ChangQiang stopped hitting the bag of beans after 14 minutes.
Two hours later, ChangQiang inspected his calloused right hand. It was dry, raw and cracked. "It hurts," he said in English. -- -- --
Ho sees little that's religious in these actions. He's come to believe that GuoSong is more kung fu than Buddhist -- possessing rare physical skills but lacking equivalent spiritual depth.
Ho justifies his view by saying GuoSong and his disciples don't do enough of what Ho thinks defines a Buddhist monk of any sect: seated meditation, study of Buddhist texts and philosophical discussions about Chan.
"They're really good martial artists, but how much they know about Buddhism, I don't know," Ho said.
GuoSong believes there are many equal ways to practice Chan. Walking, sitting or eating can be Chan practices.
"In everything you do, you always have the chance to seek the truth" and free the mind of disturbances, GuoSong said.
But audiences rarely hear GuoSong speak because he speaks only Mandarin. The result is that they are left to interpret through the monks' bodies a scripture that's expressed solely through movement. One scene in the recent Lines Ballet performances revealed the challenges.
ChangQiang and Shi ChangJun, 23, acted out a series of punches, sidekicks and a head butt. One kick sent ChangQiang flat onto his chest.
Shaolin monks believe you can never fight to attack, only to defend. But it's not hard to see why their kung fu has been glorified as violence made beautiful.
GuoSong said it's reasonable to be drawn to Shaolin for the techniques of combat -- as he was at age 13 -- and not for any spiritual reason. But he hopes a few people see deeper -- and pursue Chan.
"The audience should not pay attention to one or several criteria, but the dialectic of everything," he said. "If you just pay attention to the speed -- you say 'fast is good' -- that would be wrong. If you say 'strong is good,' that is wrong. ... The right way to appreciate is the dialectic, the tension between fast and slow, the tension between strong and soft, the tension between agility and stiffness."
Plus, he said, the fight is fake. Every move is answered with a block. Either of the performers could maim with a real kick or punch. Sparring "is just a way to train their reflexes." A strong mind, built through Chan meditation, requires a strong body, he said.
"Each movement will make you work your body, from top to bottom, from hand to foot," he said. "The motivation for practicing is to be flexible, quick on your feet, strong. And your body will be naturally healthy."
Audiences see many messages in their performances. Their speed and strength inspire awe. Some men wince at displays testing YongYao's "iron crotch." Others laugh.
Alonzo King, the ballet choreographer, said believers of any faith interpret religious texts in myriad ways. Movement should be no different, and just as valid as any written scripture or spoken sermon.
"The principle expression of life is movement," he wrote in an e-mail. "Dancing and martial arts are movement. When it is well done, it is about poise, control, governance, majesty, power and grace. ... These qualities are teaching us how to behave."
Gerard Hoatam, 25, watched the Tenderloin performance but had no idea that it was an expression of faith.
"If your purpose is to go out into the community and tell people about your religion, it's a lot better than Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on your door," said Hoatam of Sunnyvale.
Others have come to share Ho's opinion of GuoSong and his group.
Many of the monks' performances, including the Lines Ballet series, have been initiated or coordinated by Bernadine Lim, Mayor Gavin Newsom's liaison to the Chinese American community. She said Ho knows more about Buddhism than GuoSong, who she said barely practices essential elements of the faith.
"I've never seen them meditate," she said, adding that the ballet "has nothing to do with religion."
But Polly, the former Shaolin Temple disciple who wrote the memoir "American Shaolin," said Lim and Ho have created a false dichotomy. There's no distinction, Polly said, between sitting meditation and what can happen while doing kung fu -- a meditation through dynamic movement, like yoga.
"If you're practicing Shaolin kung fu properly, it is a form of meditation," he said. "It's just fast and hard meditation, instead of slow or sitting. And that's why many of those moves seem so strange -- because they're actually moves that were developed for meditation purposes as well as self-defense and not purely self-defense purposes."
Gene Ching, associate publisher of Fremont-based Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine, which has reported on Shaolin practitioners and beliefs for 15 years, believes GuoSong is authentic. Ching was stunned that directors of a Shaolin nonprofit would not understand that kung fu is an expression of Chan, or Zen. For non-Shaolin to define the faith is troubling, he said.
"It's disturbing in a way," Ching said. "It's corporate religion." -- -- --
GuoSong declined to discuss Ho, and Ho is an elusive man. But some facts are plain.
More than two years after GuoSong and his disciples arrived, Ho has made little headway on a temple.
GuoSong is a elite teacher of Shaolin kung fu -- his martial arts training videos are sold on Chinese Web sites. But in San Francisco, GuoSong had only a handful of students through Ho's networks.
Instead of living in a monastery dedicated to a life of faith, GuoSong's group of Shaolin -- including young triplets Shi LongHu, Shi HuHu and Shi BaoHu -- were crammed into apartments.
Ho said he will sever his sponsorship of GuoSong, a move that would make him an illegal immigrant.
If ChangQiang, ChangJun and YongYao choose to follow GuoSong, Ho said they will "be on their own."
Ho said he planned to bring 30 more Shaolin to the Bay Area in the future. He said he would interview them himself to make sure they're more spiritual than GuoSong.
GuoSong, without referring to Ho, said he's long been aware that others might criticize him. But that's not the point.
"If you take this mission personally, you can never achieve it," he said. "Shaolin Buddhism -- Shaolin culture -- does not belong to any particular person. ... Even if I come back empty-handed, maybe there will be other people who will come in the future to continue to promote Shaolin Buddhism."
If people disparage him, GuoSong said, "the words may affect my career here. However, the words will not affect the goal."
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Chan: The Chinese word for what became known as Zen in Japan. This school of Buddhism teaches that the path to enlightenment is cultivated through long periods of seated meditation.
kung fu: A Shaolin martial art intended to develop the body and mind as one in an expression of Chan.
Qi: A natural energy or force that fills the universe. Also known as chi.
Qigong: An umbrella term for many types of qi-based practices that use breathing with intention. They can use movement, as the Shaolin do.
Shi: A name used by these Shaolin to identify as Buddhists.
Shaolin Temple: Built in 495 on Mount Songshan in Henan, a northern Chinese province. Bodhidharma -- whom the Chinese call "Damo" -- arrived three decades later and taught Zen for the first time at the temple. Legend says that he meditated before a wall for nine years.