Luohan

[charliec]

I'm trying to find the characters for Luohan and I've found Luo(3) as "effect, result" and in the fourth tone as "verry rapidly, in a flash, suddenly" and Han(4) as "harmonious, peacefull."

So I guess it could be the peacefull result, or a sudden peace. Both of those make sense I suppose... any help would be much appreciated.

For those entering the
realm of Wu with a mind
on Ch'an, the silent
smile awaits them. -
Ch'au-Lu

www.thousandbuddha.org (http://www.thousandbuddha.org)

[GeneChing]

I've been working on a series in Kungfu Qigong on Shaolin Luohan with the Iron Arhat himself, Shi Guolin. Installment 3 is in our NOV/DEC issue which should be hitting the stands in a week. Check it out.

Here is the first 2 sentences of that installment for you as a teaser...
"Luohan (more comonly spelled Lohan) was originally a-lo-han, a phonetic translation of the Sanskrit of Arahant or Arhat. Chinese frequently swap L's for R's...."

The rest of the article discusses the different Luohan and reveals the rest of the form. The 4th and final installment will be in our following issue.

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com (http://www.KUNGFUmagazine.com)

[beiquan]

The chinese characters for "luo han" should not be translated literally. The word is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit "arhat". When foreign terms or proper names are translated into Chinese, they are given Chinese characters whose sound approximates the sound in the original language.

Also, the "luo" in Luohan is second tone and has a different meaning, i think you've got the wrong characters:

http://www.zhongwen.com/d/195/d185.gif
http://www.zhongwen.com/d/186/d126.gif

(images from www.zhongwen.com (http://www.zhongwen.com))

[charliec]

Gene, you **** temptress, now I'm gonna have to go spend more of my money! :D

beiquan, thank you very much. i knew what the word was, translation et al, i just have never done any significant Chinese so didn't know about loan-words. Thanks again.

For those entering the
realm of Wu with a mind
on Ch'an, the silent
smile awaits them. -
Ch'au-Lu

www.thousandbuddha.org (http://www.thousandbuddha.org)

[GeneChing]

Thanks for supporting my behavior! :cool:

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com (http://www.KUNGFUmagazine.com)

[Fish of Fury]

yeah, good sales job, Gene.
i might have to rush out and get that myself, as i'm interested in LuoHan in general.

__________________________________________________ _________________________ "I'm just trying to lull you into a genuine sense of security!"

[GeneChing]

Thanks for the compliments on sales, guys, but I earnestly hope you find the contents of the series a more appealing aspect of my work. I put a lot of work into those articles, not just capturing Shi Guolin in action, but also doing general background research on Luohan - both the form and the mythology. Do tell me what you think after you read it.

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com (http://www.KUNGFUmagazine.com)

[diego]

i have a few books in chinese characters,is there a sight i can translate you know about,not the english "wong"but a site for chinese lettering translated into english not just wong--etc

uno

"I finish the job with a tiger claw into the throat. Remember guys'INSERT CORNY WHITEBOY VOICE' use extreme violence against your opponents always, that will discourage them from hurting other people" kungfu site technique sec.VS?."...

[diego]

im crashing

"I finish the job with a tiger claw into the throat. Remember guys'INSERT CORNY WHITEBOY VOICE' use extreme violence against your opponents always, that will discourage them from hurting other people" kungfu site technique sec.VS?."...

[Fish of Fury]

any info on "open heart" LuoHan?
is it in any of the mags? if so which one?

__________________________________________________ _________________________ "I'm just trying to lull you into a genuine sense of security!"

[GeneChing]

Not familiar with that, sorry. Does it relate to the heart sutra? What is it in Chinese?

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com (http://www.KUNGFUmagazine.com)

[Fish of Fury]

yes, i'm sure it does.
our sifu taught not only combined (18,72 etc.) LuoHan forms but also individual forms related to each of the 18 LuoHan (one of which is the "open Heart" LuoHan, at least the translation i know).
these individual forms often more qi gong based than entirely "martial"

when i went with sifu and a group of seniors to (sorry, can't remember name...town on yangtze river supposedly traditionally the "doorway" to the realms of the dead) they had 18 luohan statues which i quite liked...quite "raw" and seemed to express a lot of character.
since then i started taking an interest but find info hard to come by. i like the open heart luohan particularly

__________________________________________________ _________________________ "I'm just trying to lull you into a genuine sense of security!"

[GeneChing]

I don't know too much about Luohan qigong. There are several Luohan forms in practice at Shaolin Temple - the ones that I have seen are all definately martial. Additionally there are some who practice it as an independant style, which sort of open's pandora's box for research.

Those Yangtze luohans sound cool. Ever been in the luohan hall across from Shaolin Temple? They have 500 luohan, plus a taste of Buddhist hell in the basement.

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com (http://www.KUNGFUmagazine.com)

[Fish of Fury]

i've been to both the new southern shaolin temples, but haven't made it to the northern one (yet! one day i hope)
the luohan chamber sounds impressive.

__________________________________________________ _________________________ "I'm just trying to lull you into a genuine sense of security!"

[Shaolin Master]

I offered to write an article on "Fujian Southern Shaolin Lohan Quan" to Martha, but recieved no response. So I guess the interest in it isn't that immense.

[GeneChing]

Hmm, when and how did you inquire to Martha? Sometimes it takes a little while to get through, she can be quite busy with the inquiry load. I'm surprised she didn't bite at it - it sounds like a good proposal. You might try to inquire again...

Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com (http://www.KUNGFUmagazine.com)