Luohan (martial arts)

Luohan quan (Chinese: 罗汉拳), which means "Arhat fist", is a general name for all the styles of Chinese martial arts that are named after the Arhats. Luohan-style is the oldest and the representative style of Shaolin kung fu, so that the name Luohan quan is sometimes considered an equal name for the whole vast system of Shaolin Temple martial arts. The original roots of Luohan style date back to the early eras of Shaolin temple. In Shaolin temple, there are various Luohan styles. Besides the Shaolin Luohan styles, there are many Luohan-related styles that have been developed in many other areas of China. Shaolin Luohan 18 hands and Luohan quan are always praised as the root styles based on which most the Shaolin kung fu styles and many other non-Shaolin styles have been created.

Enlightenment (Nirvana) is one of the first concepts of Buddhism. The name Luohan, the Chinese equivalent of the Sanskrit (Indian) word Arhat, refers to those who have achieved enlightenment. Therefore, the ultimate goal of the monks of Shaolin temple, in particular, has always been to reach the level of becoming Luohans. Therefore, the Luohan(s) have always been holy icon(s) in the daily life and martial art of Shaolin temple monks. As far as related to Shaolin temple martial arts, the names Luohan quan and Shaolin quan are often considered synonyms and therefore interchangeable.

There are various Luohan's 18 hands styles. These are the most important ones:

A myth states that Bodhidharma, while visiting the Shaolin Temple taught the monks a series of exercises. Whether this story is right or wrong, based on Buddhist teachings, by observing and imitating the forms and expressions of Arhat statues in the temple, meditation and practice, those ancient exercises later evolved into a combat form called "18 hands of Luohan" (罗汉十八手; luohan shi ba shou), which is the oldest documented, systematized style of Shaolin Kung Fu. According to the historical official text of Shaolin temple, "Shaolin Kung fu Manual" (少林拳谱; shao lin quan pu), in the Sui dynasty (581-618 AD) Shaolin monks had a selected set of 18 simple movements; until the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) the set had developed into 18 martial postures, that were combined into a form (套路; tao lu); the number of the postures increased to 36 until the early Song dynasty (960 AD); and in the Jin-Yuan dynasty (1115-1368 AD) it was developed into 173 movements; finally, in the Ming dynasty the system of the 18 hands of Luohan was completed in 18 forms, each form having 18 postures, making a total of 324 postures. In Shaolin, this style is called "inborn Luohan's 18 hands" (先天罗汉十八手; xian tian luo han shi ba shou), because it was the style with which Shaolin kung fu was born. Monk Shi Deqian, in his efforts to document Shaolin martial arts collected 8 forms of the 18 hands of Luohan into his "Encyclopedia of Shaolin martial arts". Of these forms, most lineages of Shaolin monks have mostly kept only one form, mostly the first, or the eighth form. Shaolin Luohan's 18 hands movements are simple and straight. The methods are mostly done by the palms of the hands. Fists, hook hands, and other hand gestures and kicks are less used. Luohan's 18 hands are considered the elementary forms in Shaolin kung fu.

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