Shaolin's Clothing and Bowl True Transmission

[Tainan Mantis]

Shaolin's Clothing and Bowl True Transmission Also known as Clothing and Bowl Internal Gung True Transmission is a book more commonly called Luohan Gung in Praying Mantis Boxing circles.

Owing to the single word "Shaolin" I thought that those here may take an interest in this manuscript. I have been working on the translation for some years now and recently finished a decent rough draft of the final "gung" of the manual.

The Golden Hook Hangs the Jade Vase (http://www.plumflowermantisboxing.com/Articles/2010/Golden%20Hook%20Jade%20Vase.htm)

Kevin

[mickey]

Greetings,

Thank you for the share.

When I asked you about whether the legs push upward in the other thread it was because the exercise appeared to combine two exercises contained in the 8 Brocades: Using Two Hands to Support the Heavens and Body Bending. Interestingly, the first exercise is considered the strongest of all eight, it works the triple warmer (3 tan tiens). This may correspond to the "three warm winters" mentioned in your article.

http://www.jadedragon.com/tao_heal/bydchi21.html

mickey

[Tainan Mantis]

Hi Mickey,
I dont think `three warm winters´ has a relation to Eight Section of Brocade.
Instead, I believe that it is an indirect reference to the ´Minor Cosmic Round.´

Minor Cosmic Round is also known as Zi Wu Cosmic Round.
The last gung `Supporting the Sky with a Jade Column` is written in 5 character verse. The author has only these five characters to get his point across for each line so he will take some short cuts in writing and assume the reader understands.

The hour of zi (11pm) is also known as ´winter solstice (dong zhi),´ and is the time when yang fire begins its advance. There are also the periods of the day called ´mao´ and ´you.´ These two times `mao´ and ´you´ are also the times of advancing yang fire. These four times of the day, Zi, Wu, Mao and You are used as a tool for explaining Minor Cosmic Round.

It seems likely that the `Three warm winters´ is talking about these three periods of advancing yang fire.

Hypothesis
This is just a working hypothesis. I suspect that the ideas from this book come from the Lei Jing of 1624 (of which I only have quotations, no copy) or from a book from the Yuan Dynasty when Zi Wu´s explanation first (I think ) appears.

In that book from the Yuan Dynasty Golden Decoction Great Cheng Ji is written,

Zi Wu is the center of heaven and earth,
The yin and yang of heaven,
The heart and kidney of man,
Of time it is Zu and Wu,
Of trigrams it is kan and li,
And the south and north of the cardinal points.

Or, some later book that borrowed heavily from one or another of the above either directly or indirectly.

I have never seen the triple warmer used as an explanatory tool for explaining Minor Cosmic Round, instead it is usually used as a tool for diagnosis. For these reasons I dont think that there is a relationship here to Eight Sections of Brocade.
Kevin

[Tainan Mantis]

If you are interested in finding relationships between Different forms of Qi Gung I touched on it briefly in the article Weituo offers his Vajra (http://www.plumflowermantisboxing.com/Articles/2009/weituo.htm).
It relates The Sinews Transformation Classic to Eight Sections of Brocade When talking about the technique 'Both hands support the sky regulate the triple warmer.

Kevin

[mickey]

Hi,

While it is true that the triple warmer is used for diagnosis. In reference to alchemy, they are one and the same. That is why I provided the link.

Thank you again for the share. It is good knowledge.

mickey

[RenDaHai]

****! For some reason I can't access your site from China! I would like to read that.

I have a copy of SHAOLIN YIBO ZHENCHUAN but its in chinese. And not easy to understand (even if I could read the characters).

On an interesting note YIBO (clothing and bowl) is a reference to how buddhist monks would only possess two worldly goods, their robes and their alms bowl. When they died it would be handed down to a disciple. Thus the word YIBO can be translated as inheritance or legacy. So this book is the 'true shaolin legacy'.

[Tainan Mantis]

RenDaHai,
I am in China now, Yantai. In China you can access my website site from www.vtunnel.com

A New Wang Lang Discovery
Some time ago I wrote an article documenting Wang Lang's earliest known appeareance in written published form.


The book Chang's Pugilist Volume (Chang Shi Wu Ji Shu), Published in Henan sometime during the Chien Long reign (1736-1795) of the Qing dynasty, references Wang Lang, historical founder of Mantis Boxing, when it describes double sword maneuvers.
That article starts with an illustration of the double clubs. I have finally managed to trace down the history of that illustration. It comes from Shaolin's Clothing and Bowl True Transmission

Wang Lang and his Pair of Swords (http://plumflowermantisboxing.com/Articles/pre%2009/2008/WL%20swords.htm)