PAST MASTERS WHO FOUGHT USING THE TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGIES OF EIGHTEEN LOHAN FIST
Wuzuquan of Bai Yi Feng was evolved from Eighteen Lohan Fist
Question
Can you please tell us about any great past masters who fought using 18 Lohan Fist and any special techniques and strategies they might have used?
Dominic, Ireland
Answer
One of the earliest masters using Eighteen-Lohan Fist was the Venerable Tan Zong, who led twelve other Shaolin monks to help Li Shi Ming established the Tang Dynasty. His exploits were immortalized in the famous movie, The Shaolin Temple, which shot both the Shaolin Tempe and Jet Li to world fame.
Tan Zong’s fighting, however, was mainly on horseback using the Shaolin staff. When Li Shi Ming became the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he rewarded the Shaolin monks handsomely and bestowed the title “Great General” on Tan Zong. But Tan Zong prefereed to return to monastic life. In a grand celebration officiated by the emperor himself, Tan Zong gave a demonstration of Baoquan, or Cannon Fist, which was a famous set from Lohan Kungfu.
Another great practitioner of Lohan Kungfu was Zhao Kuang Yin, who founded the Song Dynasty. He too fought mainly on horseback, and his weapon was also the Shaolin staff.
In one of his battles, the upper part of his staff was broken. He joined the broken part back to the main staff with an iron chain, and the weapon was latter known as a sweeper, presumably to sweep away all his opponents.
The sweeper is also known as a two-sectional staff, i.e. a long staff extended to a short staff by a chain. Later the longer staff was shortened to a length the same as that of the shorter staff. To differentiate the two types of weapons, the former was called a big sweeper or big two-sectional-staff, and the latter a small sweeper or small two-sectional-staff. The nunchaku, which means “two-sectional-staff” in Japanese, is derived from the small sweeper and is popularly practiced in Karate.
The Eighteen-Lohan Fist evolved into Taizuquan, or First Emperor Kungfu, in honour of Zhao Kuang Yin, the first emperor of the Song Dynasty.
In the succeeding Yuan Dynasty, the kungfu genius, Bai Yu Feng, was also a practitioner of Lohan Kungfu. By that time, Shaolin Kungfu had evolved into various distinct styles, like Xingyiquan, Taijiquan, Chuo Jiao, Tongbeiquan, Chaquan and Huaquan. Concerned that Shaolin Kungfu might lose its original flavor, Bai Yu Feng with the help of the abbot invited famous Shaolin masters to the Shaolin Temple to demonstrate their arts. From the numerous demonstrations Bai Yu Feng chose four other styles to combine with his original style, Lohan Kungfu, to found Wuzuquan, or Five-Ancestor Kungfu.
Interestingly, the main stances of Wuzuquan are quite different from those of Lohan Kungfu. Wuzuquan use the Dragon-Riding Stance (term suggested by Roland) and the Triangle Stance, whereas Lohan Kungfu uses the Bow-Arrow Stance and the False Leg Stance.
The Venerable Jue Yuan, who also learned from Bai Yu Feng, was another practitioner of Lohan Kungfu. Shaolin records mentioned that he was dissatisfied with the relatively hard and external features of Shaolin Kungfu then, and introduced internal training of the five Shaolin animals into his basic Lohanquan.
Bai Yu Feng was a kungfu genius. His kungfu, therefore, must be very versatile. Moreover, by this time Eighteen-Lohan Fist had developed with more sophisticated techniques, not just pressing forward with forceful attack. While it is tempting to extrapolate how he fought from Wuzuquan which he invented, we need to remember that his application of Lohanquan for combat was before his invention of Wuzuquan.
As Bai Yu Feng invented Wuzuquan which was famous for internal force, and was the teacher of Jue Yuan who introduced the Shaolin five animals for internal training, I believe Bai Yu Feng frequently used internal force in his Lohan Kungfu, and not just external physical prowess. He would use the palm, which was more conducive for internal force, more frequently than the fist, which was a characteristic of Eighteen-Lohan Fist.
I believe Bai Yu Feng would use techniques like a single palm strike like “Fierce Tiger Across Stream”, or a double palm strike like Double Dragons Carry Moon. I also believe that in combat strategies, Bai Yu Feng would not press in in a linear fashion but often moved to a side of an opponent. He would also use the Riding-Dragon Stance and Triangle Stance besides the Bow-Arrow Stance and False Leg Stance of Lohan Kungfu.
The version of Eighteen-Lohan fist by the time of the Venerable Jue Yuan in the Yuan Dynasty would be quite different from the version at the time of the Venerable Tan Zong before the Tang Dynasty more than 5 centuries earlier. As the Venerable Jue Yuan was the inventor of Five-Animal Fist of Shaolin Kungfu, it is reasonable to guess that his Lohanquan combat would also include these animal forms. Hence, his techniques and strategies would not be as direct and pressing as earlier versions of Eighteen-Lohan Fist but more flowing and swerving.
In Northern Shaolin, the Lohan Kungfu techniques and strategies of Huo Yuan Jia and Wang Zi Ping as expressed in their Tantui were more flowing and flexible. I would imagine that technique like Second Brother Offers Wine, Rising Dragon Galloping Tiger and Three Rings Embrace Moon would be their favorites. They would also use strategies like “tricking opponents to advance to futility” and "striking form where there is form, striking shadow when there is no form".
In Southern Shaolin, the Lohan Kungfu techniques and strategies of Wong Fei Hoong, Lam Sai Weng and Chan Harng as manifested in Hoong Ka and Choy-Li-Fatt would be quite different.
Wong Fei Hoong was famous for his no-shadow kick. The no-shadow kick could have evolved from the punch-cum-kick of Lohan Kungfu, later manifested as Rising Dragon and Galloping Tiger in Tantui, but the strategy of punch-cum-kick in Lohan Kungfu was quite different from that of no-shadow kick. In Lohan Kungfu the strategy was to punch and kick an opponent at the same time, whereas in no-shadow kick the strategy was to deceive an opponent so as to kick him unexpectedly.
Lam Sai Weng was famous for his tiger claws. There were no tiger claws in Lohan Kungfu. The tiger claw technique in our Shaolin Wahnam version of the Eighteen Lohan Fist in the pattern “Hungry Tiger Snatches Lamb” is my innovation. But when Lam Sai Weng used Lohan Kungfu techniques in combat, they would be “Throw Ball in Waves”, “Black Tiger Steals Heart”, and “Sun Character Arrow Punch”. His strategy, typical of Lohan Kungfu, was to press into an opponent relentless while taking care of his own safety.
Although Choy-Li-Fatt has the most flavor of Lohan Kungfu in Southern Shaolin, it is quite different from the Lohan Kungfu of Northern Shaolin. While both Northern Shaolin Lohanquan and Choy-Li-Fat use forceful, pressing attacks, the former attacks are more linear and forward, whereas the latter attacks are more circular and downward or upward.
I believe Chan Harng’s special techniques and strategies would be to press in an opponent, simultaneously deflecting his counters if applicable, with patterns like “Throw Balls in Waves”, “Whirlwind Smashes Waves” and “Black Panther Enters Rock”.
It is interesting to note that while the leopard fist, like in “Black Panther Enters Rock”, is widely used in Choy-Li-Fatt, it is not found in Eighteen-Lohan Fist. This is because the leopard fist was a latter development.
This answer shows not only the special techniques and strategies of past Eighteen-Lohan Fist masters, but also the development of Eighteen-Lohan Fist over many centuries and how we can benefit from it.
The Tiger-Crane Set of Wong Fei Hoong was evolved from Eighteen Lohan Fist, but due to the long interval in between it may not be easy to see an semblance between the two sets
Little Lohan Fist
18-Lohan Fist
Treasure House of Kungfu Sets
Treasure House of Combat Application
Those who wish to attend the 18-Lohan Fist course in Frankfurt, Germany on 26th, 29th, 30th September and 1st October 2014, please contact Secretary, Wahnam Germany or phone (069) 904-31954.
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on 18-Lohan Fist in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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