Turn Around, Open the Door
by Gene Ching - Head Shaolin & Tai Chi Chuan Instructor

Right next to the front gate of Shaolin Temple is a mural of a Buddhist Wheel or Dharmachakra. To me, the Dharmachakra represents impermanence, the transient nature of our existence, and the inescapable progress of time (there is another meaning relating to the eight-fold path, but I'm not going to get into that here). My fascination with this particular Buddhist symbol makes the Shaolin wheel particularly special. Submitted for your approval is an account of how impermanent the world is, how you have to keep up with the changes, especially when it comes to Kung Fu Study tours in China.

This was the most adventurous endeavor of Wing Lam Kung Fu so far - our August tour to China. If you have been keeping up with our newsletter, you have followed its development since last year. Both Sifu Wing Lam and I wanted to make this a first class experience for everyone. With so many tours available, we wanted to make ours outstanding. No expense was spared. We weren't looking to make money. We wanted to show China and Chinese Kung Fu in the very best light and honor our teachers there, opening the door for some real one-to-one cultural exchange. Forty martial artists from all over applied, including a large contingent from the Wing Lam school in Bermuda, two guys who "weren't in Kansas anymore", a student from Switzerland, and even two families, both with four-year-old girls.

Our first stop was a week at Shaolin Temple. For many on our tour, going to Shaolin fulfilled a lifetime dream. But dreams can easily turn into nightmares. With the grueling workouts, the horrible food, the malfunctioning toilets, the sleepless nights spent shattered by that local aberration, the Kareoke bar, Shaolin is full of unexpected challenges. Some of our tour group had never traveled outside the United States and were in for a culture shock of that would send their heads spinning. Shaolin is still rural China with all the hardships of a third world nation. However, if you love to practice hard, this is the place. Fortunately, our group consisted of true warriors, one and all. Even those little girls got into some of the workouts.

Everything is subject to that cosmic roulette wheel dharmacharkra, especially Shaolin today. There were many changes since I was there two years ago. The good turn is that Shaolin Temple has been making some headway against the tacky tides of tourism. They have even set up more guard rails to protect their treasures, like the thousand-year old cypress tree that stands in the first courtyard. What's more, I never saw a single dragon bus (like I mentioned in my article here in vol. 3 no. 3). Hopefully, those hideous tourist traps are gone for good. This would be a definite improvement upon the overall aesthetic of Shaolin (it is possible that they are still there, just hiding - I never found out for sure). The food and facilities are actually very much improved too, but they are still way below the standards of most Western travelers, drawing the most complaints from our tour group. Only one of our participants liked the food, but he was exceptional. The rest of the crew just toughed it out. Nothing like hard workouts with minimal nutrition.

The bad turn was that many of my favorite monks were away. Shaolin's popularity means that the monks can travel more to spread their unique teachings. It seemed like such a long way to come to miss seeing them again. Fortunately, my monk master, Shi Decheng had made special arrangements to stay at the temple and teach our group, putting off a trip he was scheduled to take to teach in Germany. Also Shaolin is getting more crowded. This time, I saw more foreigners (non-mainland Chinese) then ever. It is said amongst Buddhists that you should never be possessive of the teachings, but I must admit to feeling that the secret is getting out. Not only was it getting out, I was instrumental in getting it out, especially by helping lead this tour. But this is what I am supposed to be doing as a layman disciple of Shaolin, so be it.

Overall, Shaolin continues to lead the world when it comes to martial arts. While Shaolin's Western critics try to fit the temple and its monks into their strange preconceived notions of what they should be, Shaolin remains unaffected. I think most of those critics would be disappointed to find out how little Shaolin actually thinks of them. Shaolin has no concept about martial arts in America, nor do they really care. It's just like us caring about baseball in Japan. Thousands of Shaolin students still train so rigorously that it is genuinely intimidating to imagine what these kids will be able to do when fully grown. Why should they care about what some American critic might say? When push comes to shove, none of those critics will have a fraction of the skills these kids will have. But you have to go to Shaolin and witness their training first hand to really understand what I am talking about. I was told by the Shaolin Wushu Guan leader, that only around eighty foreigners stay for more than a few days to really train, but I do not believe this. That would mean that we were responsible for almost half of the annual "longer term" foreign students. Like everyone else, the leader was just spinning his own story of what is happening at Shaolin, while Shaolin just rolls with all of it. Every writer puts their own twist on things, including me. If you really want to know, go.

Sifu Wing Lam's birthday occurred during our stay at Shaolin. We had a fine celebration with the monks, the Wushu Guan leaders and the tour group. Do you know how hard it is to get a Birthday Cake delivered to Shaolin Temple? It cost me a small fortune, even by American standards. So did my favorite local delicacy, fried scorpions. It was all worth it when Shaolin dignitaries presented Sifu Wing Lam with a honorary banner and a sword. On a personal note, I am very proud say that together with the Bermudans, we threw the first dancehall at Shaolin Temple immediately following the banquet! It was a true soul shakedown party!

After the beautiful mountains at Shaolin, we traveled to the flat, massive city of Beijing. Our tour group got to demonstrate their newly acquired Shaolin skill as soon as we hit a decent restaurant. There was a feeding frenzy so frantic that you had to be very agile lest your fingers might get eaten by mistake. Tour spirit ran high, now that we all had some good food in our bellies. However, following our first encounter with Tai Chi Grandmaster Sun Jian Yun, some our participants worried about this segment of the training. Even national treasures grow old and her disciples were seemed very protective of their octogenarian master. After the youthful vibrancy of Shaolin, they doubted her ability to teach. After all she was no buffed monk. Everything turned around when the lessons began. Master Sun's Ba Gua burned like a ring of fire. Her disciples were trying to restrain her from overdoing it, but she would have none of that. There is no way to hold down a true Tai Chi master, much less one of the world's finest. They would try to control her, but she would always break free, sometimes running to get to the students before her disciples could stop her. Our tour group soon found themselves overwhelmed with a whole lot more to learn.

Beijing is such a massive place. So many places to explore. I began to realize the most people come to Beijing just to sightsee for a week, and that is exhausting enough. Add the training and the previous week at Shaolin and our whole tour was weak from fatigue. But the great adventure and martial spirit kept us going (not to mention Sifu Wing Lam's special bag of Chinese medicine!).

In Beijing, the good turn is that more antique weapons are surfacing, if you know where to go. I saw more good antique pieces then I had ever seen before. Of course, most all of them came back with our tour group. We all got our pick of some extraordinary straight swords and broadswords, even a selection of Guan Dao! The tour group even honored me with a gift for my services, a rare old combination sword. It is a straight sword that has a broadsword concealed in the scabbard, just like something out of a Kung Fu movie. I treasure it! Now is the time to invest in antique Chinese pieces, before the other collectors discover the market. And I know some of our tour group members who might sell, so if you are interested, you know where to reach me!

The bad turn is the China Wushu Research Institute is being torn down. We trained under Sun Jian Yun in the ruins of this magnificent facility. This was a two-story 8258 square-meter complex devoted exclusively to the research and practice of martial arts. It contained a 880 square-meter training hall, a 840 square-meter practice hall, a lecture hall, an exhibition room of antique weapons, a Qigong room, a reference library, a video-production room, and the spectacular Wuyi Diyuan Theater. This theater was done in the style of the Song dynasty, with chairs for tea in the style of the Ming dynasty. It was amidst the rubble of this theater, in the very process of being dismantled, that we trained. Sadly, due to the lack of support, this property is being converted to tourist stores. It is a major loss to the Chinese martial arts world.

Most everyone went home after two weeks, including Sifu Wing Lam. Ten of us remained to go back to Shaolin for an extra week. Here the Wheel took its most wicked spin. We got into a car accident. I remember awakening to the sound of screaming, just in time to see our four-year-old girl flying towards the shattering windshield as a tree penetrated our minibus. We are all eternally grateful that she never got there. In fact, she probably sustained the least injuries of all of us. But the vision of her catapulting into a shower of glass shards will never leave me. Never. No one was seriously hurt. Chet Braun, whose Iron body skills are featured in the Eagle Cup Masters Demo video, wound up with the tree in his lap. Iron Body probably saved his life.

On the rear view mirror of that crashed bus hung a little Buddhist wheel, just like the one outside Shaolin Temple. It twirled and danced during that accident, and for quite some time after. To me, it will be revolving eternally. So I have spun my yarn about spinning wheels.

May the next turn favor you.