Shaolin monks hone their kung fu skills in the courtyard of the Shaolin Monastery. Murals in the White Hall of the Shaolin Temple.

Authentic Shaolin Heritage: Training Methods of Shaolin Monks

72 Arts of Shaolin: (17) Cinnabar Palm

ZHU SHA ZHANG

Cinnabar Palm | Brief Description 

Excerpt from the book: Jin Jing Zhong. Authentic Shaolin Heritage: Training Methods of 72 Arts of Shaolin >

“Cinnabar Palm” is the soft Shaolin GONG FU, it trains the inner power and belongs to category YIN. This exercise is also called “The Palm of Plum Blossom” (MEI HUA ZHANG) and “Palm of Red Sand” (HONG SHA ZHANG). Sometimes it is also called “Hand of Black Sand”, but that is not right, because the method of “Hand of Black Sand” involves the use of special preparations to increase the inner power...

A full description of the training procedure is available in the book: Training Methods of 72 Arts of Shaolin >

....If you are in command of this Shaolin GONG FU, you need not touch the enemy with hands. You make stroking movements or strike with a palm at some distance and the enemy is severely injured and will surely die in 10-15 days or even in several hours. But at least 15 years of hard work are needed to attain such skill. Being in command of this GONG FU, you must not misuse it in any case. It is a manifestation of guile and ill intentions to use it secretly. It can be used only in extremity to defend your life or the life of your near relatives. Unfounded use of this skill is immoral and disapproved by specialists in WU SHU.

72 Arts of Shaolin: (17) Cinnabar Palm

72 ARTS OF SHAOLIN | Brief Descriptions

(1) Diamond Finger - (2) Twin Lock - (3) Striking with Foot  (4) Pulling out Nails - (5) Ringing Round a Tree - (6 ) Four-Part Exercise - (7) One Finger of Chan Meditation - (8) Iron Head - (9) Iron Shirt - (10) A Series of Blows - (11) Sweeping with an Iron Broom - (12) Hand - a Bamboo Leaf (13) Jumping Centipede - (14) Raising a Weight of 1000 JINs - (15) Celestial’s Palm - (16) Method of Hardness and Softness - (17) Cinnabar Palm - (18) Lying Tiger - (19) Swimming and Diving Skill - (20) Sluice Shutter weighing 1000 JINs - (21) Covering with a Gold Bell - (22) Finger Lock - (23) Luohan’s Exercise - (24) Lizard Climbs the Wall - (25) The Art of Lash - (26) PIPA - (27) The Pole of a Falling Star - (28) Poles of Plum Bloom - (29) The Art of Stone Padlock - (30) Skill of the Iron Arm - (31) Fist like a Bullet - (32) Soft Bones - (33) Frog - (34) Piercing the Curtain - (35) The Force of Eagle’s Claws - (36) Iron Bull - (37) Skill of Eagle Wings - (38) Hand of Sun Rays - (39) Exercise for Groin - (40) Iron Bag - (41) Method that Reveals the Truth - (42) Skill of Tortoise Back - (43) Skill of Deft Jumps - (44) Skill of Light Body - (45) Iron Knees - (46) Technique of Jumps - (47) Palm of Iron Sand - (48) Pulling a Silk Thread - (49) Method of drawing in YIN - (50) Rubbing and Thrusts - (51) Stone Pile - (52) Neither Lances nor Broadswords Can Wound - (53) Gong Fu Flight - (54) Hand of Five Poisons - (55) Skill of Water Separation - (56) To Fly Up to the Ridge and to Walk on a Wall - (57) Skill of Somersaulting - (58) Pole of Cypress - (59) Ba Wang’s Elbow - (60) Pinching a Flower - (61) Pushing a Mountain with Palm - (62) Technique of Horse Saddle - (63) Skill of Nephrite Belt - (64) YIN Fist Method - (65) Skill of Sand Bags - (66) Piercing Through Stones - (67) Pulling Out a Mountain - (68) Claws of Mantis - (69) Gong Fu Bag - (70) Palm of Guan Yin - (71) Raising a Pot - (72) Rubbing Palms