Shaolin Kung-Fu India

Shaolin Martial Arts

The Shaolin martial art is not a creation of one person, but an accumulation of works by millions of people. Shaolin martial art is the pearl of Chinese wisdom, which was handed down by numerous generations of China's top martial artists.

Shaolin was divided into five major schools: Hen Na (Song Shan) shaolin, Fu Jian shaolin, Guang Dong shaolin, Si Chuan shaolin and Hu Bei shaolin. Shaolin began with many small schools and styles within the Shaolin art. It also can be divided respectively into northern and southern shaolin style as well.

Shaolin kungfu has a vast content and numerous forms. There are some important aspects of gong fu such as: internal kungfu, external kungfu, hard kungfu, light kungfu, qi gong, etc. The internal kungfu mainly focuses on practicing the strength of one's body; the light kungfu focuses on the jump especially; qi gong includes practise and maintenance of qi. Shaolin Gongfu includes hand-to-hand defense as well as the use of weapons. There are forms: staff, spear, broadsword, straight sword, various other weapons, combat, equipments, performance sparring, sparring with weapons, etc

Sadly, in time, many forms and soft-hard combination kungfu have been lost. According to some statistics, 234 kinds of boxing and 137 kinds of equipments/weapons exist, having been passed down from early generations. Many other styles of kungfu have been passed down as well.

Shaolin Boxing

Boxing is the origin of martial arts. Shaolin fist has the following forms: luo han quan, xiao hong quan,da hong quan, shaolin wu quan, zhao yang quan, lian huan quan, gong li quan,tan tui, rou quan, liu he quan,nei gongquan, tai zu chang quan, pao quan, di tang quan, shaolin quan, mei hua quan, tong bei quan, jin gang quan, qi xing quan, xin yi quan, fu hu quan, drunken fist, monkey fist, fan zi quan, eagle fist, chicken fist, puma fist, crane fist, dragon fist, tiger fist, snake fist, duck fist, dog fist, mantis fist, toad fist and so forth.

The performance sparring has san he quan, yao shou liu he quan, ti da liu he quan, fifteen he li wai heng pao, twenty four pao, shaolin dui quan, a hundred and eight dui quan, hua quan settled sparring, jie tan tui etc.

Shaolin boxing is hard, strong, fast and according to the Chinese is "filled with softness inside." It also is plain and practical with every action, both attack and defense as well as in pose. As the old saying goes: practise in a place where only a cow can lie; such is shaolin boxing, you re not limited by the place and its size. The shaolin style embodies a word -- hard. It is practiced with both attack and defense, but mostly attack. The form is not only beautiful, but also practical. The stride is flexible. Shaolin teaches you actions forward, actions of retreat, reaction and to punch directly in front of you. On body and fist, it is required that the arm is not too straight and to keep all the forward and backward motion natural. The foot technique must be stable and flexible, the eye technique requires staring at the opponent s eyes and for the breathing, the Qi should be "down to your dan tian " before the Qi is released. "The action is as fast as a flash, a spin- like a turning wheel, a stance like pine and jump like a fly." Shaolin boxing is divided into two schools, Southern, which emphasizes fists, and Northern, which emphasizes legs. There are many styles also within both Southern and Northern Shaolin.

Shaolin Staff

Shaolin staff has the following forms: drunken staff, monkey staff, feng huo gun, qi mei gun, da gan zi, qi mei gun, da ye cha gun, xiao ye cha gun, shaolin gun, xiao mei hua gun, yun yang gun, pi shan gun, yin shou gun, wu hu qin yang gun etc.

Performance staff sparring has pai gun,chuan suo gun, liu he gun, po yun shi er lu etc.

The staff is practical and forms and sparring can include several people. Staff practice has strong rhythm and an involved technique. It is fast, bold and swift; it can not only strengthen body, but also win the battle. It played an important role in fighting for generations.

Shaolin Spear

Spear was the king of the martial equipments in the old times. The shaolin spear school has shaolin qiang, wu hu qiang, ye zhan qiang, thirteen qiang, ti lu qiang, lan men qiang, jin hua shuang she qiang, twenty four ming qiang, twenty seven ming qiang, thirty one ming bao hua qiang, thirty six qiang, liu men qiang shi, shi qiang jia, six lu hua qiang, bao hua qiang, etc.

The settled spear sparring has spear vs spear, hand vs spear, double broad sword vs spear, zhan qiang, liu he qinag, thirty six spear po fa settled sparring, twenty one ming qiang poke each other etc.

There is a poem for shaolin spear: body technique like cat, poke like fighting with tiger and in a line, spear like an arrow from a bow, retract the spear like a tiger, jump for a step like climbing hills, one hand maneuvers the spear like a tiger, the other hand as a fulcrum, now spear like picking dragon." The eyes look up and body technique should be natural: block, capture, pick jerk, sweep etc. These actions all have important meaning in Gong Fu.

Shaolin Broadsword

For over a thousand years, the broad sword has been one of the most important martial art weapons. Thus every action in broadsword needs to be brave and generous.

Shaolin broadsword has the following forms: chun qiu da dao, meihua dao, shaolin single broadsword, shaolin double broadsword, fen yong dao, xue pian dao, bao yue dao, pi shan dao, shaolin road one broadsword, road two broadsword, liu he single broadsword, road six broadsword, road eight double broadsword, tai zu crouching dragon broadsword, ma men single broadsword, swallow tail broadsword, mei hua shuang fa dao, di tang double broadsword, yun tang dao, dan dao chang xing dao, wu hu shaolin zhui feng dao, etc.

The performance broadsword sparring has broadsword vs. broadsword, er he double broadsword, chop each other single broadsword, chop each other big broadsword, single broadsword vs. double broadsword etc. The characteristics of using broadsword are winding head, twisting body, chopping, sweeping, poking, slashing, bracing, picking and so on. And there are sayings like: watching hand when playing single broadsword, watching footwork when playing double broadsword, watch poking hand when playing big broadsword, chopping, slashing, cutting and poking are all like furious tiger.

Shaolin Straight Sword

Straight sword technique is ancient and prestigious, handed down from ancient times with characteristics: elegant, robust and strong.

Shaolin straight sword technique has the following forms: da mo jian, qian kun jian, lian hua jian, tai yi jian, drunken straight sword, dragon shape straight sword, flying dragon straight sword, white ape straight sword, ti pao jian, liu xuan de shuang jian, qing feng jian, walking dragon straight sword, martial double straight sword etc.

Performance straight sword sparring has er tang jian, wu tang jian dui ci, shaolin jian dui ci etc. The straight sword poem: "Straight sword is the blue dragon one, do it calmly when practicing and let the Qi follow the straight sword, eyes follow the tip, make the Qi down to the lower body and then it will be stable, body technique natural, move straight sword like flying swallow, land straight sword like wind stopping, retreat straight sword like flower and poke like steel staple."

Other Shaolin Martial Arts Equipment

Shaolin martial equipments are numerous and varying in long, short, hard, soft, with hook, with spine and with blade and difficult to count. Beside the spear, staff, broadsword, straight sword above, it still has fang bian chan, e mei ci, yue ya chan, double hammer, big axe, double axe, san jie gun, shao zi gun, qi jie bian, jie jie bian, double whip, dao li jia bian, sheng biao,tiger head double hook, ji tou gou, mei hua dan guai, liu he shuang guai, horse teeth spine, turtle ring, shuang jian, qian kun ring, chan zhang, feng mo zhang, bow and shield, and so on.

Weapons, Performance Sparring, and Weapons vs. Boxing

Forms of equipment settled sparring and equipment vs. boxing include snatch broadsword with empty hands, snatch spear with empty hands, single broadsword vs. spear, snatch dagger with empty hands, stuff vs. spear, hake vs. spear, shao zi gun vs. spear, broadsword vs. spear, double broadsword vs. spear, qi mei gun vs. spear, dan guai vs. spear, shuang guai vs. spear, guai zi vs. qi mei gun, tiger head hook vs. spear, horse teeth spine vs. spear, tao san huan vs. spear, fang bian chan vs. spear, yue ya chan vs. double spear, yue ya he jian, san gu cha vs. spear, fang tian hua ji vs. spear, san jie gun vs. spear, big broadsword vs. spear, san jie gun vs. double spear, e mei ci vs. spear, etc.

Shaolin Combat Technique

Shaolin combat technique is divided into ancient techniques, which means traditional combat and modern which is divided into San Da and actual combat. The ancient techniques include shan zhen yi shen ba, hu bu ba, you long fei bu, dan feng chao yang, shi zhi luan ba, ye di tou tao, hei hu tao xin, lao hou ban zhi, jin si cha fa, ying men tie shan zi, bo bu pao and so on.

Shaolin boxing nowadays features these kind of movements; boxing and Buddhism as a system, combination of spirit and movement, aggressive attack together with violent strikes and proceed or retreat with parts of the body. Generally speaking, Shaolin forms are short and the routine of the movements are mostly linear. The requirements of Shaolin actions and stances are as follows: straight head and follow the movements of the body (with extremities), eyes focused on a point, use great awareness, open chest and straighten back, and for the knees, hips and toes they are all pointed slightly inside to protect the groin. The shoulders should be relaxed, and the arms slightly curved when attacking. Make sure that when you are attacking you don t forget to defend yourself and use decisive, strong, swift defense in event of another s attack. Keep your balance at all times, be flexible when moving and stable when stationary. The footwork should be low when proceeding with attack, and high when retreating to coordinate the entire body. All movements should be fast!

Shaolin Qi Gong

Qi gong has a large influence on shaolin kungfu. Qi gong was taught in the Shaolin temple, and includes: yi jin jing, xiao wu gong, zhan zhuang gong, yi shou yin yang fa, hun yuan yi qi gong, da zuo, etc

Combination of Soft and Hard Gong Fu

There are many Shaolin styles to practice the combination of soft and hard kung fu. For example, the martial aspects of xie gu fa, chin na fa, dian xue mi fa, duan da shou fa, all kinds of medicine methods, jiu zhi fa and so on.

Beside the Shaolin martial arts above, there are seventy-two other important kinds. They are distinguished by being either internal (i.e. xi ying gong) external (i.e. tie niu gong), soft (i.e. zhu sha zhang) or hard (i.e. tie bu shan).