NIAN HUA GONG

Exercise "Pinching a Flower" | Brief Description

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

Shaolin exercise “Pinching a flower” belongs to “soft” exercises for “external” strengthening. It is the YIN “soft” force as to its kind. It is one of Shaolin exercises which specialize in strengthening finger tips, small parts in human extremities. Their strength is not comparable with that one of a fist or a palm, that’s why they need training. It takes a lot of time and it is difficult to get success. But if your have strong spirit and train yourself for a long time without intervals, one of the days will bring you success. If after successful acquirement of the exercise you strike the enemy with your fingers, you can inflict a severe wound to him and if you strike with force, you can kill him. That Shaolin exercise has direct resemblance to such exercises from the section “Deadly Hand” as “Saddle” (MA AN GONG, par.#62) and “Palm of GUANYIN” (GUANYIN ZHANG, par.#70)...

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

... After successful acquirement of that Shaolin Gong Fu it is of no importance how hard is a thing: you take it with fingers and break at once, nothing to say about blood vessels and muscles of (my or another man’s) body. People often use fingers in everyday life and make various movements with them.

...When you reach perfection in that exercise, you can, accidentally and unwillingly, cause a body damage to a man or to some thing. Therefore, if a man exercises that kind of Shaolin Gong Fu, it is necessary to use the left arm, do not use the right one. Other people and I use the left arm and comparatively few people use the right arm trying to do the least harm. One must be very careful in training and life. Those who are far from moral perfection and have not reached the sharpness of mind must not set their arms going and wounds people. It is strictly prohibited by any Martial Arts school. It is possible to wound a man thoughtlessly, therefore, one needs to be extremely careful. For that reason respectful masters of Martial Arts taught people the techniques of “Deadly Hand” with reluctance, and they themselves trained only their left hand. The trainee who deeply learnt that technique must consolidate his will-power and always be exceptionally careful.