Shaolin Panther

Black Panthers are great athletes and excel in jumping and tree climbing. They can leap up to 8 meters and as high as 3½ meters. The cat is very powerful for its size. It often attacks prey that is larger and weighs more than itself. The black Panther's neck and shoulders are massive. It uses its powerful leg, neck and jaw muscles to carry a kill up into a tree where it is safe from the larger Tigers and Lions or from group predators (Hyena, etc.)!

As a hunter, the black Panther is a stalker, not a runner. It walks slowly and creeps very close to its prey. Stalking may take hours. The black Panther is silent and cautious. Its padded paws are soft and quiet, while the hair on its legs absorbs noise. It’s coat allows it to blend in with the jungle background and its prey cannot easily see the (black) Panther.

Because of its quiet style and its ability to stay hidden, the black Panther was chosen to represent the "Ghost of the Shaolin Animals."

The Black Panther has sharp eyesight and night vision. It also possesses a keen sense of smell and hearing. After a kill, the black Panther will eat what it wants and will hide the carcass in a tree and will return to eat it later. When it finishes eating, the cat spends hours scrubbing itself with its tongue. It cleans itself until it is free of the prey's scent. That way other animals cannot smell the black Panther, and it can get close enough to another prey to catch its next meal.

The Shaolin Black Panther practitioner emits a great power, not the tense forceful power of the great cats but a power from loose, relaxed, whip-like movements, which it generates by a mastery of speed and balance, coupled with limber waist and hip-based movements. It is a midway between the solid, massive strength of The Shaolin Tiger Style and the quick penetrating force of The Shaolin Crane. Yet it is neither and it can not be compared.

The Shaolin Panther style develops all aspects of it's being equally as it is a many sided creature.

Panther Strategy

The Panther Stylist chooses the time, the place, the conditions, the style, the everything. S/He is in command of any situation, not by brute power but by the breadth of their skills, abilities and cunning. It never does the expected unless that is the last thing you would expect.

The Panther can attack from any direction, with any technique at any time in a hit and run fashion. It is always well prepared, well informed and always surprising. It likes to use and even create confusion for use to it's own advantage. It would never attack frontally unless that is where it is not expected. As a Style is has the greatest amount of technical expertise, widest range of techniques used in the most impossible ways. It is always the attacker, never the attacked. Whatever you expect, expect 1 million other possibilities!

Panthers are the most complex of the 4 Animals with the most varied and interesting strategies, habits and solutions.

Sun Tzu; Book of 5 Rings

Preferred Panther Techniques

Yang - The Panther practitioner seeks quick and easy resolution and would use any means at it's disposal as long at it requires minimal action. Any technique, any defence, any strategy any, anything but in an unusual and unexpected way.

The Panther would use and know every technique that there is to know and know it well. It would also know how to apply these techniques in unusual, interesting and sometimes seemingly impossible methods. It would be equally comfortable with all kicks, strikes, punches, blocks and stances, using them all to it's advantage and reckoning. It is a Master in Elbow, Knee, Forearm and Shin techniques, and would also use it's 'head'.

Yin - It is the master of close quarter conflict, (elbows, knees, shins, forearms and head), seeking to set it's opponents in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar, setting and environment.

Panther Bare Hand Forms

Shaolin Academy Panther forms are;

1. Hunting Panther (staking, quick action, recovery)
2. Stalking & Striking Panther (multiple attacker)
3. Chaos Panther ( . . .)
4. Black Panther/Fire (Speed and Accuracy)
5. Drunken Panther (Deception, Misdirection and control)

In Life

The Panther person is a thoughtful (not necessarily considerate) person who has great learning, thinking and logic abilities. They will pride themselves on their knowledge and problem solving ability.

They are is best for difficult situations, when views are totally opposing, when there is an impasse. It is about lateral thinking, where a win-win is not possible, where a solution needs to be found where it seems a solution is not possible. In a group situation a Panther would only contribute when it feels that it is valued and a simple solution will/cannot be found. Some further examples where Panther type people can excel;

• When goals are important, more assertive modes or solution need to be avoided (diplomacy/negotiation/bargaining)
• When opponents with equal power are committed to mutually exclusive goals
• To achieve temporary, workable settlements to complex issues
• To arrive at expedient solutions under time pressure
• As backup when collaboration or competition is unsuccessful

Panthers are not easily understood unless by another panther or Gray (older) Tiger. They have a broader, wider and more thorough view than most but are not always able to convey this to the common person. They do not like each others company but need it occasionally. They are best within a team Panther if they have a free hand at contributing and in their own way.

Panthers work best with Snakes and need to avoid young Tigers (older Gray Tigers are OK as long as they allow the Tiger to lead and female Tigers (Eagles) are OK as long as they acknowledge the Panthers Knowledge). Panthers and Cranes need each other but do not like each other.

Panther style people take the longest to manifest themselves as they need to acquire knowledge and be very literate to function fully and satisfactorily. Panthers without education are drowning and frustrated cats. Panthers require a high IQ as Cranes require a high EQ. Panthers need to be all-arounders who can adapt into any situation but this takes time. They are prone to procrastination, complex solutions and misunderstandings.