Scooping the sand from under the sea, bow to Buddha
by Gene Ching Head Shaolin and Tai Chi Chuan Instructor

"Omitofo." This is a greeting you may have heard recently. You maybe hearing it a lot more. It is the common salutation among Shaolin monks. Now that Shaolin is on the rise again, "omitofo" is heard more and more within our martial community. This greeting is an important part of Shaolin practice; It unveils its spirituality. Today, many Shaolin practitioners are chanting it, certainly with the right intention, but, like so many aspects of Kung Fu, do they really know what it means? Do you?

Just as in Kung Fu practice, mindless repetition, in spite of the best of intentions, will fail to penetrate the mysteries of the art to any depths. Kung Fu must be practiced mindfully. This may sound simple, but it is the most challenging aspect of Kung Fu, to be in the moment. Are you in the moment when you strike, or are you just repeating something like a parrot saying "hi"? It is easy to succumb to lethargy and mindlessly practice techniques or chant "omitofo", content with only a partial understanding of what it might mean. Our mind settles on some simplistic rule or answer, like "omitofo" is the Shaolin way to say "hi", because it is easier then seeking the truth. We become victims of our own laziness and our practice suffers. While this is acceptable for some, it is a far cry from the kind of discipline required for mastery.

So how can we become more mindful? It takes hard work, self sacrifice and studious research. And it can begin right here and now, with this new common martial greeting, "omitofo". Actually the proper pinyin spelling for this mandarin word is "Amitoufo", despite how it may sound. The first character, "A" is a prefix used before pet names, surnames, or number nicknames used to denote family hierarchy. If you remember Bruce Lee's Return of the Dragon, everyone was introduced with an "A" before their name. "Mi" means more or full. "Tuo" refers to a child's spinning top toy. "Fo" means Buddha. In Cantonese, it is pronounced "Fut" as in "Choy Li Fut". Now that you know the translation, can you use this word meaningfully? Of course not. A literal character by character translation has no meaning here. This illustrates a point about translating from Chinese to English: X does not always equal X. In fact, when taken out of context, X maybe absolute nonsense. However, if this translation was left in this literal nonsensical form, some would be satisfied with it. How many people do exactly the same thing with their martial practice? How many combat postures are taken literally and out of context?

"Amitoufo" is actually a phonetic transcription of the Sanskrit word "Amitabha" or "Amida Buddha", the Buddha of boundless light. Amitabha is one of the five "Jinas" or "conquerors", who have conquered spiritual knowledge and overcome the cycle of death, rebirth and suffering. Associated with the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni Gautama, Amida means "immortal" and he represents the Western Paradise, a highly significant aspect of the Pure Land school of Buddhism. In the Western Paradise, mortals are reincarnated like the gods, without differentiation of sex and pure from all desires. He has two acolytes, the esoteric Daishize and the ever-popular Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy. Some Buddhists believe that chanting Amitoufo will lead to reincarnation in the Western Paradise. When we chant "Amitoufo", we are reminded of what Amitabha symbolizes. Now, are you satisfied with this definition? It only begins to disclose the mystery of Amitabha. There is so much more to say about this, but that is left for you to discover on your own.

Understanding the roots of Shaolin can be very difficult, yet also very educational. Understanding common mandarin terms of Shaolin is a big part of this. Another significant mandarin word you will encounter when interacting with the monks is their formal names. Every monk and layman disciple is given a three-character Shaolin name when they are indoctrinated. The first character is "Shi". "Shi" is short for Shijiamouni. Like Amitoufo, this is a phonetic transcription. It refers to Sakyamuni, the human Buddha. In the abbreviated version, "Shi" it simply refers to Buddhism. The next character is dependent on their generation. Every generation of Shaolin has a specific name (see table). The oldest living generation today is the 30th generation, known as "Su". The last abbot was named "Shi Su Xi". The last name is unique to each monk. Some monks, like Shi Guo Lin (see page 1), have multiple names. Guo Lin's generation name is Shi Yan Si, which indicates that he is of the 35th generation. In fact, he is a disciple of Shi Yong Xin, the current abbot of Shaolin. Now you can tell exactly which generation any Shaolin monk belongs to, just by knowing his name.
After 1500 years of history, everything about Shaolin style is deep with meaning. Look how much information Amitoufo and formal Monk names yield, and we have barely scratches the surface. It is easy to claim understanding of Shaolin, but more often than not that claim is no more than a shallow understanding. Most of us will only live to see about 5 % of Shaolin's glorious history, and when we are gone, Shaolin will remain. Its overwhelming legacy is the sparkling treasure of the Martial World and it is the duty of each of us to uphold and defend it. We must approach Shaolin with humility and respect. Only then will a few of the treasures of Shaolin be revealed to us.
Amitoufo.

Shaolin monks names
1. Fu Yu Hui Ju
2. Hui
3. Zhi
4. Zi
5. Jue
6. Zi
7. Ben
8. Yuan
9. Ke
10. Wu
11. Zhou
12. Hung
13. Pu
14. Guang
15. Zong
16. Dao
17. Qing
18. Tong
19. Xuan
20. Zu
21. Qing
22. Jing
23. Zhen
24. Ru
25. Hai
26. Zan
27. Ji
28. Chun
29. Chen
30. Su
31. De
32. Xing
33. Yong
34. Yan
35. Heng
36. Miao
37. Ti
38. Chang

It should be noted that this lineage does not begin with Shaolin's founder, Ta Mo. Multiple schools emerged from Ta Mo. These were all formalized into one school by the eminent monk, Fu Yu Hui Ju.