id:22-2009-10-09 19:18:09
The standard Shaolin salute is right clenched fist in a open left palm. This symbolizes the sun and the moon, the two great sources of light and brightness. In Chinese the word bright is composed of the characters for Sun and Moon.
So a monk using this symbol, may be indicating that they are an agent for justice. However in Chinese the word Ming means bright, and the symbol was used by the Ming Dynasty. When this dynasty was overthrown by the Manchu’s, many Shaolin monks continued to support the Ming’s, and so used this salute.(5)
Sun and Moon can be interpreted as Yang (Sun) and Yin (Moon).
It is also described as a symbol for the peaceful monk (open palm) combined with the warrior (clenched fist).[/b]