Shaolin Kung Fu Combat Styles: 1. small Buddha’s 18 hands (罗汉十八手: luohan shiba shou)

instructor: monk De Yang __________________ - combat strategy: in Shaolin kung fu, ’Zen and martial art unite (禅拳合一)’. it advises to avoid engagement in violence as far as possible. in a confrontation, ’peace is better than victory, retreat rather than engage, avoid rather than oppose, parry rather than block, block rather than hurt, hurt rather than wound, wound rather than kill, because life is respectful, and a life lost is lost forever.’ However, in a confrontation, there may be no choice other than violence. Chinese Kung Fu has “36 famous tactics“ of fighting. in a fight, techniques are governed by the tactics and tactics by the strategies. a strategy is a collection of tactics that are chained together. in Shaolin kung fu, fighting strategies are taught by the 10 famous combat styles. each style is comprised of a pair of or just one solo form, 18 forms total. these shape a perfect collection of various manifestations of the fighting tactics. Buddha’s 18 hands style, with a pair of small and big forms, teaches the 1st tactic, “prowess“: tactic 1 - “no-fort tactic (空城计)“: in self-defense, the first lesson is to not take cover behind fear and keep confident. this deters opponents in hesitation. this involves intense prowess in moves. __________________ - history: this is the oldest style of Shaolin kung fu. Liang dynasty (502-557): Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, entered Shaolin temple in 527 AD. he made meditation part of Shaolin monks’ daily routine. monks had simple exercises to recover after meditation and cultivate their body as well. they combined martial art and Zen to form the union of body and mind. Sui dynasty (581-618): according to the historical records of Shaolin temple, monks of Shaolin temple had a select set of simple moves based on expressions of daily activities and Buddhism. they later combined these moves into a combat form which was later called ’luohan 18 hands’. Tang dynasty (618-907): until the Tang dynasty, the 18 moves were increased into 36 moves. Jin and Yuan dynasties (1115-1368): monk Jue Yuan, with the help of folk masters Li Sou and Bai Yufeng, developed the 36 moves into about 72. Bai Yufeng, after becoming a monk with the Buddhist name Qiuyue, became the librarian of Shaolin temple and later increased these into 173 moves. Ming dynasty (1368-1644): in Chinese Buddhism, the luohans, those who reach the enlightenment of Buddhahood, were originally only 4, and their number was increased to 16 over time, and in the Ming dynasty it was increased to 18. a group of monks increased the number of the luohan hands into 18 forms, each form with 18 postures with the beginning and ending salutes. out of these, only 2 forms were preserved by Shaolin temple and the others were lost to history. (8 forms of luohan 18 hands are recorded in the “Encyclopedia of Shaolin Martial Arts“: ). the 1st and the 8th form, which is actually a bigger frame of the 1st form. these are the small and the big luohan 18 hands of Shaolin. __________________ - note: there are various other forms and styles named ’luohan 18 hands’ in Chinese kung fu, and they are historically and technically different from Shaolin luohan 18 hands. these are just different styles with similar names. 🙏 __________________ Shaolin Kung Fu tutorial: - bodybuilding: - techniques: - styles: - weapons: