se's time (the monk who heard the final recital) there was only one master of it at a time, who would pass it onto only one student.

The relevant passage in the original is as follows:

原來當年覺遠大師荒郊傳經，張三丰演之為武當九陽功、郭襄演之為峨嵋九陽功、無色禪師演之為少林九陽功。那 九陽功博大深微，每一派的傳人均只寥寥數人，少林派因有七十二項神功絕技，專練九陽功的人更少。自無色傳至 空見，都是一線單傳，因少林僧俗弟子均認覺遠是本派棄徒，自他傳下來的功夫，縱然精妙，大家都不屑鑽研，反 正本派絕技甚夥，便是兩世為人，也學不了這許多，何必去走這條說來不夠響亮的路子？只是每一代均有一名弟子 修習，庶免失傳，便算已足。

At the time of the young Zhang Wuji's visit with Z3F, only Yuan Zhen (i.e. Cheng Kun) out of the entire Shaolin sect practiced it, and he learnt it from his deceased teacher, Kong Jian.

Subsequent editions removed the early events at Shaolin (presumably to avoid making Shaolin look too petty and vindictive), and the status of Shaolin 9 yang was pretty much left in the air (the Du monks and Kong Zhi obviously recognised it, but that was about it). There doesn't seem to be anything to contradict what was said in the original edition, though.

Incidently, in real life, I believe the White Eyebrow style suffered in a similar fashion in the past due to the stories about it's creator, Bak Mei.