Shaolin Kung Fu Training

from beginning to mastery

in Chinese, ‘Kung Fu (功夫)’ means a skill to practice and perfect. Shaolin (少林) Kung Fu1
is combination of Zen Buddhism and martial art that was developed by the monks of
Shaolin temple during the last 1500 years. Kung Fu has 2 categories of skills:

1. Body skills (基本功: jiben kung): Kung Fu practitioner's body should be ‘soft, light, hard,
strong, fast, and endurant.’ these are the 6 body skills. the set of Shaolin soft (flexibility)
and light (balance) skills is called the child skills (童子功: tongzi kung) and the set of Shaolin
hard, strong (power), and fast (speed) skills is called the 72 arts. besides, energy is
developed via internal skills (气功: qi kung), which include static and dynamic meditation2.

2. Mind skills (拳法: quan fa): barehanded, weapon, and barehanded vs weapon fighting
techniques, tactics, and strategies.

timing: Shaolin monks practice daily except one or a couple of days a week to rest, and
their daily training schedule includes:

– flexibility and balance: a half hour or so.

– hardness, power, and speed: a few arts are practiced, each for a few minutes.

– endurance and fighting skills: a half hour or so.

– qi kung meditation: a half hour or so.

these exercises could be done together or at different sessions, at any time.

place: ‘Shaolin Kung Fu is trained in a lying ox’s place,’ which means a small place.

clothes: ‘wear proper clothes in the warmth and the cold, but do not be afraid of the
weather.’

results: ‘train 100 days to see difference, 3 years to achieve skills, and 10 years for mastery.’

1 Shaolin Kung Fu @YouTube.com: free full video tutorials by Shaolin temple inheritors.
2 Yang Jwing-Ming’s ‘Qigong for Health and Martial Arts’ and his other Qi kung books.

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Shaolin Kung Fu body training:

‘Shaolin child skills’ are the set of Shaolin Kung Fu soft (flexibility) and light (balance)
skills. ‘masters of child skills, being as soft as cotton and as light as a swallow, feel like being
given a second childhood.’ child skills can be mastered at any age, young or old, but it is
better to be trained since childhood. the saying is that ‘child skills are 18 postures.’ You
first warm up, then here are 18 – 9 soft and 9 light – famous postures and their usual
variants. begin:

Warm-up in the beginning makes training easier and more efficient and prevents injuries
to the body. Shaolin monks loosen up by rotating the joints of the body to and fro, each
joint for a few, like 10 times. this routine takes a couple of minutes:

arms:

wrists elbows shoulders

legs:

ankles knees hips

trunk:

waist back neck

at the end, loosen up whole the body and shake all limbs.

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1. Soft-body (Stretching) exercises are a complete set for whole the body. in each
exercise hold the position, lock the posture by tensing your muscles, do 5 or so stretching
bounces to wake up the muscles, and force stretching continuously in position for a count
of 10 or so. do all the following exercises; this routine takes less than 10 minutes daily.
mastery level, when you can do these soft-body postures with ease, takes about 5 years of
continuous training.

exercise: hands grab a string, turn shoulders and

arms back and forth. try with the shortest possible
length of string. at advanced level, it’s done with the
palms joined together.

1
lazy monk salutes Buddha (懒僧拜佛)

exercise: stand, turn thighs outward

as far as possible, sit down.

2 2, single-leg variant
tortoise (金龟) cross the river on a reed stem (一苇渡江)

exercise: stand, turn thighs inward

as far as possible, bend down.

3
sun and moon (日月)

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 4, pre-variant 4, on-knees variant 4, on-chest variant
bridge (桥) hide flower under the leaf (叶底藏花)

exercise: feet apart, arc backward, try to land your palms on the ground at behind.

5, an advanced split
dragon raises tail (青龙摆尾)
exercise: sit or stand, turn your upper body to look backward as far as possible, switch side.

6, pre-variant 6
double clasp Buddha’s foot (抱佛腳) dragon rolls waist (青龙卷腰)

exercise: legs straight, bend forward with straight back as far as possible.

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exercise: ‘clasp Buddha’s foot’: one leg squats, other leg straight
in front, hands pull back its toes, bend forward with straight spine,
try to touch the toes with your chin; switch legs.
try ‘front split’, legs straight; switch legs. at advanced level,
combine these to ‘posture 7’.

7, pre-variant 7, pre-variant 7
clasp Buddha’s foot (抱佛腳) front split (竖叉) skyward step (朝天蹬)

exercise: ‘clasp Buddha’s foot’: one leg squats, other leg straight
to side, hands pull back its toes, bend sideward with straight spine,
try to touch the toes with your head; switch legs.
try ‘side split’, legs straight. at advanced level, combine these to
‘posture 8’.

8, pre-variant 8, pre-variant 8
side clasp Buddha’s foot (抱佛腳) side split (橫叉) side skyward step (朝天蹬)

exercise: sit or stand, pull back your thighs to hook

your feet behind your neck, switch legs.

9, pre-variant 9
dragon coils in the nest (青龙盘窝) golden rooster stands on one leg (金鸡独立)
aka twin dragons play with a pearl (双龙戏珠)
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2. Light-body (Balance) exercises are better learned by using supports, like leaning to
a wall, etc., at the beginning. practice for 10 minutes or so daily by holding still or doing
push-ups/sit-ups in one or a couple of postures. at the mastery level, one may load weights
on his body in balance postures.

1, pre-variant 1 1, simpler variant

on horse stance (马步) arhat salutes Buddha (罗汉拜佛)

2
swallow balance (燕式平衡) 3
aka dragon surfs on sea (蛟龙探海) reverse swallow balance

4
child salutes Buddha of
compassion (童子拜观音)
5, pre-variant 5
sleeping arhat (罗汉睡觉) sleeping fish carries Buddha (卧鱼载佛)
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 6, pre-variant 6, pre-variant 6
Buddha ascends midair meditation 6, advanced single-arm variant
to heaven (迎佛升天) (悬空打坐)

7, pre-variant 7
single-arm support (单臂扶撑) arm support (臂扶撑)

8 8, advanced variant
handstand (倒立) one-hand stand

9, pre-variant 9
headstand monument (头倒载碑) upside-down salute Buddha (倒拜佛) Amituofo! _/\_

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3. Endurance exercises begin lightly, for example by jogging, gradually do them quicker

and heavier to beyond your endurance limits. when you think you cannot do anymore, do
more and harder. you improve day by day. do some exercises for 10 minutes or so daily:
jog, run forwards, sideways, backwards, zigzag, stationary run, high-knee run, run raise foot
forward, run raise foot backwards, jumping run, sprint, jump, turning jump, single-foot jump,
high-knee jump, squat, squat walk, squat hop, crawl, roll, somersault, pushup, punch, kick, ….

4. Hardness, Power, and Speed exercises aka the 72

skills/arts/methods/techniques kung/yi/fa/shu 艺/功/法/术. the
72 exercises have close relation with Qi kung. every monk
selects a few skills to practice and master.

36 external 36 internal:

__________
- "body-building with self-hitting":

1. metal bell cover (金钟罩: jin zhong zhao): power, ext+in

2. serial hits (排打: pai da): power, ext. It strengthen all parts of
body against enemy blows. The trainee take a
piece of hard wood and deliver successive blows with it at all parts
of his body, i.e., the arms, legs
(front and inner sides, outer and back sides), chest and stomach, both
sides of the chest and waist,
back and waist. He can also hit all sides of his head. He start with
light blows and make the blows
heavier gradually. He make 100 blow or more at each of these parts.
He can train himself 2 time
every day, e.g., once in the morning and once in the evening. After a
year, instead of a wood, He use
a brick and train as before. He will use a piece of iron, e.g., a rod
or hammer, after another half a year.
After another half a year, which is 2 year total, he is expected to
reach mastership.

3. iron robe (铁布衫: tie bu shan): power, ext

4. iron ox (铁牛: tie niu): power, ext

5. tortoise back (龟背: gui bei): power, ext

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6. twin locks (双锁: shuang suo): power, ext. The trainee hit all parts
of both his forearms to each other, like
the two arm of a scissor. This is very painful. After a long time, he
will feel no pain, and the forearms,
while colliding with each other, make a dull sound. Afterwards, he
proceed by training his hands as
well, his fists, palms, fingers, by hitting them mutually to each
other. After a while, when a hollow
sound is heard while doing this exercise, this level of mastership is
over. Finally, he will hit his arms
against his raised shins, raising the left and right knee in turn, to
keep balance between hard and soft
in his arms.

7. knock groins (门裆: men dang): power, in

8. iron knees (铁膝: tie xi): power, ext

__________
- "body-building with hitting/pressing/pulling hard objects":

+ hitting:

9. 1000 sheets of paper (千层纸: qian ceng zhi):

10. meteor poles (流星桩: liuxing zhuang) aka standing

like a pile and hit a pile (zhan zhuang da zhuang): power, ext

11. hit wooden dummy (打木人: da mu ren): power,

12. reveal truth (揭谛: jie di): power, ex+in

13. iron head (铁头: tie tou): power, ext.

14. iron arms (铁臂: tie bi): power, ext

15. iron sand hands (铁砂掌: tie sha zhang): power, ext. The trainee
fill a
canvas bag with one or a few kilogram of iron sand or iron chips, or
another hard sand-like material.
He put this bag on a bench, a short wall, or on a hard ground and
deliver successive blows with the
palm and the back of his hands at it. He may also use the lower edge
of his hands. The blows should
be light at first and become heavy gradually. After training during
100 day, good results are reached,
but complete mastership take one or a couple of year. After that, he
is expected to be able to break
several brick or stone with his hands.

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16. hands of 5 poison (五毒手: wu du shou) aka 5 poison chase sand
palms (五毒追砂掌: wu du zhui sha
zhang) aka palm of 5 thunders: power, ext+softness Yin

17. mantis claws (螳螂爪: tanglang zhao) aka diamond hand (jingang
shou): power, ext+in

18. chop-devil swords (斩魔剑: zhan mo jian) aka Bodhisattva Guan Yin's
palm (观音掌: guan yin zhang): power&speed, soft which developed outer
power: Yin

19. metal sand hands (金砂掌: jin sha zhang) aka rub and pierce (摩插:
mo cha): power, ext+in

20. fist brick breaking (in Deqiang's jibengong book)

21. horse saddle (马鞍: ma an): power, ext

22. bullet fists (弹子拳: dan zi quan): power, ext

23. one diamond finger (一指金刚: yi zhi jin gang): power, ext
24. poke stone (点石: dian shi): power, ext
25. metal spade fingers (金铲指: jin chan zhi) aka immortal’s hands (
仙人掌: xian ren zhang): power, is external but also
have internal aspects. The trainee deliver forceful stabbing blows
with his fingertips, with the four
finger straight and close together, at hard objects, like walls,
tables, benches, trees, etc., every day.
After a long time, he is expected to be able to make small dents in
wooden objects. If he can make a
hole in a wooden object, the first stage is over. Then he will do the
exercise on a stone as before. With
time, after many blow, he is expected to make a deep dent on the
stone.

26. guitar playing (琵琶: pipa) aka springy fingers (zhi tou tan):
power, ext

27. kick wooden pole (踢木桩: ti mu zhuang) aka pole of cypress (柏木桩
: bai mu zhuang): power, ext. The trainee
dig a long pole rooted into the ground. He kick and push the pole with
both his legs in succession
everyday. This is painful, but the pain gradually disappear after a
half a year. After a year, the legs
become powerful. ... can break pole... Then, instead, he will proceed
by kicking a bigger thing, like a sheer rock or a small
wall, weighing 250-350 kg. This is painful again, but pain disappear
over time. If his kick, as expected,
can displace the stone to a distance of several feet, the success have
been achieved.

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28. iron sweeping broom (铁扫帚: tie sao zhu): power, ext

29. trampling foot () (in Deqiang's jibengong book)

30. shooting feet (足射: zu she): power, ext

31. kick hanged weights (踢称锤: ti chen chui):

+ pressing:

32. Bawang's elbows (霸王肘: bawang zhou): power, ext

33. slithering snake (蛇行: she xing) aka jumping centipede (蜈蚣跳: wu
gong tiao): ext

34. rubbing palms (合盘掌: he pan zhang): power, ext

35. catching dragon hands (擒龙手: qin long shou): power, ext twisting
palms

36. locking fingers (锁指: suo zhi): power, in+ext

37. pinch flower (拈花: nian hua): power, soft exercise for external
strengthening: Yin soft

+ pulling:

38. pull out nails (拔钉: ba ding): power, ext. It develop the locking
force of the fingers. The trainee knock a
number of nail with length of about 10 cm into a thick wooden board
or a tree. He grab a nail with
the fingers and try to pull it out. The grab can be done with 2 finger,
the thumb and the index finger,
or with 3, 4, or all the 5 finger. If he can pull out the nails, he
have reached the first level of mastership.
Then, he pour salt water on the nails to become rusty and then train
as before. At the highest level of
mastership, he is expected to be able to pull out the rusty nails.

39. pull out mountain (拔山: ba shan): power, hard strengthen

internal+develop soft Yin: hard Yang + soft Yin

__________
- "body-building with hitting/pushing/throwing heavy objects":

+ hitting:

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40. hard and soft (刚柔: gang rou) aka 1000 sheets of paper (千层纸:
qian ceng zhi)?: power, ext+in

-hung bag:
41. eagle wings (鹰翼: ying yi): power, ext
42. bamboo leaf palms (竹叶手: zhu ye shou) aka copper sand palms (铜
砂掌: tong sha zhang) aka palm
rotating sand (fan sha zhang): power, ext

+ pushing:

43. pushing mountain palms (推山掌: tui shan zhang): power, ext

44. water separation (分水: fen shui): power, ext

45. lash power (鞭劲: bian jin): power, ext

46. cloth bag (布袋: bu dai): power, in+some ext elements

+ throwing:

47. sack of iron (铁袋: tie dai) aka sack of iron beads (铁珠袋: tie
zhu dai): power, ext.
48. kicking legs (腿踢: tui ti): power,

__________
- "body-building with weight lifting":

+ dumbbells:

49. frog (dumbbells) (蛤蟆: hama): power, ext

50. eagle claws force (鹰爪力: ying zhao li) aka dragon claws (long
zhao): power, in&ext

+ kettlebell:

51. kettlebell (石锁: shi suo): power, ext

52. pot raising (上罐: shang guan): powrt, ext

53. carry 500 kilo (提千斤: ti qian jin) aka water chestnut (shi bo
qi, bi qi): power, ext

+ halter:

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54. 500-kilo halter (千斤闸: qian jin zha): power, ext

55. crouching tiger (卧虎: wo hu) aka sleeper (shui) aka feline (mao):
power, ext (first it's like chest press)

56. stone pile (石桩: shi zhu): power,

57. jade belt (玉带: yu dai) aka continuous round of the universe (qian
kun juan): power, ext+in, The trainee hug a
tree firmly by both his thighs and ringing his arms round it, and try
to uproot it. After a year he can
shake the tree forcefully. After another year, the tree gradually
wilt. At the 3rd year, the force may
uproot or break the tree trunk. hug the tree (抱树: bao shu) skill is
mastered with success. The
trainee may then continue doing the exercise with pillar-like stones
of 200-250 kg. Stones are
slippery and it is more difficult to raise them. He train himself
until he can easily raise and lower the
stone. He then will try to hold the stone suspended for as long as
possible. After 2 year, he will try to
walk while holding the stone.

58. RuYi ring (如意圈: ru yi quan):

__________
- "body-building with hanging from bars and ropes":

59. flip and soar (翻腾: fan teng) aka leather strips (pi tiao): power,
in

__________
- "body-building with walking, running, and jumping":

60. light body (轻身: jin shen): x, in

61. walk on string (一线穿: yi xian chuan): x, in

62. plum-blossom poles (梅花桩: mei hua zhuang): x, in

63. flight walking (飞行: fei xing) aka flight over the earth (?陆地飞
行?) aka solitary walk of 1000 LI aka night walking: speed,
in. The trainee tie some small weight to each of his legs and run as
quick as possible on a flat ground
for as long as he can. Every few day, he add about 50 g to the weight
until it reach 2-2.5 kg on each
leg. After a few year his body agility become great. He continue on
by training on uneven, rugged
grounds instead. If at nights, he can run on a rugged ground with
stones, rocks, and cliffs as easily

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and fast as on a flat ground, the full success have been achieved. If
he walk without the weight on his
body, he will see the lightness and extreme ability of his body to
run fast and jump over obstacles.
+ 陆地飞行??

64. run on boards (跑板: pao ban):

65. deft jumps (蹿纵: cuan zong): in

66. high jumping (跳跃: tiao yue) aka higher and further (登髙超远: deng
gao chao yuan): in

67. pass through the curtain (穿帘: chuan lian): in

68. fly to roofs and walk on walls (飞檐走壁: fei yan zou bi) aka 8
step in the horizontal position (heng pai
ba bu): in

69. lizard climbs wall (壁虎游墙: bihu you qiang) aka climbing a wall
(pa bi) aka hanged picture (gua
hua): power, in: ext softness&in hardness

__________
- "body-building with water":

70. qiu shui shu 浪里钻 (泅水术)': swimming,

__________
- "improving body speed":

71. dodge and fight (闪战: shan zhan) aka sand bags (沙包: sha bao):
speed, ext . it develop maneuvering agility.
hang sand bags of smaller than 3 kg, or other objects like metal
coins, small stones, knives, etc., with
string at the height of the shoulders. in case of hanging knives, the
exercise is called '??? (金刀换掌; jin
dao huan zhang)'. smaller objects are harder to hit and control. stand
in the center of the structure.
first, hang 1 bag and strike at it so that it swing out and when it
return back strike at it again with
greater force. deliver 100 blow or more a day without pause. after
mastering it with 1 bag, proceed
with 2 bag, with simultaneous or successive blows. then proceed with
4 bag at front, rear, left and
right sides. begin with orderly successive blows, then proceed to
random blows with different parts
of your body. gradually proceed to fight with 10~14 bag, at full
motion, while you walk, run, jump,
fall, dodge, etc.

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72. spears and knives cannot wound (枪刀不入: qiang dao bu ru): speed,
soft but have outer power: Yin&Yang:
soft

__________
- "improving body senses and control":

73. enlightened (罗汉: luohan): power (eyes), in

74. hanged gold coin (悬金钱: xuan jin qian):

75. hanged Buddha's pearl (挂佛珠: gua fo zhu):

76. hanged cotton ball (悬棉椎: xuan mian chui):

77. draw in Yin (吸阴: xi yin): x, in

__________
- "developing body internal energy (Qi) for action at distance":

78. Yin hands (阴手: yin shou) aka Yin fists (阴拳: yin quan) aka
mysterious air punch (玄空拳: xuankong
quan) aka well fist (jing quan); if done by punching to a candle
instead of a well chasing the wind
palms (追风掌: zhui feng zhang) aka sun-rays hands (阳光手: yang guang
shou): speed, in

79. whirlwind palms (旋风掌: xuanfeng zhang) aka cinnabar sand palms (
朱砂掌: zhu sha zhang) aka
plum-blossom palms (梅花掌: mei hua zhang) aka red sand palms (紅砂掌:
hong sha zhang): power, in

80. one-finger meditation (一指禅: yi zhi chan): in

__________

+ 软玄 : =xi yin?

Some exercises could be trained in collaboration between two or more

persons…

iron sand hand: each palm 30~50 time, 100 day; 50 time after 100 day.

sand claw: rice, 50~100 time (until claws get numbed), 2~3 month; then with sand; then iron, 30~50 time, 1 year;
50~130 time; then wall, more than 100 time daily, after a long time one can make a hole in the wall.

punch: 0-100 time, 3~5 month; more than 100 time; after the pain vanish, 3~4 session daily, each session 50 time,
3~4 month later can break brick; then with stone, continue 10, 20, or 30 year.

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head: both fists punch head, morning and evening 30~50 time, 3 month; 100 time, 1 year; 300 time 1 year; continue
3~5 year; then hit head with a staff 45 cm long 5 cm thick, grab it with both hands, slow to fast, light to heavy, morning
and evening, 30~50 time, 3 month; 50~100 time 1 year; 100~300 time 3 year; after success hit head to wall, 10~15
time, light to heavy, slow to fast, 3 month; 50~100 time 6 month; 100~300 time 3 year.

jump: hole 30 cm, 3~5 minute; morning and evening 15~20 time, until about 1.5 meter.

in case of injuries, wait until after the healing, then continue on.

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