WHAT GRANDMASTER WONG LEARNED FROM HIS TEACHERS, AND THE DEPTH OF 18 LOHAN HANDS
Lifting the Sky
Question
Which exercises from the 18 Lohan Hands did you personally learn from Sigung Ho Fatt Nam and what do you think was the reason why Sigung exclusively chose them to teach to you?
At the recent Chi Kung course in Finale Ligure I was again amazed by the profundity of the exercise Lifting the Sky. To beginners you said that they should perform the exercise as best as they could not paying too much attention to details. To advanced practitioners you mentioned that they should gently focus on finer points and perform it picture perfect.
Both Ronny and I were simply amazed by the results of this training session. It reminded us of the depth of Lifting the Sky. It reminded us of the constantly ongoing development we are able to experience.
What is the reason that an advanced practitioner after having reached a certain development of skills should focus back again at picture perfect form?
Sifu Roland Mastel
Answer
As far as I can remember, the exercises from 18 Lohan Hands that my sifu, Sifu Ho Fatt Nam, taught me were:
- Lifting the Sky
- Separating Water
- Pushing Mountain
- Big Windmill
- Three Levels to Ground
- Dancing Crane
My sifu taught me these exercises one at a time, except for Three Levels to Ground and Dancing Crane when he taught them to me together. Each time was to meet an expedient need. My sifu also did not tell me that they were from 18 Lohan Hands.
Lifting the Sky was the first of all the things my sifu taught me. Hence, it has much sentimental value for me. After Lifting the Sky my sifu taught me the Horse-Riding Stance.
I did not know why he taught me Lifting the Sky, and as an obedient student I just follow my sifu’s teaching, without asking him why he taught me the exercise.
On hindsight, I believe it was an excellent exercise to start kungfu training. It loosened joints and muscles, activated an energy flow (though I was unaware of it at that time), and created a meditative mind-set. In one stroke, the exercise prepared a student well in jing, qi, and shen, or body, energy and mind.
When I established Shaolin Wahnam Association in Sungai Petani in the 1990s, I usually started the class with Lifting the Sky. When I first taught Intensive Shaolin Kungfu Courses I also often started with Lifting the Sky. Now we start with entering Zen.
When my sifu taught me Separating Water, it was for strengthening my arms. I still remember feeling my arms very powerful after just a few repetitions.
When my sifu taught me Pushing Mountain it was the start of my Cosmos Palm training. I was training Iron Palm with my sihengs, when my sifu stopped me, saying my palms were like a lady’s. Then he taught me Pushing Mountain.
When my progress in Pushing Mountain was good, my sifu taught me Big Windmill, unlike the gentle way our students now perform in 18 Lohan Hands but in a forceful manner. I remember it was very powerful. I could only perform 2 repetitions with each arm.
Soon I returned home in Penang for a holiday from Kuala Trengganu where I trained with my sifu. At home I tried breaking a brick, and to my surprise it broke. I confirmed my power, much of which was derived from forceful Big Windmill, by successfully breaking a few more bricks.
Three Levels to Ground and Dancing Crane were taught to me to loosen my leg muscles. I asked my sifu whether I could practice sitting meditation by sitting upright on a chair.
“No,” he said, “if you want the highest result. You must meditate in a lotus position, or at least a half-lotus position.”
“My legs are very stiff,” I told my sifu.
Then he taught me Three Levels to Ground and Dancing Crane. I practiced nightly for about two years before I could meditate in a half-lotus position.
Lifting the Sky is a wondrous exercise. Its benefits range from the most basic, like being relaxed, to the most advanced, like merging with the Cosmos, and countless benefits, like generating an energy flow, attaining a one-pointed mind, and enjoying a cosmic shower, in between.
I advised beginners not to pay too much attention to details because if they did they would perform it as physical exercise. They would not be able to generate an energy flow because their mind would be intellectualizing on how to perform the form correctly.
My main objective was to enable them to use Lifting the Sky with appropriate breathing to generate an energy flow. If they free their mind from unnecessary details they would be able to do so.
Advanced practitioners could generate an energy flow easily. So they could focus on finer points.
There are three areas of finer points advanced practitioners can focus on, namely jing, qi and shen, or form, breathing and mind. Of course they should not attempt to improve all the areas at once, they should focus on just one point or a few points at a time, and progress gradually.
The progression should be in the order of form, breathing and mind. If advanced practitioners can just improve on the finer points of form, they can improve their results remarkably.
These finer points on form include that their arms should be straight but not locked, the palms are at right angle as best as possible to their forearms, their fingers pointing at one another, when they lift up they should do so with the base of their palms and not just with their fingers, when they lower their hands their palms should be at the sides of their thighs and not in front, and they should pause after lowering their hands with their wrists and fingers relaxed.
The breathing and the mind aspects are profound, and should be supervised by a competent teacher. Basically, practitioners should breathe in and out gently, and enjoy their breathing. It is energy, not just air, that they take in. Their mind should be cleared of all thoughts, and be gently focused on the breathing.
The 18 Lohan Hands are a legacy of Bodhidharma, the First Patriarch of the Shaolin arts. It is no wonder that they give wonderful benefits. Like many things in our school, the best exercise, Lifting the Sky, is taught first.
Carrying the Moon
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread 18 Lohan Hands: 10 Questions to Grandmaster Wong in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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