The Shaolin Monastery. History, Religion and the Chinese Martial Arts

128 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation by their own training routine of fixed positions (shi). Late Ming military encyclopedias— ...

Fig. 28. Shaolin monks performing for visiting dignitaries; early nineteenth-century Shaolin fresco. Fig. 29. Shaolin monks perf ...

130 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation New Treatise of Military Efficiency, the renowned general covered every aspect of mass wa ...

Hand Combat 131 even have been suspect for their association with the lower classes. Qi’s ap- prehension of sparring is obvious ...

132 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation A green lion’s open-mouthed lunge; A carp’s snapped-back flip. Sprinkling flowers over th ...

Hand Combat 133 Other Fighting Styles In the winter of 1930, pioneering martial arts historian Tang Hao (1897–1959) traveled to ...

134 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation lin Monastery’s vicinity. Beginning in the seventeenth century, and all through the Qing ...

Hand Combat 135 Manchu conquest, he was reported to have said that bare-handed fighting was more appropriate than armed combat f ...

136 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation teenth century witnessed the emergence of new bare-handed styles, which, three hundred ye ...

137 Chapter 6 Gymnastics L ate Ming Shaolin monks did not turn their attention to hand combat be- cause it was militarily effect ...

138 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation An Official–Cum–Martial Artist Wang Zuyuan (ca. 1820–after 1882) might illustrate the int ...

Gymnastics 139 The Face: Rub the hands until hot, then rub the face with them, high and low, all over, no spot to be left un-rub ...

140 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation What was the source of the gymnastic exercises Wang studied at the Shao- lin Temple? Did ...

Gymnastics 141 the Eastern Han (25–220) when the renowned physician Hua Tuo (ca. 190– 265) created “five-animals” exercises, eac ...

142 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation subverting biological time it was possible to regain the fetus’s limitless potential for ...

Gymnastics 143 to receive a blow, thereby lessening the pain and possibly preventing injury, or he may direct his internal power ...

144 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation medieval period, the supernormal efficacy of physiological exercises was fur- ther elabor ...

Gymnastics 145 were two groups of souls, three upper ones (hun) and seven lower ones (po), and if there were differences of opin ...

146 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation Wangting, alluded to it as a source of inspiration.) The Scripture of the Yellow Court ou ...

Gymnastics 147 ternal organs. They also wrote the character “sun” on a piece of paper, which they burnt and mixed in water. By d ...