The Fundamentals of

Shaolin Kung Fu

By: Scott Elledge

& David Stubblefield
• History of the Shaolin
Temple
• Breathing &
Meditation
• Conditioning &
Stretching
• Internal Styles
• External Styles
• Weapons
 History of the Shaolin Temple

The word Shaolin is derived from Shaoshi Mountain and “lin”, the Chinese
word for forest.
This describes the geographic area of the first temple built in the Henan
Province around 495 A.D.
32 years later, an Indian Buddhist priest named
Bodhidharma came to the temple, but was turned
away by the head abbot, Fang Chang
Bodhidharma was determined and went to a nearby
cave and meditated
Nobody knows exactly why, but Bodhidharma was then allowed into the
temple and he soon noticed that the monks were in poor physical health
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.
These 18 forms later evolved into 54 forms and then into 108 forms.
These movements were the start of Shaolin Ch’uan or Shaolin Fist,
later know as Kung Fu.
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:

The Henan Temple, the original temple and the one seen
in Chinese Kung Fu movies.
The Fukien Temple, know as the “headquarters” during times when
Henan was either destroyed or under threat.
The Kwangtung Temple, known as the snake temple.
The Wutang Temple, known as the Tiger temple.
The O Mei Shan Temple, known as the Crane Temple.
 Breathing and Meditation

Meditation is the essence of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu and it is the
soul of Bodhidharma’s teachings
Meditation simply means to be fully aware of the moment.
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.
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.
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 in
seated meditation with out falling over.
Breathing is an important part of meditation and there are
two basic types of breathing.
 The first is Hou T’ien 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.
 The other is Hsien T’ien Chi, the “Breath before birth”.

It is referred to as negative breathing and involves contracting the

abdomen when inhaling and expanding while exhaling.
 Conditioning and Stretching

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

But the Shaolin conditioning and stretching training

system is too vast, deep, and numerous to account for in
full detail, but the following are some aspects of the
system.
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.
These 49 postures are designed to develop a
balance of strength and flexibility by working
on the muscles and tendons and each posture
is usually practiced for 49 breaths each.
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
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.
Outdoor Conditioning: This was carried out outdoors in the fall. It was
designed for endurance and strength as well as balance on uneven
outdoor surfaces.
Iron Bone Training: This is probably the most famous
of the training done by the Shaolin. It’s 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.
 Internal Styles

There are numerous Internal Styles, but the two

most well known are Tai Chi Ch’uan and Qigong.
Tai Chi Ch’uan: 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.
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
Although
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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 opponent’s energy.
The ancient masters of the art were so skilled
that 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.
Qigong is the art of developing vital energy, particularly for
health, vitality, mind expansion and spiritual cultivation.
It is a major part of Shaolin kung fu and is
intertwined into every external style.
It involves the building of Chi and directing it to parts of the body for
prevention from injury or to an opponent with the intent to injure.
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.
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.
Hence, a kung fu master may look,
His internal force does not diminish
and actually is, gentle, yet with his
with age, and he can apply it for
internal force he can cause much
peaceful use in his daily living
damage to his opponent if he wishes.
 External Styles

External styles
These kung vary into
fu styles maythe hundreds
generally beand the majority
divided of themShaolin
into 3 classes:
are based
Temple on animal
styles, movements.
Temple-derived non-temple styles, and Family styles
and there are two major divisions in Shaolin kung fu.
The Southern Shaolin styles, which are predominantly hand technique oriented,
consist of Southern Praying Mantis and the 5 animals that make up the Five
Animal Fist: Tiger, Dragon, Leopard, Snake and White Crane.
And the Northern Shaolin styles, which put more emphasis on
kicks and foot techniques. It consisted of Northern Praying
Mantis, Black Crane, and Black Tiger.
Southern
The MantisPraying
hook Mantis
is employed,
rarely but
emphasizes
so are numerous
one typeother
of technique.
trapping and
controlling maneuvers.
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.
Stances are low to moderate, but firmly anchored to the ground and
there is tremendous use of the knees, elbows and low, powerful kicks.
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.
 It’s primary hand weapons are the closed fist and tiger claw.

While kicking maneuvers are usually low to middle range kicks of great power.
One studies Tiger to develop bones, muscles and tendons.

The emphasis is on strength and dynamic tension,

culminated in short, hard, snappy moves.
The Dragon represented two of the ancient elements, earth and
water, endowing the creature with powers of elusion and power.
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.
It employs pinpoint strikes to vulnerable targets
and also heavily uses tiger-like punches and
clawing techniques, snake-like stance shifts,
and leopard-like hit and run strikes to weaken
a physically superior adversary.
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.
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.
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.
Southern Snake style is distinguished from most of the other animal styles
by the introduction of circular movements in its parries and attacks.
This introduction of circles
characterizes the transition to a
higher style. The circles themselves
can be compared to the dynamics of
Yin and Yang in Taoism.
Circular attacks (viewed as Yin) are Similarly, straight techniques are
countered by direct attacks (Yang). countered by circular ones.
The emphasis on snake style is hitting weak points
along the Chi meridians as in acupuncture.
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.
The modern snake kung fu style is a collection of
older styles which have now died out.
It’s range of techniques, however, reflect the
influence of three different styles.
Viper consisted 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.
Cobra, which did not emphasize highly
recognizable 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.
Python relied on the leopard fist for its pin
point strikes and included grappling.
The two universal aspects of snake techniques are pin point open-hand
strikes and twisting arm postures to disguise one’s line of attack.
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.
One day an old man was meditating near a pond when he observed a
beautiful white stork, when out of the forest came a gorilla. He feared
that the ape would destroy the bird, but was amazed by the bird’s
elusiveness and ability to peck vital parts of the gorilla’s anatomy.
Major characteristics of this system include wide-armed,
wing-like movements, high kicking, and the crane’s beak, a
hand weapon made by joining the fingertips firmly.
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.
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
crushing stomps, generated at close range and with great speed.
Other kicks are designed to dislocate or unbalance opponents.
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.
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 use
of the mantis hook.
 The hook is used for striking, blocking and parrying. Advanced
practitioners
Mantis further learn to lock
employs onto the
breaking opponent
of joints, to employ
particularly sticking
at the elbow.
or leading techniques, but never maintain a strong grip.
Black Crane
It includes kung and
throws fu constitutes the
locks but is hand sets
missing of the Shaolin
the intricate forms Crane
so that it
and
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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 was
introduced into China.
Black Tiger kung fu originated in the Henan
Shaolin Temple.
It has more emphasis on footwork than the
Southern Shaolin kung fu forms and bears
some resemblance to Eagle style.
The list of animal styles goes on and on, one for just about every
animal imaginable, such as dog style, monkey, frog, and eagle.
There are also other styles attributed to
the Shaolin such as Wing Chun.
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 1960’s in
what was the single most influential introduction of Chinese kung fu outside China
Despite Lee’s 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.
Wing Chun was developed by a Shaolin
“nun” and there are three different forms.
 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.
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.
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.
Drunken Style kung fu is a well known style and is often
incorporated into animal styles and use of weapons.
The secret behind drunken kung fu is the sudden
release of power from awkward positions.
The footwork enables the user to confuse his opponent
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.
The use of weapons was skillfully
mastered by the Shaolin fighting monks.
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:
Shaolin Fork
Tri Point Double Edged Sword
Staff
Shaolin Iron Pen
Shaolin Hand Dart
Straight Sword
Sickles
Ta Mo Cane
Flying Dart
Monk’s Spade
Broadsword
Shaolin Thorn
Spear
Axe
Zhuihun Sword
Nine Section Whip
Chunqiu Sword
Iron Flute
All of these weapons were usually
mixed into different animal and
drunken styles, but some styles
were based on the weapon itself.
One of the oldest Shaolin
philosophies is that “one who
engages in combat has already lost
the battle” and the Shaolin
practitioner is never an attacker, nor
does he or she dispatch the most
devastating defenses in any
situation.
Rather, the study
of kung fu leads
to better
understanding of
violence, and
consequently
how to avoid
conflict.
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.
 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.
Older students and disciples would
often write books of history, poetry,
or natural history, while others
would form musical ensembles,
paint, or learn medicine.
It was one’s development of the
cultural side of life that mainly
marked one’s standing in the
Shaolin community.
 The creators would like to thank the following Websites
Http://www.kungfu-wushu.com

Http://www.geocities.com/dragonrojo
Http://www.shaolin.com
Http://www.wheeloflife.co.uk/webindex.html
Http://www.shaolin-viaggi.net
Http://www.shaolin.nl
Http://www.geocities.com/bryanba11/five animal kung fu.html
Http://www.shaolins.com
Http://www.harmoniousfist.com
Http://www.shaolinwushu.com
Http://www.beijingwushuteam.com
Http://www.shao-lin.com
Http://www.russbo.com
Http://www.sfdt.com
Http://www.heming.topcities.com
Http://www.carly.clara.net
Http://www.shaolin-overseas.com
A&E’s The Martial Arts (video)
Http://www.shaolinwolf.com
Congratulations on completing your first quarter at ITT!
Animal Planet’s The Animal Within (video)
Http://www.shaolinwahnam.com
Http://www.shaolin-do-kungfu.com
.
. Http://www.kungfu-taichi.com
.
Http://www.mullins-shaolin.com