Shi Yan Ming didn’t intend to make me really feel unhealthy. However when a 40-something journalist asks a 59-year-old interviewee to substantiate his age, it’s probably not acceptable to elevate a straight-kneed leg over your head in response. Frankly, it’s a bit upsetting.
Not that Shi’s age-defying dexterity must be shocking. He’s a residing legend on this planet of martial arts, a thirty fourth era warrior monk from China’s legendary Shaolin temple who can break bricks along with his naked arms, execute the other way up flying kicks, and bend razor-sharp spears along with his neck. And getting ready to his sixth decade on this earthly realm, Shi nonetheless takes pleasure in passing on the secrets and techniques of kung fu and Chan (Zen) Buddhism to each film stars and harassed workplace staff.
“I’ve non-public college students, lessons, and practice myself day-after-day,” Shi tells TIME by way of a Zoom name from the USA Shaolin Temple, which he established in New York Metropolis in 1994. The relentless quest, he says, is to “sharpen my life.”
It’s a life that has transported Shi from abject poverty in rural China to performing kung fu on behalf of its communist authorities, defection to the U.S., after which coaching a few of Hollywood’s greatest names, like Wesley Snipes, Bokeem Woodbine, and WuTang Clan’s RZA—who dubbed Shi a “actual life superhero.”
Shifu training gongbu (kung fu stance) in Henan Province, China within the early Nineteen Seventies
Courtesy of USA Shaolin Temple
After honing his preventing abilities for the reason that age of 5, Shi is famed for extraordinary feats of bodily and psychological prowess, together with his fabled “one-inch punch,” which is extra highly effective than a automobile touring at 35 mph, in line with The Historical past Channel collection “Stan Lee’s Tremendous People.” He has additionally taught on the U.S. Naval Academy and spoken at Harvard and the U.N.
However no problem Shi had beforehand confronted fairly matched as much as COVID-19, which shuttered his faculty within the Decrease East Facet for 2 years and 7 months, solely to reopen late final yr. Shi skilled pandemic-inspired anti-Asian hate firsthand and believes, with the WHO just lately stating COVID-19 is now not a worldwide well being emergency, that individuals in all places can use the hardship as a springboard to seek out interior peace and satisfaction.
“Within the pandemic, many individuals bought disconnected from actuality, and spiritually [suffered] quite a bit,“ says Shi. “Life is so quick, life is valuable, now we have to cherish each second— day-after-day, it’s an attractive present.“
Shi was born the seventh of 9 kids in a desperately poor household in China’s central province of Henan. Per native customized on the time, Shi’s mom had her ft certain, whereas his father went door-to-door performing odd jobs for meals. Three elder siblings starved to dying in Mao Zedong’s disastrous “Nice Leap Ahead” industrial experiment of the late Fifties.
Shi fell extraordinarily unwell as a toddler, forcing his father to promote the household’s few prized possessions to pay for medical doctors. After Shi grew chilly and unresponsive, his dad and mom thought he had died and had been making ready to get rid of his physique when a passing drugs man observed their distraught weeping and requested to see the kid. He carried out acupuncture on Shi, who rapidly roused. Partly in thanks for the supposed divine intervention, and partly to thrust back future malaise, Shi’s dad and mom, each religious Buddhists, determined to take him to the Shaolin Temple to recuperate. “My dad and mom had no thought what was unsuitable with me, however they believed Buddha may save my life,“ says Shi.
The Shaolin temple was based in A.D. 495 on the forested slopes of China’s sacred Mount Songshan in what’s at present Henan province’s Dengfeng county. In response to legend, the monastery’s preventing custom advanced from a gaggle of monks who had been martial artists earlier than taking orders, and taught their fellow brothers by way of perfecting family chores like sweeping, amassing firewood, and fetching buckets of river water. Earlier than lengthy, rival warlords would entreat the warrior monks to assist in their skirmishes.
Such a concentrate on martial prowess could appear at odds with a faith as devoted to non-violence as Buddhism. Nonetheless, early Buddhist iconography usually flanks the Buddha with heavily-armed, ferocious-looking deities who trample demons underfoot. As scholar Meir Shahar notes in his definitive ebook, The Shaolin Monastery, “if the world-honored one required the safety of martial gods, then his monastic group definitely wants the protection of martial monks.”
On the age of 5, Shi was accepted by Shaolin’s chief monk, however life within the temple was removed from tranquil. Mao’s frenzied Cultural Revolution was in full swing, throughout which all historic faith and tradition was purged. The temple’s partitions had already been destroyed throughout a bout of inter-clan preventing in 1926, although Mao’s fearsome Pink Guards picked up the place the warlords left off, smashing all buildings, statues, and relics. Monks had been forbidden from even carrying their robes. “It was exhausting to dwell there,“ Shi says.
As time went on, Shi started to be educated within the methods of Chan (Zen) Buddhism and Shaolin kung fu. Rising at 4:30 a.m., he spent every day engrossed in meditation, chores, and coaching. Monks slept on a bit of wooden with a blanket and bundled their garments for a pillow. The temple had no electrical energy till 1981 and no operating water till 1986. By the age of 17, Shi may dangle a 40-pound weight from his testicles and sleep standing on one leg.
“A grasp would order me to do a handstand after which simply stroll away,“ recollects Shi. “I felt like my eyeballs would nearly come out, arms swelling, physique sore,“ he says. “Chinese language tradition is completely different from Western tradition. Bodily, they simply push you very exhausting.”
It was a grueling routine that lately can be thought of abuse, and China’s kung fu colleges proceed to be hit by accusations of mistreatment. Nonetheless, Shi stays grateful for the alternatives his unconventional upbringing introduced. “My era and at present’s era are completely completely different,“ he says. “I admire they had been empowering younger males— bodily, mentally, spiritually—to face tall. And now I can share my data, knowledge, spirit, and bodily expertise with the remainder of the world.”
Regardless of a long time of official repression, the Shaolin Temple loved an sudden renaissance following the eponymous 1982 movie starring a younger Jet Li. The film was a sensation, promoting half a billion tickets on the Chinese language field workplace, and propelling Shaolin kung fu into Western standard tradition. Shi was residing on the temple when Li arrived to movie, although was unconvinced by the actor’s true efficiency. “His efficiency is of a excessive degree, he’s an superior martial artist,“ says Shi. “However an actual struggle, in fight, is a completely completely different story.”
Nonetheless, the excitement surrounding the movie meant the Shaolin temple started receiving floods of vacationers and wannabe warriors. The Chinese language authorities, in the meantime, mirrored its newfound flexibility embracing capitalism by additionally leveraging Shaolin kung fu’s cultural caché. The crumbled buildings had been resurrected and earlier than lengthy, coaching academies peppered the encircling hillside.
Shi was chosen for the temple’s first abroad tour of the U.S. in 1992. However following the ultimate efficiency in San Francisco, Shi determined to defect. He snuck exterior and jumped in a cab however, unable to talk English, may solely gesture for the motive force to maintain shifting. After some time, the motive force took Shi to a Chinese language restaurant in Oakland which was simply closing up.
“However they solely spoke Cantonese, not Mandarin!“ recollects Shi with a shake of his head. “So I used the pad to jot down down ‘I want your assist.’ After which they stated, ’okay’ and made me a plate of fried noodles.
Shi referred to as a buddy of a buddy who lived in San Francisco. He picked him up and let him keep in his basement for per week. Shi’s defection brought about big waves; the Chairman of China’s Martial Arts Affiliation and the Mayor of Dengfeng had been main the tour, which was one of many first bilateral engagements following the diplomatic freeze sparked by the Tiananmen Sq. bloodbath three years earlier.
Shi, nevertheless, has no regrets: “My life’s function is to assist as many individuals as doable.”
Shi’s life has modified radically within the three a long time since his defection. Absolutely settled in New York Metropolis, and at present a proud U.S. citizen, he stays single however has two youngsters, a boy and a lady. In a departure from Buddhist clerical orthodoxy, he often eats meat and enjoys the occasional drink too.
The Shaolin Temple, in the meantime, has additionally reworked. At present, it’s extra of a martial arts theme park than a pious sanctuary. When TIME final visited the monastery in 2018, novice monks did every day performances for crowds of vacationers snacking on sunflower seeds and instantaneous noodles. The present store overflowed with tutorial DVDs, posters, and calendars.
Shi chooses his phrases fastidiously when requested to touch upon the commercialization of his former residence, which he has not visited since 2008. “To be an actual Shaolin monk, it isn’t sufficient to apply martial arts,“ he says. “It’s the philosophy of Chan Buddhism. First, you will need to shave your head, eat Buddhist meals, gown in robes, perceive methods to problem your self, methods to self-discipline your self.
Shifu demonstrates ahead fold within the NYC temple, Might 2023
Matt Doyle
However in recent times, kung fu has fallen down the martial arts pecking order, with the rise of Blended Martial Arts, or MMA. The florid acrobatics of kung fu might look spectacular on display however barely characteristic in critical competitors, maybe propelling the rise to a rising cadre of kung fu practitioners who declare supernatural abilities, reminiscent of superhuman power and telekinesis.
It’s a pattern that Shi has been vocal at combatting, insisting the true essence of Shaolin lies not in low-cost conjuring tips, however the underpinning spirituality. He backs the publicity marketing campaign of Beijing MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong, who grew to world notoriety in 2018 when he defeated a Tai Chi grasp who claimed supernatural powers in 20 seconds.
Shi says Xu “did a unbelievable job. I respect him, I like him, extra individuals ought to cease these liars. They disrespect Chinese language martial arts, disrespect Chinese language tradition, disrespect themselves.“ Relatively than really feel threatened by MMA, Shi says he loves watching UFC bouts, particularly these of Jon “Bones“ Jones, Demetrious Johnson, and Urijah Faber. “I just like the quick guys quite a bit,“ he says.
Concerning the spiraling acrimony between his ancestral and present residence, which has been dubbed a “new Chilly Warfare,” Shi stays diplomatic when requested about assigning blame, urging either side to grab on frequent floor to restore relations. “Each nation has a unique option to make themselves robust, to cope with conditions,“ he says. “This matter I shall depart them to determine.”
He’s extra forthright relating to the necessity to fight anti-Asian hate spurred by the pandemic. Twice throughout lockdown he discovered himself the topic of snide remarks on the road by individuals who thought he may be contaminated with COVID-19, which was fueled by then President Donald Trump’s use of phrases like “China Virus“ and “kung flu.“
“Individuals are not educated, they don’t love themselves, don’t charge themselves,“ says Shi. “It’s straightforward responsible different individuals, so we have to stand tall, converse out. Why hate individuals? As an alternative, loving individuals makes use of the identical vitality, similar time. Why not flip round and love individuals, encourage individuals, and assist individuals.“
And he believes that it’s incumbent on America’s Asian group to face united and robust. “The Asian group ought to put our arms collectively,“ he says, “One chopstick is straightforward to interrupt; ten chopsticks are a lot more durable.”
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