Since my nine-year stay in China, living in such cities as Beijing, Shenzhen and now Dengfeng Songshan, I have done many interesting things. I have trained with some of the best masters in the world of Chinese Kung Fu in arts such as Bagua Zhang, Zhong Guo Shuai Jiao, Shaolin Kung Fu and Yin Qigong. I have done acting work in over 20 commercials, written several articles for this great magazine, and am in the process of having my first book published. None of this has been more interesting and rewarding than living in the birthplace of martial arts as a tu di (disciple) of a genuine Kung Fu master.
The majority of my old friends on Facebook often mention I am living the dream. I suppose this is true. A Swedish filmmaker even came to China for 9 days to film a documentary (still in the works) about my life here, to be titled, Living the Dream. Growing up as a kid I remember the highlight of my week was watching the Shaw Brother films that played every Saturday at 3 pm on channel 5, then going into my backyard dressed in my Karate outfit to train, imagining I was in the mountains of China training with the Masters. Now I can see why people say I am living my dream.
It has not all been fun and games leading up to this life adventure. I have sacrificed what most people live for, living comfortably, having a good job, a car and a house, to live the lifestyle of what might be considered a starving artist. But to me it is worth it to do what I love fulltime.
I now live with my wife (a native Chinese) up in the mountain area of Songshan 15 minutes from the famous Shaolin Temple. My teacher Master Song runs a full-time school at the edge of the mountain next to the main road that leads to Shaolin. From where I live now, it is about a 25-minute walk through the beautiful mountains to his school, which also serves as a great warm-up before training.
Master Song Shuang Ping (Shaolin name Shi Yan Shuang) has been doing Shaolin Kung Fu for 30 years. For the last several years he has run his own school in the mountainous area of Songshan. Besides being a master of the standard Shaolin skills and routines, he specializes in the traditional skills known as traditional chuan tong zhong bing qi (heavy weapons skills 傳統重兵器). These skills consist of the solid steel Guan Gong Da Dao and the Shi Suo stone locks.
Master Song has about 20 live-in Chinese disciples ranging from age 9 to 18 at his school. He also regularly has groups of tourists coming for one-day stays. They get a performance and a class. I also help Master Song to teach the foreign guests when they are here, and we are now working on setting up weekly and monthly trips as well as foreign disciple training at Master Song’s school.
We (my wife and I) first met Master Song on our second trip to the Shaolin Temple from our previous city, Shenzhen. We had heard of Master Song through a friend and decided to make a second trip to the Temple to further our Shaolin training, this time training with Master Song. Having been learning Shaolin Kung Fu for several years while living in Shenzhen under a disciple of Master Shi De Yang, I was instantly impressed with Master Song’s skills and unhesitating willingness to work on fighting techniques. I remember our first training session in the mountains outside Shaolin Temple. We had just spent about 15 minutes trekking through thick brush and crossing a dilapidated foot bridge to reach our training location, which was a clearing in the hills. After a warm-up, we began to work on applications from the famous lian huan quan form. Master Song is not a small man by Chinese standards, standing about 6 feet tall and weighing about 185 pounds. He told me to cross hands with him from a horse stance. From here the application requires grabbing your partner's lead hand and pulling him forward while punching him in the ribs with the rear hand and simultaneously shifting into a front stance. When it was my turn to pull Master Song into my punch, he didn’t budge, and did not look like he used much effort to resist my pull. I have for the last decade or so prided myself on my rooting skills, having learned the hard way about their importance, as well as having won gold and silver medals in push hands competitions. When Master Song demonstrated the application, he was able to easily pull me out of my stance. He attributed this to his Shi Suo training. It was Master Song who first recommended that we move to the Songshan Mountains after seeing the seriousness of my martial art conviction. After returning to Shenzhen, I quickly realized that Songshan was where I needed to be. My wife, the adventurous type, agreed, and we began to plan our move to the birthplace of martial arts.
My daily life here consists of getting up in the morning, doing some promotion for Master Song’s school, writing about Shaolin and Chinese Kung Fu, and working on other projects, such as an online training course. I then take the 25-minute walk through the mountains of Songshan and arrive at my teacher’s school, which is also serves as his home. Depending on the day and my mood, I will participate in one of the classes, or sometimes train alone in the teacher’s outdoor training yard, from which you can see the famous Da Mo Dong cave where the founder of Shaolin Kung Fu lived for 9 years. Some days I will do both.
Master Song’s school has various training regimens, from empty hand forms to weapons, pad-work drills, partner training as well as special tools such as the Shaolin Shi Suo, heavy solid Dao and plum blossom poles. As a 45-year-old man, I pick and choose what skills I work on for the day.
My wife works as the academics teacher for the full-time Shaolin students, teaching them math, English and Chinese. It does not require a full day of work, just several hours in the morning, leaving us both with plenty of free time to work on other projects such as our online training course, books, articles and such.
Country life in China is rough and not for the faint of heart. Winter here can get down to 20 degrees and people sleep with no heat on. Of course, hotels for guests have standard heat and air-conditioning, as well as plumbing, toilets, wifi, etc. But locals like to save money and resources. Many homes in the surrounding area still have outhouses. It is not uncommon to see herders leading their cows or goats along the paths, all adding to the genuine experience of Kung Fu living.
When my wife and I are not busy training, teaching or doing some other project, we like to take long walks exploring the mountains and the beautiful scenery here, which can be quite breathtaking.
Dengfeng city is about a 20-minute bus ride away. Dengfeng can be quite cut-throat and you have to be on your toes at all times not to be taken advantage of. On one of my recent trips down there, I remember coming back with my peaceful state of mind temporary destroyed. I happened to come across a YouTube clip that night (yes you can access YouTube with a paid-for VPN) from the old 1970s Kung Fu series where Kwai Chang Caine had just returned for the marketplace and was telling master Po that "there is no peace there." Then the Master tells Caine, "Would you make the whole world a temple? Be like the sun, and what is within you will warm the earth."
Though Shaolin Temple and the surrounding area have certainly undergone changes over the past century, there is still a majestic and surreal feeling about this place. Living here amongst the locals, training daily outside in the surrounding mountains, walking through the beautiful country settings, all makes you stop and wonder about life and its spiritual journey thereafter.
