Ah Dat-Ta was born in 1426 and was a member of a nomadic tribe that traveled throughout Tibet and Qinghai. He was an active young man who practiced horsemanship, wrestling (Shuai-Jiao) and a special type of Kahm-Na (seizing and controlling skill). After being ordained as a monk in Tibet, he also learned a martial art that was apparently Indian in origin.

For several years Ah Dat-Ta retreated to the mountains to live in seclusion, studying Buddhist texts and practicing meditation. He also hoped to improve his martial art skill. One day Ah Dat-Ta's meditation was disturbed by a loud sound. He left the cave he had been meditating in to investigate and found an ape trying to capture a crane. He was astonished. Despite the ape's great size and strength, the crane eluded the great swings and pecked at soft, vital points. Ah Dat-Ta was inspired to create a new martial art.

Ah Dat-Ta created a system that mimicked the deft evasion and vital point striking of the white crane and the ape's powerful swings and grabbing techniques. It was based upon the number eight, an important number in Chinese cosmology and numerology. The fundamental fighting theory was known as the "eight character true essence". The "eight character true essence" can be roughly translated as "strike the place that has a pulse, never a place that has no pulse, and stretch the arms out while keeping the body away".

The system consisted of 8 fist strikes, 8 palm strikes, 8 elbow strikes, 8 finger strikes, 8 kicking techniques, 8 seizing (clawing) techniques, 8 stances and 8 stepping patterns. It included techniques derived from a wide variety of influences including Mongolian wrestling (Shuai Jiao), Northern and Western Chinese long arm and kicking techniques, and Tibetan and Indian close range hand techniques and evasive footwork.

These eight divisions were then used to create three distinct "forms", sometimes thought of as different levels or fighting theories. The three forms were "flying crane hands" (Fei Hok Sau), "Maitreya hands" (Neih Lahk Sau), and "gauze wrapping hands" (Dou Lo Sau). Thus, the system was actually quite complex.

"Flying crane hands" (Fei Hok Sau) was devoted to all of the fundamental level fighting techniques of the system and was composed of both fist strikes and open hand techniques aimed at vital points, kicking and sweeping techniques, evasive footwork, and continuous circular striking combinations.

"Maitreya hands" (Neih Lahk Sau) was devoted to the advanced fighting techniques and was composed of seizing, holding and twisting techniques and two very specialized skills, "vein seizing hand" and "vein dissolving hand".

The third and final division was known as "Dou Lo Sau" and was named for a plant indigenous to India, whose seeds have a hard outer shell but a soft, cotton like, substance within it. "Dou Lo Sau" was devoted to internal aspects of the system. The needle in cotton hand set is derived from techniques of the "Dou Lo Sau" division.

Based on a line found in the sutra known as "The Lantern Passing Record", this new system was called Lion's Roar. According to this sutra, upon the birth of the Buddha, he stood up, pointed the finger of one hand to the sky, the finger of the other hand to the earth and roared like a lion to announce he had arrived. Lion's Roar was considered the Tibetan Lamas' special gift, directly from Buddha.

Ah Dat-Ta eventually taught Lion's Roar to another Tibetan Lama who expanded the system further by creating another form, the "shooting star fists" (Lau Sing Kyuhn). It was felt that many of the techniques within the "flying crane hands" were too advanced for beginners and thus the "shooting star fists" division was created to contain the most basic techniques. This "form" included all the long arm techniques, the three most basic footwork patterns (the meridian footwork, plum blossom footwork and Baat Gwa footwork) and most of the kicking. "Shooting star fists" closely corresponded to Ah Dat- Ta's vision of the great ape.

After several more generations, teachers of Lion's Roar kung-fu reorganized the system and created a number of additional hand sets. The first group of hand sets were named after the Lo Han, Boddhisattva or Buddhist Saints. The second group was named after the Gam Gong, literally meaning "diamond" but referring to the Buddhist Guardians.

In addition, these teachers identified nine principles within the Lion's Roar system. The first eight of these principles were the "Grand Ultimate" (Tai Geuk), "Twin Principles" (Leung Yi), "Three Conflicts" (Sam Chai), "Four Primary Trigrams" (Sae Jeuhng), "Five Elements" (Nhg Haahng), "Six Harmony" (Luk Hop), "Seven Star" (Chat Sing), and "Eight Trigram" (Baat Gwa). The ninth principle has been referred to as either the "Nine Temple" (Gow Gong) or "Nine Link" (Gow Jih). It represents the culmination of the principles into a complete fighting theory. Since these theories are all common within the Chinese martial tradition, we can assume that by this point Chinese martial arts had already influenced Lion's Roar.

Back to main page
next chapter