Shaolin kung fu big holy-Buddhist's 18 hands (luohan shiba shou), some combat methods

instructor: monk Yanti, from Shaolin temple holy-Buddhist's 18 hands (罗汉十八手 :luohan shiba shou) is the oldest and the elementary traditional style of Shaolin kung fu. Shaolin luohan's 18 hands moves are simple. it mainly uses the palms of the hands, but other parts of the body are also used. it is based on imitating the daily activities combined with Buddhist teachings. it is said that in the Sui dynasty (581-618 AD) Shaolin monks had a selected set of 18 simple moves; until the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) these developed into an 18-posture form; this increased into 36 postures until the early Song dynasty (960 AD); and in the Jin-Yuan dynasty (1115-1368 AD) it was developed into 173 moves; finally, in the Ming dynasty the system of the luohan's 18 hands was completed in the form of 18 forms each with 18 postures with the beginning and the ending postures, so 324 postures in total. in Shaolin, this style is called "inborn luohan's 18 hands" (先天罗汉十八手; xiantian luohan shiba shou), as it was the style with which Shaolin kung fu was born. of these 18 forms it seems that only 8 forms have survived to the day, which are recorded in the "Encyclopedia of Shaolin martial arts" (www.scribd.com/collections/4133108). of these 8 forms, most lineages of Shaolin monks have mostly kept only 1 or 2 forms, either the 1st or the 8th form. this is the 8th form, which is bigger than the 1st form. _/\_ __________________ complete set of Shaolin kung fu video tutorials: * Shaolin kung fu training: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB9EB410ECABF43C8 * Shaolin kung fu styles: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8F75C68BF1246C2B * Shaolin kung fu weapons: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE48D537F756421A2