eBook Martial Arts the Fundamentals of Shaolin Kung Fu

8/7/2019 eBook Martial Arts the Fundamentals of Shaolin Kung Fu

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The Fundamentals of

Shaolin Kung Fu

By: Scott Elledge

& David Stubblefield


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History of the Shaolin

Temple

Breathing &

Meditation Conditioning &

Stretching

Internal Styles External Styles

Weapons


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32 years later, an Indian Buddhist priest named

Bodhidharma came to the temple, but was turned

away by the head abbot, Fang Chang


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Bodhidharma was determined and went to a nearby

cave and meditated


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He began teaching them moving

exercises designed to enhance Chi

flow and build strength.

They consisted of 18 actions known

as the 18 Lohan movements or forms.


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These 18 forms later evolved into 54 forms and then into 108 forms.

These movements were the start of Shaolin Chuan or Shaolin Fist,

later know as Kung Fu.


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Over the years, due to repeated attacks and periods of inactivity due to

reigning Imperial and regional leaders who feared the monks, other temples

were incorporated into Shaolin.

The 5 main temples were:


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The Henan Temple, the original temple and the one seen

in Chinese Kung Fu movies.


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The Fukien Temple, know as the headquarters during times when

Henan was either destroyed or under threat.


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The Wutang Temple, known as the Tiger temple.


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The O Mei Shan Temple, known as the Crane Temple.


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Breathing and Meditation

Meditation is the essence of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu and it is the

soul of Bodhidharmas teachings


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Meditation simply means to be fully aware of the moment.


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It is done in a number of different postures such as sitting, standing, head stand,

and Iron Bar, which is stretching out between two benches with your head on one

and your heels on the other.


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These postures were usually held for several hours at a time and some monks

achieved such high levels of sitting practice that they would meditate for a week

straight with no break for sleep.


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Some monks have skills so high that they abstain from lying down ever again

and at the highest level, some even die in state, which means to pass on inseated meditation with out falling over.


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Breathing is an important part of meditation and there are

two basic types of breathing.


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The first is Hou Tien Chi, the breath after your birth.

It is used to relax the mind and body, and heighten sensitivity. It

involves positive breathing in which the abdomen expands when

inhaling and contracts when exhaling.


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The other is Hsien Tien Chi, the Breath before birth.

It is referred to as negative breathing and involves contracting the

abdomen when inhaling and expanding while exhaling.


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Conditioning and Stretching

Conditioning and stretching are essential to all Martial Arts, including Kung Fu.

But the Shaolin conditioning and stretching trainingsystem is too vast, deep, and numerous to account for in

full detail, but the following are some aspects of the

system.


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I Chin Ching: These are basic stretching exercises based on

the 49 postures of the I Chin Ching or Muscle-Tendon-Change

Classic that Bodhidharma is attributed to have initiated.


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These 49 postures are designed to develop a

balance of strength and flexibility by working

on the muscles and tendons and each postureis usually practiced for 49 breaths each.


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Yin/Yang Conditioning: The Human body has 434

voluntary muscles composed of two types of fibers, white

and red. This form of conditioning helps in part to develop a

balance of the slow twitch or red fibers as well as fast twitch

or white fibers. It is referred to as postive/negitive

conditioning


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Endurance punching and kicking: This was carried

out indoors in the winter.

It consisted of a set of exercises that are designed to

develop endurance and stamina.


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Outdoor Conditioning: This was carried out outdoors in the fall. It was

designed for endurance and strength as well as balance on unevenoutdoor surfaces.


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Iron Bone Training: This is probably the most famous

of the training done by the Shaolin. Its carried out to

densify the skin and bones by mechanical vibration or

controlled stress caused by impact of the forearms,

legs, and palms on either a punching bag, tree, water,

or into hot sand.


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Internal Styles

There are numerous Internal Styles, but the two

most well known are Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong.


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Tai Chi Chuan: means the Grand Ultimate Fist and is often referred to as

meditation in motion. It is one of the more popular internal styles that is practiced

by the general public in China and the West.


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Although it is commonly considered to be a slow

gentle form that is like meditation in motion, in

actual it is the most devastating of all martial arts

when trained for that purpose


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Although it is commonly considered to be a slow

gentle form that is like meditation in motion, in

actual it is the most devastating of all martial arts

when trained for that purpose

Yet, because of its subtlety, fluidity and the

decades of practice that it requires to truly master

it, few people care to pursue it for more than

exercise and holistic purposes


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Tai Chi training, when carried out with the martial aspects in mind,

enhances sensitivity, yielding ability (like a snake), rooting, fluidity of

motion (swimming in air, reeling silk), and counterstrikes that involve

returning the opponents energy.


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The ancient masters of the art were so skilledthat a fly landing on their arm would set their

entire body into motion, a sparrow sitting on the

palm of the hand was unable to fly, every punch

or kick thrown in their direction were brushed

away effortlessly and they delivered the

devastating earth-shaking strikes by sinking,

rooting and discharging their chi.


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Qigong is the art of developing vital energy, particularly for

health, vitality, mind expansion and spiritual cultivation.


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It is a major part of Shaolin kung fu and is

intertwined into every external style.


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All great kung fu makes use of energy training to develop internal

force, without which it remains at its external, mechanical level,

considered by Chinese martial artists as rough and low-class.


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Hence, a kung fu master may look,

and actually is, gentle, yet with his

internal force he can cause much

damage to his opponent if he wishes.


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Hence, a kung fu master may look,

and actually is, gentle, yet with his

internal force he can cause much

damage to his opponent if he wishes.

His internal force does not diminish

with age, and he can apply it for

peaceful use in his daily living


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External Styles

External styles vary into the hundreds and the majority of them

are based on animal movements.These kung fu styles may generally be divided into 3 classes: Shaolin

Temple styles, Temple-derived non-temple styles, and Family styles

and there are two major divisions in Shaolin kung fu.


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The Southern Shaolin styles, which are predominantly hand technique oriented,

consist of Southern Praying Mantis and the 5 animals that make up the FiveAnimal Fist: Tiger, Dragon, Leopard, Snake and White Crane.


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And the Northern Shaolin styles, which put more emphasis onkicks and foot techniques. It consisted of Northern Praying

Mantis, Black Crane, and Black Tiger.


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Southern Praying Mantis rarely emphasizes one type of technique.The Mantis hook is employed, but so are numerous other trapping and

controlling maneuvers.


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The typical closed fist of other styles is absent from the southern sect,

which instead favors the mantis fist, a modification of the leopard punch, but

concentrating all of the striking force through a single finger.


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Stances are low to moderate, but firmly anchored to the ground and

there is tremendous use of the knees, elbows and low, powerful kicks.


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Southern Tiger utilizes a hard, external approach to combat

that meets force with force and is very likely to maim or kill an

opponent because of the nature of the counterattack.


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Its primary hand weapons are the closed fist and tiger claw.

While kicking maneuvers are usually low to middle range kicks of great power.


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The Dragon represented two of the ancient elements, earth and

water, endowing the creature with powers of elusion and power.


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Dragon style relies heavily upon evasion as a tactic and evades primarily

by rotation of the upper or lower torso with little or no stance movement.


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Leopard style is construed as a soft subsystem and is used to

develop speed and strength, for it is the fastest of the tiger family.


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The main weapon is the leopard fist. The fist is formed in such a way that it can

jab, rake or crush on any surface without

alteration, striking soft points in the

anatomy and structural weak points.


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The back of the hand is often used in breaking while a variation

with the first two fingers extended is used for attacks to the eyes.


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Southern Snake style is distinguished from most of the other animal styles

by the introduction of circular movements in its parries and attacks.


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This introduction of circles

characterizes the transition to a

higher style. The circles themselves

can be compared to the dynamics ofYin and Yang in Taoism.


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Circular attacks (viewed as Yin) are

countered by direct attacks (Yang).

Similarly, straight techniques are

countered by circular ones.


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It has been suggested by some practitioners of

acupuncture, that the meridian routes were mapped based

on preferred sites for mosquito bites.

Many bites induced discomfort in distant parts of the body.


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The modern snake kung fu style is a collection of

older styles which have now died out.

Its range of techniques, however, reflect the

influence of three different styles.

Vi i t d f i ti id ti t ik th t ld i fli t h h l i l d b


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Viperconsisted of intimidating strikes that could inflict heavy psychological damage by

drawing lots of blood without causing life-threatening damage. Its trademark was the

tongue strike two fingers aiming often at arteries and veins.


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Cobra, which did not emphasize highlyrecognizable or showy techniques, but rather

very serious strikes to nerves and pressure

points. Its characteristic hand technique was an

open hand with the thumb curled underneath in

order to maintain dynamic tension.


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Python relied on the leopard fist for its pin

point strikes and included grappling.


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The two universal aspects of snake techniques are pin point open-hand

strikes and twisting arm postures to disguise ones line of attack.


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Most snake kung fu practitioners use an upright, mobile stance

which allows for rapid advances and sidestepping footwork.

Using fast, alternating hand jabs, the practitioner drills at an

opponent, sidesteps, counterattacks and drives home his attack.


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Major characteristics of this system include wide-armed,

wing-like movements, high kicking, and the cranes beak, a

hand weapon made by joining the fingertips firmly.


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As the defender physically evades an assault, the torso

turns with force that accelerates the force of a strike,

making even minor contacts painful to the attacker.


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And evasive footwork forces the opponent to work

harder to target in on the kung fu practitioner, who in

turn has the opportunity to tire his opponent before

launching a definitive counterattack.

Footwork in the White Crane is legendary, targets being anything

from the head to groin Bottom of the foot kicks are effective as are


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from the head to groin. Bottom of the foot kicks are effective, as are

crushing stomps, generated at close range and with great speed.

Other kicks are designed to dislocate or unbalance opponents.


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The founder of Northern Praying Mantis was the boxer Wang

Lang, who developed the method of combat around 1600 A.D.

He took the basic movements of a praying mantis and

incorporated the erratic footwork of the monkey style.


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Northern Mantis splinters off into different

styles like Seven Stars or Plum Blossom

Praying Mantis, but common to all

Northern Mantis kung fu styles is the useof the mantis hook.

The hook is used for striking blocking and parrying Advanced


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The hook is used for striking, blocking and parrying. Advanced

practitioners learn to lock onto the opponent to employ sticking

or leading techniques, but never maintain a strong grip.Mantis further employs breaking of joints, particularly at the elbow.


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The movements are a collection of the ancient crane

style, some tiger and the motion of snake.

Because the exercises were intended to teach

character and spirit, the style inherited the stork

stance long before white crane kung fu itself wasintroduced into China.


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Black Tiger kung fu originated in the Henan

Shaolin Temple.


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It has more emphasis on footwork than the

Southern Shaolin kung fu forms and bears

some resemblance to Eagle style.


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The list of animal styles goes on and on, one for just about every

animal imaginable, such as dog style, monkey, frog, and eagle.


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There are also other styles attributed to

the Shaolin such as Wing Chun.


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Wing Chun is arguably the most famous single style within the Shaolin system. It

was made known to the west by Bruce Lee and James Lee in the late 1960s in

what was the single most influential introduction of Chinese kung fu outside China


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Despite Lees rapid evolution of a personal

style away from traditional Wing Chun, his

association with that style was a major factor in

its continued success over the years.


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Wing Chun was developed by a Shaolin

nun and there are three different forms.


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The first requires use of his or her

imagination in the practice and

application of techniques.

Most moves are repeated 3 times, the

primary attack is a sun fist (thumb

facing upward on impact), and a variety

of arm parries and blocks employed.

There is no footwork employed.


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The second adds a few new moves to the techniques from the first form,but adds more sticky-hands and bridge techniques. Bridge techniques

are extended arm moves that intercept and redirect incoming attacks

without using the brute power required in blocking. These techniques

take advantage of the physics of swinging objects.


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The third form is primarily an

offensive form, using finger thrusts

or spearhands in a variety of ways.There is more footwork, including a

sweep, low kicks, and stance shifts.


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The secret behind drunken kung fu is the sudden

release of power from awkward positions.

The footwork enables the user to confuse his opponent


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pp

by swaying, falling, and move as if he were drunk.

A common hand form is positioning the hands as if

holding a small Chinese rice wine cup or a jug.


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The use of weapons was skillfully

mastered by the Shaolin fighting monks.


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After repeated practice and research, the monks developed many different weapons and

their unique styles.

The variety of Shaolin weapons eventually increased to over 120, but the basic 18 are:


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Shaolin Fork


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Tri Point Double Edged Sword


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Staff


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Shaolin Iron Pen


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Shaolin Hand Dart


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Sickles


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Ta Mo Cane


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Flying Dart


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Monks Spade


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Broadsword


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Shaolin Thorn


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Spear


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Axe


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Nine Section Whip


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Chunqiu Sword


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Iron Flute


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All of these weapons were usually

mixed into different animal and

drunken styles, but some styles

were based on the weapon itself.


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One of the oldest Shaolin

philosophies is that one who

engages in combat has already lost

the battle and the Shaolinpractitioner is never an attacker, nor

does he or she dispatch the most

devastating defenses in any

situation.


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Rather, the studyof kung fu leads

to better

understanding of

violence, and

consequently

how to avoidconflict.


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Overall, the early phases of Shaolin training involved

a lot what we would call grammar school, for most

students entered the order under the age of ten.


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Long days were spent learning to

read and write.

Students also learned math, history, manners and

customs, Taoist and Buddhist philosophies, painting,

music, textile work, agriculture, pottery, and cooking.


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Older students and disciples would

often write books of history, poetry,

or natural history, while others

would form musical ensembles,

paint, or learn medicine.


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It was ones development of the

cultural side of life that mainly

marked ones standing in the

Shaolin community.


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The creators would like to thank the following Websites

Http://www shaolin com

Http:/

/www.kungfu-wushu.com

Http://www.geocities.com/dragonrojo


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Http://www.shaolin.com

Http://www.shaolin-viaggi.net

Http://www.shaolin.nl

Http://www.shaolins.com

Http://www.shaolinwushu.com

Http://www.shao-lin.com

Http://www.russbo.com

Http://www.heming.topcities.com

Http://www.shaolin-overseas.com

Http://www.shaolinwolf.com

Http://www.shaolinwahnam.com

Http://www.shaolin-do-kungfu.com

Http://www.wheeloflife.co.uk/webindex.html

Http://www.geocities.com/bryanba11/five animal kung fu.html

Http://www.harmoniousfist.com

Http://www.beijingwushuteam.com

Http://www.sfdt.com

Http://www.carly.clara.net

A&Es The Martial Arts (video)

Animal Planets The Animal Within (video)

.

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