Everybody is kung fu fighting!
An orphanage in Malavli near Lonavla will be where the country’s first Shaolin Temple will come up, and two Shaolin Masters from the 5th-century Shaolin Monastery in China are here to get things going
Ashwin Khan
Posted On Tuesday, May 08, 2012 at 03:07:19 AM
It’s a long, tiring journey, even as the crow flies, from the Shaolin Monastery in China’s Henan province to the hills of Malavli in Lonavla, but Shaolin grandmaster Shi Heng Jun could well have been back home in the Songshan mountains as he talks about the Death Touch.
“The Death Touch technique is extremely dangerous, and is only taught to disciples who have won the trust of their masters,” Heng Jun says in Chinese, as a translator helps out.
Without a smile, the middle-aged kung fu instructor from the legendary Shaolin Temple extends the knuckle on his index finger as the primary weapon of the Death Touch, even as he uses a felt-tipped pen to draw the pressure points on the body where the technique can be used to kill.
But the purpose of Heng Jun and his younger compatriot Shifu Shi Yan Fang’s — Shifu in Chinese means Master — trip to Malavli is as far from death-dealing as Pune is from Henan.
Surrounded by construction in progress, machinery, cement dust and partly finished Buddha statues, Heng Jun and Yan Fang are busy overseeing the establishment of India’s first dedicated Shaolin Temple, where the famed martial arts techniques would be imparted to interested students.
Both monks say the structure they are building here will replicate the original fifth-century Shaolin Monastery and its Pagoda Forest — both UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
From May 11-17, the Chinese monks in tandem with Delhi-based Shaolin Master Kanishka Sharma, will conduct an introductory summer camp for 1,000 kids. This will include 500 orphans from all over the country, Sharma said.
The site where the Shaolin Temple is coming up is attached to Shikshan Gram Shelter for Homeless Children, run by Yogita and Satish Moon. “I wanted the children here to have a role model they could look up to. I looked around, but couldn’t find any. While surfing the net, I came across Kanishka. I could identify with his ideology and one day, I asked him to become my master. That’s how this journey started,” says Satish.
(L-R) Kanishka Sharma, Yan Fang and Heng Jun
Although the Shaolin Masters are yet to start teaching the kids at the orphanage, their presence has already worn off on the youngsters. Boys with tonsured heads practise their versions of martial art moves, some looking coyly into the mirror, others throwing punches in the air.
Their enthusiasm is infectious. “Apart from teaching martial arts, we will also teach the Shaolin way of life and religion,” adds Heng Jun. What stands out during the brief chat with these Chinese monks is the serene aura about them. Heng Jun began to learn kung fu from the age of seven, and perfected his art at the Shaolin Temple.
Heng Jun is an expert at Qi Gong, a breathing technique, and Dian Xue, the Death Touch. A Qi Gong expert can align his breath to different parts of the body to generate explosive power and defend vital points against lethal attacks. “It’s possible to bring down an enemy in three seconds flat, but it’s important to learn about the different pressure points in the body first. Only then can you use this art,” Heng Jun pointed out.
Yan Fang belongs to the 34th generation of Shaolin warriors, and is known as an expert at Shaolin Kung Fu-Baji. “To punch very hard using maximum force, you have to practise Qi Gong,” says Yan Fang, whose father was a secular monk who has also practised kung fu at the Shaolin Temple. Both are on their first visit to the Pune region.
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