To Eric Ling - Re: Thoughts on Luohan

[mantis108]

Hi Eric,

Since you are interested in Luohan and you mentioned that you found a style that has Luohan principles and I Ching theories together that makes a style that's both Gang & Rou at the sametime, I thought I would share some thoughts with you about this phenomenon. These are my own opinion and my usual caveats applied.

The more I look into the subject, the more I believe that Luohan is not of Shaolin origin. It is rather born of cult militia's Kung Fu (ie White Lotus) that first appeared in the Henan province during Song dynasty, where Shaolin temple is located. This is not to say that cult militia built its Kung Fu from scratch. Rather, they took grass root level Kung Fu such as Fanziquan and projected their spiritual believes onto the style and formed yet another style. This is why you would see Luohan principles or any pugilism for that matter and I Ching theories together. Frankly, without the cults there would not be Luohan style IMHO. It's the same that without underground societies (ie Hong Men) there would not have been Southern Shaolin Kung Fu.

I Ching/Yijing, although it is a highly intellectual body of work, at the grass root level it is for divination or fortune telling (there is a difference between the two). The urge for conflict and anciety go hand in hand in common people. Knowing or not knowing the future is a universal cause for anciety. This is evident even in middle east today. If one can harness this weakness of human pysche, he or she would have control over the populace. This is where the cults movement's negative power came from (well, super power states of modern times also). But if one can actually use the strength of pugilism and the wisdom of the I Ching to nurture and educate the public, he would be King. In fact, all the followers would be enlighten beings - Luohan. That's the possitive application of martial academia.

If we look at many of the old manuscripts, we found the I Ching is the main source where the theories came. The 18 Luohan Qigong book that you have is part of a manuscript that heavily used the I Ching as the theoretical core as well. The reason is that Qi can be quite easily explained with the I Ching model.

Even in White Crane the concepts of Yinyang, Fa (Dharma), Shi (Disposition), Dao (the Way), Shen (Body/Status), Ba Gang Shi Er Rou (8 Hard 12 Soft). BTW, one version has 24 Rou. But I believe 12 Rou is more accurate. This is very much in line with the study of Xian Tian Yi (premodial change), which regards the concept of Gang Rou highly. Personally, this is what Martial Academia (Wu Xue) is about regardless of styles.

Anyway, I believe that Luohan is not originate nor found within the walls of Henan Shaolin Temple. But it's grouped as one of the 3 families (Hong, Kong, Yu) and 4 divisions (Da Xian, Er Long, Luohan, and Weituo-Liuhe) related to Henan Shaolin Kung Fu. It's relatively new development that people claim that Luohan was found in the Henan temple and by the monks. It's the same situation with the Bodhidharma legend IMHO.

Sorry about the long windedness.

Warm regards

Robert

[Eric Ling]

Hahaha Robert, once again you prove that there are higher mountains out there.

LuoHan boxing, history and philosophy, to me is very complex.

Like I mentioned before, I belong to a small serious group of CKF researchers in Asia and one of their prime focal points is “LuoHan” and all the spin-offs.

Over time I am sure we will go deeper but not today.

It’s a holiday here in Sarawak; their “National Day” kinda like “Independence Day”.

My business is closed for the day and I am going out to P_A_R_T_E_E....

Got another clip here to share; Shaolin Jin Kang or Diamond Fist.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBxKy2xSxp0

This, to me, is part of Shaolin’s Luohan boxing big picture…..

Regards.