Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Palm Lineage
GRANDMASTER CHEN QI MING was born in Guangzhou, China in 1945. In the 1950s, Grandmaster Chen trained in Hung Ga Kung Fu. Everytime they met, Grandmaster always insisted on Striking Three Stars (Banging Arms) to test Sifu Ripski’s skills.
Grandmaster’s family had been Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practioners for many generations. Likewise, he was a Doctor of TCM registered with the Chinese Ministry of Health and a registered TCM Pharmacist in Guangdong, China. He had a long TCM career:
(1) Professor of TCM at the Central China Technology Institute
(2) Vice-President of the Central Guangzhou Health Research Institute
(3) Board Member of the Chinese Medical Hall of Fame
(4) Board Member of the Hong Kong TCM Association
(5) Research Officer at the Department of Birth at the Science Institute of China
(6) Research Officer at the Technology & Human Resource Development Centre of China, and many others.
By the 1990s, Grandmaster was widely known in Guangzhou as a person who would give free medical care to all who needed it.
Bodhidharma Transmits Eighteen Lohan to Shaolin Temple
Rewinding to the beginning, Ven. Bodhidharma (~6th-cenutry CE) is the South Indian (or Persian) monk who initially transmitted Chan Buddhism to China.
His first biography was written by Daoxuan (~7th century). Legends tells us that Ven. Bodhidharma visited Songshan Shaolin Temple and taught three exercises:
Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Palm
Muscle-Tendon Changing
Bone-Marrow Washing
These cultivation methods were designed to aid Shaolin monks in their meditation practice.
As time went on and political turmoil left monks without centralized protection, Eighteen Lohan Plam became Eighteen Lohan Fist: a blend of Ven. Bodhidharma’s exercises, Chinese martial arts, Daoist health practices, Buddhist meditation, and various streams of Chinese and Indian philosophy.
Cross pollination of many ideas and practices gave birth to the vast diversity of Shaolin traditions we see today.
Grandmaster Chen Meets a Tibetan Lama
Grandmaster Chen Qi Ming learned Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Palm in Guangzhou. The city of Guangzhou has many historic Buddhist temples. Grandmaster told us that, in the 1960s a Tibetan Lama visited Guangzhou to exchange knowledge with local Buddhists.
When Lama Tenzin became very ill, Grandmaster Chen was the one who treated him. After a few treatments, the Lama recovered and offered Grandmaster payment, which was quickly refused. As a Buddhist, Grandmaster did not want a one cent of the monk’s money.
IMAGE: Eighteen Lohan postures from Grandmaster Chen’s medicine shop. The caption at the bottom contains: “Master Chen learned this in the 1960s under a Tibetan Lama who was a Lineage-Holder.“
A Temple in White Cloud Mountains
When Grandmaster Chen healed him for free, Lama Tenzin took this as an auspicious sign and decided to make his home at a temple in White Cloud Mountains near Guangzhou. (We suspect it was Nengren Temple.) Grandmaster was a student of Lama Tenzin for ~30 years until the Lama passed away.
Lama Tenzin told Grandmaster Chen that after Southern Shaolin Temple was partially destroyed, a Southern Shaolin master came to Tibet seeking religious refuge. One of the Tibetan monasteries passed down Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Palm as a part of their Buddhist training until Lama Tenzin brought it Guangzhou in the 1960s.
Other Southern Shaolin arts like Lohan Ru Yi Quan (罗汉如意拳), Wuji Quan (無極拳), and Wuzuquan (五祖拳) have similar origin stories and cultivation sytems. However, Dr. Jones, who specializes in Tibetan Buddhist practices, confirms that the meditative curriculum of Eighteen Lohan has features of Tibetan Buddhist practice.
Grandmaster Chen & Sifu Ripski Meet
Dr. Chen immigrated to Edmonton, Canada in 2002 as a consultant for the Chinese Medical Culture Exchange Association.
In Edmonton, he founded the Ming Town Chinese Herbal Pharmacy, Ming Town TCM Research Institute, and the Ming Town Refresh Health Centre. He became the Chief Editor for the Life Enhancement & Health Maintenance Section of the Canadian Chinese Times. He also served as the Vice-Chairman of the Edmonton Chinese Herbal Medicine Association.
Dr Chen met Sifu Neil Ripski in 2003, making him an Inner-Door Student for Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Palm almost immediately. Over ~20 years, Grandmaster transmitted the lineage to Sifu Ripski.
Transmitting the Lineage
In the late 2000s, Sifu Ripski was authorised to teach parts of the Eighteen Lohan system.
Grandmaster Chen Qi Ming formally recognized Sifu Ripski as a holder of the complete lineage in June 2013. At that time, Grandmaster gave him this piece of calligraphy.
Sifu Ripski continued to do events with Grandmaster Chen and train with him until his passing in 2022.
A Short Blessing
In 2018, Grandmaster wrote out and explained this poem from Invocation of the Vajra Cutter Sutra (銷釋金剛經科儀) by Chan Master Zongjing (釋宗鏡, 1242 CE):
“The Buddha is at Sacred Mountain; do not seek Him far away.
The Sacred Mountain is right here inside your heart-mind.
Everyone possesses a Sacred Mountain pagoda.
It is best to practice cultivation beneath that very pagoda.”The Vajra Cutter Sutra is one of the most important texts of both Chinese and Tibetan forms of Mahayana Buddhism.
Keeping the Lineage Alive
Before passing in 2022, Grandmaster Chen asked Sifu Ripski to document and carry on the Shaolin Eighteen Lohan Palm lineage. This lead to the writing The Book of Earth (2023), Sifu Ripski’s first book on Eighteen Lohan. Since the mid-2010s, Sifu Ripski has been transmitting the Eighteen Lohan lineage to students all over the world. This is now his main focus.
Further, Sifu Ripski has trained in numerous forms of gong fu, internal martial arts, and qigong: Yang Tai Chi, Chen Tai Chi, Bagua, Xingyi, Zuiquan, and many others. Sifu Ripski also knows:
(1) Muscle-Tendon Changing (yì jīn jīng, 易筋经)
(2) Bone-Marrow Washing (xǐ suǐ jīng, 洗髓经)
(3) Shaolin Internal Power Method (shàolín nèijìn gōng, 少林內勁功), including Healing Qigong (fā qì, 發氣).
Sifu Ripski now transmits the principles, benefits, and methods of all the arts he has learned through his Eighteen Lohan lineage, as one sythesized cultivation system for transforming the body, vital energy, and mind. He is also actively researching other Eighteen Lohan lineages, other internal Southern Shaolin systems, Neidan, and Tibetan practices to enrich his approach.
Meeting Dr. Jared Jones
In 2023, while training in Neidan together with Ian Burgess, Sifu Ripski and Dr. Jones met for the first time. They decided to launch the Eighteen Lohan Online Course as a way to preserve the entire system for future generations.
Sine 2005, Dr. Jones has been a practioner of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. His MA covered the cognitive science of meditation, and his PhD focuses on Tibetan Buddhist meditation, philosophy, and practice.
Sifu Ripski agreed that Dr. Jones’ meditation methods tailored to city-dwelling lay people could enhance the Lohan curriculum, and Dr. Jones felt his meditation students would benefit from Eighteen Lohan. Thus, Dr. Jones’ Five Foundations of Meditation Course was added to ensure that future students would succeed when they reached Shen (Level 3) Lohan practices.