Shaolin Kung Fu Academy
Mordialloc

1 Traditional Chinese Weaponry Intro/Overview

Preamble

It is interesting to note how the Shaw Brother movies of the 70's and 80's influenced martial arts, especially some of the more violent and gory films. Although the Shaw Brother productions took inspiration in legend and mythology, they were very liberal with the facts and detail. Especially the depiction of Shaolin Monks and Shaolin Influence in Chinas history had almost nothing to do with reality. Rumors have it that when China wanted Wushu (Kung Fu) included in the 2008 Olympics one of the sticking points for the Olympic Committee was the violent depiction of Wushu in Cinemas! Interestingly or ironically, the American serial production "Kung Fu" from the 1970's with David Carradine† captured the Shaolin Buddhist Spirit more accurately and their aversion to use weaponry of any kind.

Myth Busting

There is no such thing as Shaolin Weapons; not 18, not 144, not any. Shaolin are Buddhists do no harm nor eat any living being let alone use weapons against humans even in defence. Shaolin may have used a staff on their journeys, carried a Monks Spade for earning a living burying the dead while journing, a Monks Lantern for the night, a walking stick even and they may have used a bench to protect themselves, but never a weapon. Yes, they did train to use weapons, but only to understand weapon usage and limitations to protect themselves in times where law was scarce unless you paid for it.

Some fools who training martial arts call their hands 'Lethal Weapons". Some people who witnessed Shaolin WARRIOR Monks defending themselves may refer to the Warrior Monks 18 weapons: 2 Hands, 2 feet (4), 2 elbows (6), 2 knees (8), 2 shins (10), 2 forearms (12), 2 shoulders (14), 2 hips (16), head and bum (18). But there are no 18 or any Shaolin Weapons. Shaolin trained weaponry inside the temple to learn how to defend bare handed against weapons or for exercise. Not to use them against any living being.

The principles of Buddhism suggest that any harm you do will come back on you and prevent you from becoming one with Buddha. Without going into great detail, Shaolin determined that the only way to apply their martial art was by using their Bare Hand Skills mainly for Evasion and control, wearing down their opponent instead of beating them down; including against weaponed attacks. In some Chinese martial art movies you see the hero disarming an opponent then disdainfully throwing the weapon to the ground rather than use it back against the person. To have the skill to successfully defend against a weaponed attacker, you need to know weapons.

Thus, in the confines of the Shaolin Temple they trained many, many weapons both for exercise and to reenact attacks. Shaolin would never use these weapons outside the temple against another living being. We at the Shaolin Academy continue this tradition and principle in our weapon training. That is not said that Shaolin did not use tools for defence!

Shaolin had five traveling monk tools. When they undertook a journey, even a short one, it could take days. They could not carry much and every piece they carried had to fulfill many functions. The foremost and easiest to obtain was the Shaolin Staff. It could be used for fishing, probing marshy ground, carrying loads, and much more. We at the academy came up with almost 100 uses for a Shaolin Staff that is as tall as the carrier.

Established Monks, for their journeys, might choose the Shaolin Spade. They can earn their way by burying the dead. Not everyone could afford a proper burial so the Shaolin function as the poor people undertakers even burying other travelers they found dead along the roads when needed. The Shaolin Lantern, (As the graphic to the left) a staff with a candle inside the cage that would have paper around it, used it travel during the night. A walking stick is a walking stick and sometimes called a damo cane as older Shaolin would use it and train with it. The bench showing in the background of the graphic to the left, represents any object as a form of weapon or shield. Jacky Chan is a master of using random objects to confound attackers..

Hot and Cold

In the Shaolin Academy, we only train in Cold Weapons. Cold weapons are 'non-explosive' weapons; items that predominately rely on the skill, strength, speed, accuracy and targeting of the wielder and are usually made for one-on-one engagements. Explosive weapons are anything the needs a spark or light to work such as pistols, guns, cannons, rockets, bombs and the-like (Records suggest that Chinese inventors had land torpedo's and rockets almost 1000 years ago). The Shaolin Academy weapon training is limited to Cold or non-explosive weapon defence.

Ten Thousand Weapons

The number ten thousand is synonymous with uncountable and that describes well the different types of weapons developed , used and often forgotten in China's long and often violent history. You can not prepared for all the different types of weapons but most weapons have a commonality, a way they are used that allows us to group them to understand how to manage and defend against most cold weapons. It is not a perfect but it is a functional system of understanding weapon defence. (Each symbol is a link to a page about that style of weapon);

Real Life Experience

In a previous life, so long ago when i was young and an international truck driver in Europe, I received a full hit to my left ear with a stick. There were four of them trying to rob my truck, loaded with 19 pallets of honey but they did not know that I only carried honey as the company name was Dr. Krieger. So, they possibly thought I carried drugs.

I was driving across several borders, in a time before the EU was as open as today. I had to go through three of four border controls and if my semi's Customs Seal was damaged or broken, each boarder would take the truck aside and unload it to check if I had what I said or was smuggling something. So, I could not let the four break the seal and access my load of honey jars. To this day the memory of that event is still with me, the other-worldly surreal feel when the mind goes on auto pilot and the body reacts and does what I trained to do.

Finished with my evening meal, international semi diving in the seventies, retuning to my truck I am not sure what I did when I was attacked and hit in the side of my head with something. All I remember was that I got into my truck with some bruises and drove off before the police of that country got involved. Four attackers were down, alive, mostly semi conscious. As it was their word against a mine, a foreigner in that country, I made tracks. So, why this account?

Unless you have real life experience with attacks you do not know how you will deal with the shock, even if it is not a weapon attack. That is the good part of martial arts, it may not prepare you for a real attack, but your body, if trained correctly. The side of my head was bleeding and I developed a massive headache, but I was not the one on the ground and my customs seal (and I) was in tact. There was not time to think, consider options, take a stance! After the blow to the head, there was only survival.

Long vs. Short Weapons

Not a well defined measure, we refer to long as anything that standing, is over your shoulder. Long weapons give an attacker ranger but they are usually easier to manage, if you know what to do. Most swords are short weapons and most staff weapons are long weapons. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule with war and killing not usually constrained by rules or ethics. But before we focus on the exceptions, let's understand the usual, the favored ways.

The Art of War

Arguably, before the twentieth century, China had the most wars and war related deaths of any single nation. Chinese Weapon Masters considered four (cold) weapons as the key to successful warfare. Because of this, these four were named;

1. The Staff is know as the Father of all Weapons. Almost any weapon can be used to bludgeon and thus, the staff is the father of all. Yet, it is also so called because the humble staff has often defeated the curved sword including the famed Katana. It is not a killing weapon so not as useful as a sword in war, but great for defence and usually very cheep.
2. As the most popular cold weapon ever, a curved sword is the Marshal of all Weapons. Marshal as in Marshal Arts names the sword as the most used weapon before hot war fare. Even now, a knife or sword is valuable and every soldier has one, despite high tech military equipment and weaponry.
3. Many agree that in the right hands, a spear is uneatable and thus named the King of all weapons. Alexander the Great's spear legion was undefeated. The Massai people's short spear contributed to their reputation as fearsome hunters an warriors. In short, the Spear, when used by a proficient warrior is near unbeatable and thus the King of all Weapons.
4. The Lord of all Weapons, the Straight Sword. Aside from the short sword, like the Romans used, which may be better described as a long knife, the Straight Sword is the most difficult weapon to learn proficiently let alone master. Only rich people with plenty of time and money could train the elegant straight sword and so, it became the weapon of lords and thus the Lord of all Weapons.

Why Train Weaponry

Because it is fun. It also helps keep your bare hand training fresh, stimulates, helps with body awareness and may even help you to understand a person who may be threatening you with a knife, bat, or chain; and you may even be a part of a music video, film or stage production because of your skill. You may see of they just have the item to give them courage of if they are serious users. But, there are a few more reason to train weaponry including improving your hand-eye coordination. But, before we get to that, a word of warning. Don't play with weapons unsupervised; make sure the the teacher you choose knows what they are doing, really. Not that they trained under someone who knew something at sometime but that they have verifiable qualification or a long record of teaching weaponry. Do not run afoul of the law. Be aware of legal requirements in your country and state. Then, if you are not enjoying it, move on.

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If you are still reading this, come to try out three free sessions with us. There is a voucher to a link with details to the right of the text. Allow me to introduce you to the secret and wonderful style of Shaolin Kung Fu. Just do it! Print out the voucher or download it to your phone, send it to your email, Facebook or SMS's it! You will either like what we do, or not. You will be able to check it off your Bucket List; I tried Shaolin Kung Fu! No contracts, no tricks. We are a Professional not Commercial organization and will not tie you into anything. Just come down and try the three free sessions. I will be happy to welcome you.    Sijo Robert Z

We are happy to hear from you and answer you martial art, health and developmental questions. If you wish to train with us, the first 3 sessions are free. It is best to try these before making any commitment. If you have any other questions or would lust like to explore some possibilities, you can;

• Call us between 11am and 5pm, Tuesday to Friday & Sunday on 0458 742 654 that is 0458 SHAOLIn
• e-mail us at the Shaolin Academy
• Drop into any of our venues at least 30 minutes before class start.
• Or in a special case, you can also arrange a personal meeting with Master Robert Z. You can call him on 0458 742 654 (0458 SHAOLIn).

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