Chan Philosophy/Poetry in Shaolin Forms

[rickyscaggs]

I have an interesting topic, I hope. I know about some mudras and positions in Shaolin forms that have Chan philosophy to them, such as the 'sleeping arhat' positions and of course whenever you bow and do meditation hands. But there are less apparent ones as well. If you know some please share it here! I also heard of the poetry that goes with movements and forms. If anyone knows something, let's discuss.

[GeneChing]

Almost all traditional kung fu forms have lyrics - these are called kou jue or "mouth rhyming-formula". Kuo Jue are used as mnemonics to remember all sorts of things, like the order of dynasties and such. They rhyme in Chinese, in sort of a sing-song manner. The ABC song in English is akin to kou jue. So these aren't exclusively Buddhist or even exclusively martial.

I've posted the lyrics for all the Bak Sil Lum sets that I know here on this forum (search BSL). I've also posted a few more - a lyric comparison for Xiaohong and Cha #4. When I have more time, I'll search them up and add those to this thread.

As for mudras and postures, that's a little more tricky since there's more variation. We touched on it a little in this thread on lohan

[rickyscaggs]

Thanks!

What I was looking for was for example, the stomp with the fist slamming into the palm represents Hui Ke and the Drum Mountain. Stepping to gong bu while blocking down with one palm and shooting the other palm out over that is like clearing the sleeve and placing incense in the burner. Know what I mean?