The 18 Lohan Qigong system is one of the oldest and most closely guarded practices to survive from the Shaolin Temple. For hundreds of years, it remained a secret held within the temple walls, credited with giving monks a strength and resilience that seemed, to outsiders, almost supernatural. When the temple burned, the original scriptures were rescued and carried forward in secret, handed from one trusted keeper to the next. Master John K. Saw is one of those keepers.
An inner chamber disciple of Grandmaster Chen Yong Fa, the 5th generation direct descendant of the founder of Choy Lee Fut Kung Fu and the Shaolin Lohan Therapeutic Qigong system, Master John holds a formal and binding responsibility within this lineage. He is not simply a practitioner of the art. He is one of those entrusted with its survival.
In 1993, following a period of serious illness that included liver trouble and a stroke, Master John turned to Tai Chi and Lohan Qigong as a means of recovery and restoration. What he found changed the direction of his life. He went on to serve as Chief Instructor of the Lohan Qigong department at the Choy Lee Fut International Head Office School in Sydney’s Chinatown for seventeen years, one of the longest-running and most respected tenures in the tradition.
His commitment to the accuracy of transmission is absolute. As a disciple of the lineage holder, he carries the responsibility of ensuring that the system is taught exactly as it was passed down by the founder, over two hundred years ago. Every movement, every principle, every breath pattern must be held to the same standard that the monks of the Shaolin Temple once held it.
It was Master John who introduced Sifu George Michielsen to the Lohan Qigong system, and it was through his guidance and trust that this knowledge reached the Academy. He also travelled with Sifu George to Shenyang, China, in 2017, a journey that led to Sifu George’s discipleship under Master Sun Xue Zhong. Master John travels internationally to teach and to train instructors, carrying the lineage forward with the same quiet conviction that has defined his practice from the beginning.
