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: (22) Finger Lock

SUO ZHI GONG

Finger Lock | Brief Description 

Excerpt from the book: Jin Jing Zhong. Authentic Shaolin Heritage: Training Methods of 72 Arts of Shaolin >
It is a soft Shaolin exercise that strengthens inside, it belongs to the soft force of YIN, but also develops the hard force of YANG at the same time. This specialized exercise for strengthening finger tips has great similarity to and some difference with such methods as “Force of Eagle Claws” (YING ZHAO LI) and "Making Holes in Stones" (DIAN SHI GONG). All those Shaolin exercises form so called “Deadly Arm” (SHA SHOU). Differences between them are given below. For instance, the exercise “Force of Eagle Claws” trains the force of fingers for locks and the exercise “Making Holes in Stones” trains the ability to deliver thrusts with finger tips. “Finger Lock” also trains finger tips for seizing movements but differs from two previous skills in training methods and methods of use...
<  A full description of the training procedure is available in the book: Training Methods of 72 Arts of Shaolin >

...Mastership reaches perfection at that stage. Four to five years of persistent training may pass from the start of familiarization with the exercise to its completion. If after successful mastering this Shaolin GONG FU, you seize some part of the enemy’s body with three fingers, you will surely crush his muscles or splinter his bones, inflicting a very severe wound on him.

72 Arts of Shaolin: (22) Finger Lock

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

About 72 SECRET ARTS OF MONKS FROM THE SHAOLIN MONASTERY

BOOKS: 72 ARTS OF SHAOLIN

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    Main Secret of the Shaolin Training in the Authentic Shaolin Book

    Jin Jing Zhong. Authentic Shaolin Heritage:Training Methods of 72 Arts of Shaolin (Tanjin, China, 1934)