Sao Lim Kung Fu

This is Southern Shaolin (Nam Sao Lim 南少林) which was spread in Southeast Asia by a Buddhist monk named Sek Koh Sam 释高参. This form of Shaolin became known there under the name Hood Khar Pai 佛家派, so the full name is ‘南少林 • 佛家派 Nam Sao Lim • Hood Khar Pai’. That is quite a mouthful for Westerners. For convenience, we will simply use ‘Sao Lim’ when we talk about this style of kung fu.

Sao Lim is a combat art from southern China, imbued with Buddhism. It is a method designed to reform the body (strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, etc.) and the mind (calm, lucidity, attention, reactivity, etc.) in order to make them more capable of combat, then of spiritual accomplishment.

The Chan dimension of Sao Lim lies in the quality and intensity sought during practice. Training is approached as a fight in itself, in which each gesture is accomplished with total physical and mental investment. This search for perfection, common to most artistic or spiritual paths, leads the practitioner to this stage of accomplishment that the Chinese call “Kung Fu”, where the ego fades away to allow the forces of nature to freely express themselves.

Sao Lim was and is mainly practiced in the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. The style gained some international fame mainly through one of the disciples of Sek Koh Sam: Master P’ng Chye Khim 方再欽. But there have been several prominent teachers in Singapore and Georgetown (Malaysia). There are still some alive at the time of writing.

The diversity of kung fu that Sek Koh Sam spread is immense; different disciples learned different things. In addition, it has been more than 60 years since Sek Koh Sam passed away; it is a natural course of events that differences arise over time. The similarities are greater, the focus and emphasis will be on the similarity.

An interesting delineation of Sek Koh Sam’s Shaolin is the following: ‘Lohan body & Monkey fist’. 羅漢體猴拳 Lohan Tee Kao Kun. The meaning of this is hard to explain, especially the ‘Lohan body’ section. Essentially it means a form of Kung Fu with a body which radiates a certain kind of power, self-confidence of an Arhat and empyrean. It symbolizes the iron skills such as iron body and a powerful and strong body. Monkey style is associated with agility, nimbleness, rolling & sweeping and crouching. These are the characteristics of Sek Koh Sam’s Shaolin.

Keeping the above discription in mind we can summarize and identify the style as following:

南少林    佛家派   高參門
羅漢體猴拳
Southern Shaolin – Buddist sect, Gaoshen Style
Arhat body, Monkey fist

Or just “ Sao Lim” as it is called in Penang. More on the name of the style here.

A brief description by Sifu Ong Ming-Thong (王膺通): “A person in this school starts with basic exercises (基本功), which consist of stretching (柔体), stances (马步), strengthening exercises (强化训练), toughening exercises (硬功), striking methods (打法), kicks (踢法), movements / stepping (趋动法), forms or sets (套路) and methods of showing respect (礼貌). These exercises are not restricted to beginners only. They are a must for beginners and in fact, continue doing them throughout their life time or as long as they practice the art. The training will then proceed to Qigong & Neigong practice (气功、内功), applications (应用法), and self-cultivation (个人修炼).”

A lot of the training is comes down to this:
1. Practicing the iron skills
2. Rehearsing the taolu or chapters/forms. Taolu is an individual style exercise with a series of fixed movements.

These 6 words are important no matter when we train or when we are in real fight:
功 (gong): effortless skill
顺 (shun): smooth
勇 (yong): brave
疾 (ji): fast or speedy
狠 (hen): fierce
真 (zhen): realistic

Basic taolu: before the actual taolu, there are some simple short taolu, preparing the beginner:

Sibian Quan: empty hand repetitive form.
‘eight step’ forms.:
Babu Quan – empty hand
Babu Dao – sabre
Recently expanded with:
Babu Qiang – spear
Babu Gun – staff
Babu Qiang – sword

The basic taolu: four empty hand and four weapons: staf, sabre, spear and sword.

Examples of optional bare-handed solo forms to be taught after the basic forms:

Some weapon forms:

Numerous forms with partners are taught as optional forms also.