Five Animals Eight Methods

[jopol]

Yeah I know all that, but the thing is its in particular the wuxing ba fa that has these huge differences between masters, and its not like theres "missing techniques" as much as theres different ways of performing it. Other forms like the hong quans and luohan quans are all pretty similar between masters, the differences are minor only if at all they exist. I'd just like to know how come this particular form is so different.
My own theory is that the main point of this form is to present the five animals in a live way, depicting and presenting their attributes. My master told me that this form is a basic form, like an introduction to the animal styles, and maybe the particular techniques involved is not as important as presenting the animals correctly. As long as the the five animals and eight methods are in there, the techniques involved doesnt matter. Just my theory.

[doc]

Jopol, it all depends upon whom your master learned it from. I've seen some of these guys completely adulterate some of the more traditional Shaolin forms, such as the Hong forms and especially the Lohan forms, all in the sake of increasing speed and power, so that they "look nice" in today's world of ever increasing competitiveness in martial arts. You'll find these changes more prevalent with the younger generations, and less so with the older ones.

[Mas Aaron]

I think.. if everyone did things the same.. there'd be no variety. In my style, I am encouraged to use my bodies natural advantages. My way of fighting should bare resemblence to that of my teachers, but I should also have my own.. not to mention personal preference, my teacher loves fighting from cat stance... for me right now the cat stance doesn't satisfy me becuase i've been taught a lot and I want to practice how effective I can use it in a fight.

Poekoelan is refered to as a broken mirror system, a broken mirror has an individual angle on the same object that it is reflecting.