The Shaolin kungfu is famous for its wide range and profound attainment. Take boxing alone for example, it has hundreds of varieties. When people say "the 18 Shaolin martial arts" the numeral 18 is a generalizing notion for all the Shaolin martial arts.

Of all the martial arts of the Shaolin Temple, boxing is the oldest art. Tradition has it that at the very beginning, the Shaolin boxing had only 18 actions, which were named "the 18 moves of arhat". Later, based on boxing, the martial art for using cudgel was developed. After many centuries, with the growth of the Shaolin kungfu, the boxing maneuvers were greatly expanded. By the time of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, a senior monk of the Shaolin Temple, named Fujiu, invited the kungfu masters all over China, belonging to 18 schools, to the Shaolin Temple, where they studied martial arts for three years. The result was that the strong points of all the kungfu schools were collected, and a boxing book, Shaolin boxing, was compiled. During the Jin-Yuan dynasties, two armed monks, Bai Yufeng and Li Shou, came to the Shaolin Temple, where they studied boxing art together with the monks of the Temple. The 18 moves of arhat where then developed into 72 moves. Moreover, "Five Boxing Arts" were created based on the moves of five animals, i.e. dragon, tiger, leopard, snake and cock.

The Shaolin boxing lays emphasis on skill. Its practicing is not limited by space. The saying goes, a boxer can practice where only one ox can lie down". That is to say, a Shaolin boxer can beat his opponent with a space of several steps. Another saying "boxing goes along a line", indicates that when practising boxing including raising, falling, turning sidling, huddling and jumping, all these moves should be conducted along a straight line. As to the specific moves, they should be neither "absolutely bent nor absolutely straight". Too much bending would miss the target; while too much straightness would lack maneuver. When attacking with boxing, both forward and backward actions are done in a "turning manner". In other words, a rotation is necessary when attacking, and elasticity is reached. As to the eyes, they should look up when raising and further at the sky when falling. Your eyes should gaze at the opponent's eyes so as to know what position the opponent is in. As to the body maneuver, the stress is laid on swiftness and an absolute mastery of the gravity center so that a perfect and kinetic balance is kept. As to the maneuver of stepping, low steps are used when forging ahead and high steps used when backing. They should be light, graceful, and steady. As to the kicking maneuver, the requirement is that, when lifting a leg, it should be as light as a feather, and when kicking, the leg should be as heavy as the Mount Tai.

Internally tranquil and outwardly fierce, Shaolin boxer should be "as calm as a virgin when defending" and "as fierce as a tiger when attacking". Meanwhile perfect skill should be employed to take advantage of the opponent's force and momentum. Each move, each punch and kick, embodies an organic combination of attack and defense. The attack is contained in defense. The force attack and real maneuver are integrated with the sole purpose of surprising the opponent. The Shaolin boxing art, as a whole, stresses the integration of the internal with the external and the figure similarity with spiritual identification. When practicing, a close coordination of the eyes, hands, steps is required. The boxing formula emphasizes six coordination's, i.e. "the coordination of shoulders with loins, elbows with knees, hands with feet, mind with intention, intention with breath, and breath with force". By the Ming Dynasty, the traditional kungfu got a great lap forward. Kungfu adopted weapons. There were even books concerning the weapons. Reverend hongzhuan, a senior monk of the Shaolin Temple in the Ming Dynasty, wrote a book, "Spearmanship in Menlu Hall". During the reign of the Emperor Wanli, Cheng Zongqiu, a mundane disciple learned cudgel ship for more than ten years in the Shaolin Temple. As a result he wrote the famous book, "Summary of Shaolin Cudgel ship". Secondly, in the Ming Dynasty, the martial arts used in actual battles were gradually combined with the Shaolin kungfu. During the reign of the Emperor Jiajing, Yu Dayu, a famous general in resisting against the pirates, used the martial art of cudgel which he had learned in the Shaolin in actual battles. The cudgel ship was thus carried forward. He later returned to the Shaolin Temple. Wen Xianggang, another Ming personality, wrote in his "Travel in the Mount Song": In the old temple there are sixty monks who are practicing boxing, swords, iron staff, and jie". This record indicated that in the Shaolin Temple at that time were not only boxing, but also sword, iron staff, jie and other weapons. Of all the weapons of the Shaolin, sword is eulogized as "the marshal of all weapons". The saying goes, "the sword is like a fierce tiger". Most Shaolin swords are brandished closely around the user's head. When slashing with the sword, the qi is concentrated in the two arms and goes along with the sword. Among the different swords of the Shaolin, the variety of the shapes lead to the variety of characteristics. Tradition has it "maneuver of a single sword stresses the hands", "maneuver of double swords stresses the steps", and "maneuver of broadsword stresses the stability of hands". The spear in the Shaolin repertoire is praised as the "king of weapons". It is characterized by "forging ahead like a dragon in a straight line". That is to say, the spear should be wielded up and down swiftly and with no definite patterns. And the performance of the spear should be along a straight line. The Shaolin saber has long earned its reputation as the "monarch of the weapons". The Shaolin saber is graceful and unconstrained in performance, Henan the saying "saber goes like a meandering dragon". The saber formula has the following secret teaching: "This is a blue-dragon saber and should be performed steadily on a plane line. Your qi should go along with your saber with both eyes gazing at its point. When wielding the saber it should be as swift as a flying swallow. When you stop the performance, it fall as gently as the wind ebbs. When taking back the saber it is as light as a petal. When stabbing forward, the saber head is a steel nail". The Shaolin cudgel is the most reputed among all the weapons used in the Temple. It is also the oldest arm of the Temple. Hence the reputation of "the ancestor of all weapons". And the legend goes that the 13 Shaolin monks using cudgels once helped the Prince Tang and established their brilliant martial feats. The Shaolin cudgel is characterized by attacking a broad range with the cudgel". When performing the cudgel, all over the body is the source of momentum. The wielding of cudgel is accompanied by the whistling of the air. The rhythm should be fast and the moves should following one another closely.

The Shaolin kungfu is a kungfu treasury of very profound and wide-rand nature. In the terms of boxing arts, there integrates power with flexibility. Included in the bold and powerful traditional boxing arts are the Shaolin arhat boxing, chain boxing, plum-blossom boxing, and warrior boxing. Belonging to the category of mimic boxing are monkey boxing, leopard boxing, snake boxing, etc.. And the internal-kungfu boxing arts include intention boxing, Changhu intention boxing and Seven-star boxing, etc.. As to pair-practice boxing, the number of variety is still larger, including kick-punch six-in-one boxing, ear-handle six-in-one boxing, and hand-biting six-in-one boxing.

There is a great variety in Shaolin kungfu's weaponry. Hence the saying of "eighteen weapons". In terms of classification, they can be divided into long weapons, short weapons, soft weapons, rare weapons, and hidden weapons. Long weapons include broad-sword, long spear, cudgel etc.. Short weapons cover saber, club and dagger. Chained iron balls and 9-sect iron staff are soft weapons. Sickle, Qian-Kun ring and dharma staff are rare weapons. And flying dart and flying prick are hidden weapons. Pair-practice of weapons covers a wide range too. Such as pair-practice of spears, pair practice of a sword versus spear, cudgel versus spear, and the group practice of shepherd cudgels.

In the Shaolin kungfu, apart from boxing arts and weaponry, there are hand battle, attack-defense and capturing used in fighting; qigong, hard qigong, child-gong, yin-yang-gong, pile standing kungfu, etc. used for internal kungfu. The marvelous feats of the Shaolin kungfu can be summarized as: powerful, simple, battle-oriented, highly changeable. When lying down, the body resembles a bent bow. When sitting, the body is as firm as an brass bell. When standing, the body is as if nailed to the ground. When moving, like a dragon. The kungfu performer should be as graceful as a cat, as fierce as a tiger, as swift as a thunderbolt.