Description of Ranks

The Shaolin had a limited class structure of three major levels: students, disciples, and masters. At the base was the student class, which held the most individuals. Members of the student class cooked all meals, washed clothes and performed all other menial or manual labor. Their station was in such order not only to teach them humility and respect, but also to provide the masters an opportunity to observe potential protégés before entrusting them with martial skills. One who entered before you and was still in your class was an older brother or sister.

The next class of the Shaolin was composed of disciples, students who had demonstrated that they were worthy of learning the martial arts of the temple. Upon entrance into this class, they would spend from two to four years in the exclusive study of the Shaolin arts of war and medicine, having already received their basic philosophical training as students. As students they learned the principles of Shaolin ethics; as disciples, their time had come to live those ethics, posing as examples for others to follow. Above disciples were the masters, who were afforded status of full monks of the temple.

The title of master had been bestowed upon them because they had learned completely a system of martial arts from their temple and perfected it, thus achieving technical mastery. Also, they had succeeded in learning the philosophy of the temple well enough to teach what they had learned. Indeed, this was their function in the temple – they were the dispensers of knowledge to the student class. Among themselves, they had levels of excellence that indicated their martial arts prowess and their grasp of the Shaolin philosophy. The title "grandmaster" is not a traditional rank, rather a modified term to indicate that the master had also been a teacher of other students who had attained master rank. There was no test or formal requirement for the use of this title, and grandmasters rarely use the term in reference to themselves.

Ranking System in Order of Advancement

Traditionally, there are four sash colors in Shaolin (master ranks are divided into a lower gold and higher red levels):

White sash – student
Black sash – disciple
Gold sash – weapons master, basic unarmed master
Red Sash – unarmed master, priest/monk level

However, for the more modern purposes of acknowledging advancement in training, the following ranking system is utilized:

Black Rope: The novice is first presented with a black rope, symbolic of an unborn child in the womb of its mother. Comfort, security and innocence are represented.

White: After completing the basic training in rudiments of the system, the novice is awarded a white sash and initiated as a member of Red Dragon School of Kung Fu. The white sash is symbolic of birth into a bright new beginning.

Gold: After much effort, time and true dedication, the student is awarded a gold sash, symbolic of a person’s great efforts in his "quest for gold".

Green: The transition from gold to green sash is symbolic of the student becoming well-rooted in the system of kung fu, just as a great oak becomes well-rooted in the soil and extends its branches outward and upward for the heavens.

Blue: When the techniques of the practitioner become clear and are a fusion of the mind, body and spirit, the student then reacts as a whole and not as separate entities. Just as a bird leaves its nest for the first time to discover the freedom of action in the sky, what was before rough action becomes natural freedom of movement.

Red: Meeting the requirements and given the privileges to wear a red sash, one then strives to reflect the virtues of loyalty, righteousness, and justice, as well as respect of and for the community. In everyday life, the student’s words, actions, deeds and overall attitude will shine with these virtues. Just as the sun is readily noticed in the sky, the student will be recognized as one striving to radiate the subtle qualities of true kung fu (martial virtue).

Red / Black: The student, still shining brightly like the sun, begins to understand the significance of the black of space surrounding the sun, sky and earth. The student’s actions among friends, family and in the community generate a solar radiance, yet the student begins to care not whether others do see the light. The student is beginning to act from true goodness for the sake of goodness, not gain; starting to understand how the universe, represented by black, really works. The student begins to realize that to be a master means to serve.

The student’s martial skills are finely honed, and thus the student shines when performing. However, on occasion, the student has caught a glimpse of what it means to act from the universal, the blackness of space – occasions where the mind and body act as one, with no pre-planning, no hesitation, no gap between thought and action, and in fact, no conscious thought at all.

The student at red/black must be able to teach others to teach.

Black: At this point, the student has come full-circle, and has learned that to really know means realizing you know nothing. The attitude of black sash is best described as an open attitude, innocent and eager to learn.

Ideally, the student has now dropped all conditioned thinking and learned to act from the universal rather than react to what is going on around him. The student has effectively lost their ego self so that mind, body and spirit act in harmony. In reality, losing ego is a lifelong process to be practiced every day. The student with the fortitude to go through the training, time and effort necessary to become black sash has taken a major step toward this goal.

To be awarded a black sash means the student has learned to teach others, learned to teach others to teach, has the necessary skills to open their own school if they wish, all the while still maintaining the willingness to learn of the black rope.

Purple: At certain times of the year, or on special occasions chosen by the Sifu, everyone in the school will be asked to remove their sashes of rank and wear a purple sash. This is done as an exercise in stripping the ego and helps each student keep things in perspective.