120 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation
“According Step,” “Exchanging Step,” “Tracing Step,” “Full Step,”
“Empty Step,” “Curved Step,” “Direct Step,” and “Cylindrical Step” are
all distinguishable.^20The Xuanji’s Acupuncture Points’ discussion of various palm postures is ac-
companied by an illustration that betrays Buddhist influence (compare figures
24 and 25). At least in its graphic design, if not in its specific finger positions,
the various palm stances resemble the depiction of symbolic hand gestures
(Sanskrit: mudrâ; Chinese: yinxiang) in Buddhist scriptures. The pattern of a
hand emerging from a cloud, or a lotus, is shared by both. We know of course
that hand gestures were practiced at the Shaolin Monastery, not only because,
a s Michel St r ick mann ha s show n, t hey were an integ r a l element of Tant r ic r it u -
als (which had a pervasive influence on Chinese Buddhism),^21 but more specif-
ically because they figured in the Shaolin’s Vajrapâÿi cult. Recall that in his
twelfth-century Vajrapâÿi stele, Shaolin’s abbot Zuduan noted that the martial
deity’s powers were invoked through palm signs and oral spells.
Following their exposition of hand combat principles, the two manuals
detail specific fighting styles, first of which is the “Drunken Eight-Immortals
Fist” (Zui baxian quan) (figure 26).^22 The eight Daoist immortals have been
borrowed from late Ming lore, in which they were depicted as carefree, often
Fig. 24. Palm
postures betraying
the influence of
Buddhist mudrâs
(from Xuanji’s
Acupuncture Points).