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The Shaolin people have long been known for their secretive nature. Originating in the Henan province of China, their culture has consistently expanded the boundaries of the human mind, body, and spirit.
Much of their history was lost in a devastating fire in 1929, leaving few records behind. However, a monk named Jin Jing Zhong gathered decades of living knowledge and, with the blessing of the Shaolin leader, created the Training Methods of the 72 Arts of Shaolin. While some may question the authenticity of these methods, they remain incredibly intriguing.
10. Nail Removal Technique - Bo Ding Gong
To begin, drive a nail into a piece of wood, then extract it using just three fingers. This is a practice that a student will perfect over months. Once the nail can be easily removed with the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, the next challenge is using the thumb, ring finger, and pinky. This demonstrates the incredible strength that even the smallest and weakest fingers can develop through Shaolin training. Each finger, on both hands, must be trained to exert powerful bursts of force while maintaining muscular endurance.
As time progresses, the nails are hammered deeper into the wood. Once this becomes easy, the wood is moistened before the nails are driven in, allowing them to rust. An advanced practitioner of this method would focus on extracting nails that are deeply rusted, sometimes using just two fingers, or even one. The strength of the fingers must be sufficient to compress the wood itself in order to successfully extract the nail. Mastery of this skill leads to even greater finger strength, preparing the student for more challenging techniques like the Diamond Finger.
9. Striking With FootZu She Gong
If you’ve ever been told to 'go and kick rocks,' chances are it wasn't a friendly suggestion. However, the first step in this Shaolin practice involves just that. Anyone who has ever accidentally collided with a heavy object knows the sharp, toe-crushing pain it can bring. Zu she gong belongs to the yang side of force, and practitioners begin their training by kicking small rocks, like soccer balls, all while going barefoot.
The goal of mastering this technique is to toughen and strengthen the foot to the point where kicking a soft pillow feels as intense as kicking a boulder. In Shaolin texts, it is said that one can strike an opponent with the same force as the rocks one trains with. A kick delivered with such power to the lower body can shatter an opponent's balance, while a well-aimed strike to the head may prove fatal.
8. Skill Of Light BodyJin Shen Shu
The 'Skill of Light Body' may have been popularized in martial arts films, but it is a legitimate Shaolin discipline. Ancient Shaolin texts describe individuals who can rest on branches like butterflies or bees, with weights of 100 'jins' (50 kg or 110 lb), even floating through the air like sparrows. This extraordinary practice involves a rigorous and fascinating training regimen.
Training begins with a large clay bowl filled with water, while a student carries a weighted backpack, possibly filled with lead soaked in pigs' blood. Each day, they walk along the rim of the bowl for hours. On the 21st day of every month, a 'cala-sized' scoop of water is removed. Simultaneously, more weight is added to the student's backpack, making the challenge of walking the bowl's circumference without falling harder and harder.
The apprentice continues this training until the backpack reaches a weight of 5 JINS (2.5 kg), and the bowl is completely emptied. Once mastered, the process is repeated with a large wicker basket filled with iron chips. More weight is added to the backpack, and the apprentice must repeat the routine until the basket is also emptied.
These first two steps are just the beginning. Advanced training includes the ability to walk across grass without leaving a trace. Beyond this, further techniques are passed down through generations orally. In 2014, a monk famously ran across a lake on sinking plywood planks for over 385 feet (118 meters).
7. The Golden Cicada's Technique: Men Dan Gong
The Golden Cicada's Skill is also commonly referred to as 'The Iron Crotch,' and it is certainly not a pleasant experience.
Training begins with deep meditation, focusing on clearing the mind of all negative emotions and stress in preparation for the grueling process ahead. A peculiar milestone in this mental discipline is the ability to summon an erection at will during meditation, achieved by directing qi to the area below the navel, not through improper thoughts (hopefully).
The next phase involves desensitization training. One must repeatedly flick their own testicles—thousands of times. When the pain subsides, more extreme methods are introduced, such as using rolling pins, delivering punches, kicks, and even blows from weapons aimed directly at the crotch. Some monks go even further, tying ropes around their testicles and hauling heavy stone weights across fields. With careful recovery practices, including tissue healing and massage, reproductive health risks can be minimized, though not entirely avoided.
Though it may seem unusual, this technique can be integrated with other iron body methods to reinforce every vulnerable part of the body. This can make a monk’s outer shell uniformly resistant to strikes. The sheer strength required to master the Golden Cicada’s Skill is truly remarkable.
6. The Technique of Truth Revealing: Jie Di Gong
At its heart, this method involves a series of intricate evasions and acrobatic rolls. Falling flat onto a stone surface without flinching, somersaults that twist and contort the spine, and even techniques that send the practitioner bouncing off the floor are all essential steps toward mastery. Once a student has perfected the 'eighteen somersaults,' they can move on to 64 additional, more complex (and hazardous) tumbling techniques.
Masters who have fully mastered this technique are said to be capable of performing an infinite number of somersaults in countless ways. This practice is believed not only to enhance Qi but also to fortify the skin, bones, and muscles.
5. Ringing Round A TreeBao Shu Gong
To master this discipline, a student must find an unconventional training companion: a mature, fully grown tree.
The exercise is straightforward; embrace the tree with your arms and exert all your energy pulling. After a year of this effort, progress will start to manifest. The initial sign of mastery is the ability to detach a few leaves from the tree. The student must continue in the same manner for another year, maintaining the intensity without faltering. The practice must be followed throughout one's life, with mastery being attained only once the tree has been completely uprooted.
Even the smaller trees employed in this training demand immense, sustained pressure for years to loosen their roots. If a practitioner ever grasps an opponent in the same way he would a tree, a fatal injury can easily occur.
4. Iron HeadTie Tou Gong
There is a reason why head-butting is prohibited in sports like mixed martial arts—the risk of severe brain injuries. The renowned Shaolin practice of 'Iron Head' not only condones these strikes but also incorporates them into regular training routines. Practitioners reinforce the bones in their forehead, temples, and skull to an almost superhuman hardness, comparable to that of stone.
The goal is simple: Gradually knock objects into your head and your head into objects over a period of years, to fortify the bones in your skull. With dozens of small fractures, followed by healing and repetition, the bones adapt to the pressure and become remarkably tough. However, it can take decades of daily practice to reach this point, and each step carries the risk of permanent injury.
The initial stage in Shaolin's training involves wrapping the head in silk and softly banging it against a stone wall. After one year, the student removes a few layers of silk and continues for at least 100 days; after that, all silk is removed. From there, the training escalates to more intense methods, such as knocking heads together for hours, cracking ice blocks on the skull, and even sleeping while inverted. Additional exercises to strengthen the temples, mouth, and eyes follow.
In a rare instance, a Shaolin monk once held an electric drill against his temple for 10 seconds without sustaining any harm.
3. Diamond FingerYa Zhi Jin Gang Fa
As a young man, the monk Hal-Tank visited Chicago, where he showcased his extraordinary skill: performing a handstand—bearing his entire body weight—on one index finger. Ordinarily, the muscles in the finger would collapse, and the bones would snap from the pressure. This was already an incredible accomplishment for a young man, but what makes this feat even more remarkable is that over 50 years later, at nearly 90 years of age, the legendary monk Hal-Tank repeated the astonishing one-finger handstand—his Diamond Finger. His serenity during this act was astounding—deeply meditative, he balanced effortlessly on the tip of his finger.
Until his passing in 1989, he remained the sole individual capable of performing this extraordinary technique. Although no longer with us, this iconic monk left behind a rare, documented demonstration of Shaolin prowess, offering an intriguing glimpse into the Shaolin world.
2. The One Finger of Chan Meditation Yi Zhi Chan Gong
After four decades of rigorous Shaolin training and meditation, Xi Hei Zi traveled across the country, visiting monasteries in both the northern and southern regions. No man could defeat him, and the legend suggests that this was due to his technique.
When Xi Hei Zi first began his training, he attached a weight to a tree branch along a path he walked daily. Each time he passed it, he would extend his finger toward it from a distance, barely grazing the surface with his fingertips. The weight would swing. After years of repetition and deep meditation, he realized that even without physically touching the weight, it would still swing when he directed his finger at it.
Next, he began meditating while striking his fingers at lamps. Initially, the flame would only waver, but he persisted in practicing for hours. Eventually, he gained the ability to extinguish the flame. He then surrounded the lamp with paper shades, and it’s said he could pierce through the paper to extinguish the flame from afar. After a decade of this, he replaced the paper shades with glass ones. When he could extinguish the flame without shattering the glass, he knew his goal had been achieved.
1. The Iron Bull Technique tie Niu Gong
The fundamental practice of the iron bull technique starts with scraping one's own abdomen. This is done consistently, both day and night, using the fingers and palms initially, followed by blades. This process occurs during both active training sessions and rest periods. As the skin toughens, the practitioner moves on to direct strikes to the core, continuing the knife-scraping technique on the stomach and obliques.
Once strikes no longer induce pain, the training progresses to using hammers. Initially made of wood, they gradually evolve into iron. A monk remains still as fellow students deliver powerful blows to the abdomen using iron hammers—this rigorous exercise endures for an extended period. There are even more intense techniques, like the 'knocking a bell' method, in which a monk withstands blows from a massive log battering-ram weighing several hundred kilograms.
It is claimed that masters of this discipline are capable of enduring strikes, cuts, slashes, and even stabbings to the stomach without sustaining any injury—not even a scratch—possessing the ability to withstand blows 'delivered by the Immortals' themselves.
