Sing Lung

Sing Lung (聖龍, also Sing Luhng, meaning "Sage Dragon" or "Venerable Monk") was a Chinese martial artist.

His name is more of a title that he was referred to by the Chinese monks. Sing Lung traveled south to the Ding Wu San (Cauldron Lake Mountain) where he took shelter and became friends with the Buddhist monks of the Ding Wu Temple in Guangdong (Canton) during 1865.^[1]

It seemed that Sing Lung was much more interested in the propagation of his unique martial arts style, rather than any hidden political agenda. He decided to stay at the monastery for approximately 10 years before his death in 1893. He taught both monks and lay disciples his Lion’s Roar style. It was during that time that the style received its new name, Lama Pai (喇嘛派), or style of the Tibetan monk.^[1]

Sing Lung taught many individuals his art of Lama Pai. It appears that only two of his students are primarily responsible for taking the style and spreading it throughout China: Wong Lam-Hoi (黃林开) and Wong Yan-Lam (王隐林).^[1] There were five other students who absorbed much of Sing Lung’s teaching as well. They are responsible for spreading the style to other parts of China, but for one reason or another, kept fairly secret about their teachings.

There seems to be a great deal of conflict between the relationship between both Wong Yan-Lam and Wong Lam-Hoi. Some seem to think they are blood-related brothers. Others claim that one is the other's father. There is no evidence of either of these claims and as 'Wong' is certainly a popular surname, our story has these two individuals as classmates only. The characters for the last names “Wong” are different as well. However their relation, there is no dispute that these two men are primarily responsible for the propagation of Lama Pai fung-fu and the styles which it would give birth to.

References

1. Cater, Dave (1993): "A Tradition Whose Time has Come", Inside Kung Fu (September 1993), p. 52.