Northern Shaolin Seven Star Praying Mantis

 

Style Overview and Principles

 

 

The Shaolin Temple (est. 495 CE)

There was once in ancient Northern China a beautiful monastery, where boys and young men went in hope of learning to live well and worthily as Buddhist monks. China was apart from the rest of the world, a vast empire bordered by the Great Wall. There were warlords with soldiers, and desperate bandits, roaming the country in search of spoils. Monks who could no fight made them easy targets. The monks learned the fighting arts, practicing hard constantly to perfect their skills (especially flourishing under the tutelage of Bodhidharma, a wandering Buddhist monk). 

 

In doing so they built their minds and bodies up to superb condition, and made themselves a potent force for defense of the of the innocent. It is from their traditions that we have inherited the Pray Mantis arts; approximately 350 years ago under the teachings and methods of Wong Long.

 

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The Praying Mantis     

Many animals exhibit sophisticated and elegant combat techniques. The Shaolin monks enriched the martial arts by diligent mimicry of animal fighting move sequences. Many such sequences were lost after the last monks left the Shaolin temples during the early-1900s, but the Praying Mantis forms have been preserved. Some of the other forms have since been recreated.

 

Legend has it that the Praying Mantis art was originated by the monk who saw a mantis engaged in combat against a cicada, and thereafter learned via contending with it using twigs. The Seven Star was a pattern found upon the back of a mantis an advanced student had captured. The student had mastered the art and had been permitted by his teacher to form a new version of it, named after the pattern on the back of the mantis. 

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The Seven Star

This pattern resembles a seven star constellation. It marked a useful stepping sequence and served as a reminder of the seven star, a most auspicious figure in geometry. The main distinguishing characteristic of the monk's new version was that it used the low strong stances and sudden springing steps from the apes and monkeys. The Seven Star style, like its predecessor, was fast and intense, complex and fluid, but it had a new strength in its strikes.

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It is fast and furious. It has the grace and balance of Tai Chi Chaun but the timing and explosive speed of the hard percussive styles. The Seven Star Mantis style is primarily a soft style, although a good many of its techniques are to be found in modern hard styles. It emphasizes mental growth more than physical, although the training is based largely on vigorous physical activity: the body follows the mind and vice versa. It builds in its devoted practitioners health and soundness of mind and body, and a resiliency of character that makes them fully prepared to meet life's challenges. 

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Kung Fu Family Seniority

The application "sifu" comes from Chinese word which translates to something like "person of great learning and accomplishment". It usually refers to the one who teaches the Chinese martial arts: 

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