For Him Magazine June 2000
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Shifu Shi Yanzi Kung Fu King

Kung Fu was the early Seventies TV series that kickstarted the martial arts craze in the UK. Based on an original idea by Bruce Lee, though he was never given any credit, it starred David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine, a monk who flees his Shaolin Temple after killing the man who has killed his Master. The Shaolin Temple is situated in the Henan province in the Songshan mountains in China. It is the birthplace of Kung Fu, the martial art based on animal movements, developed by the monks to protect themselves from the local marauding bandits.

The monks regarded Kung Fu as inseparable from their Zen Buddhist religion, the result being a martial art that relies on amazing mental powers rather than just brute force, as the bumbling rednecks who attacked the placid Caine each week soon discovered. Shifu Shi Yanzi comes from a Buddhist background. His father was a fisherman who is still a strong swimmer and can tread water in such a way that his waist appears above the water. Shifu entered the Shaolin Temple 17 years ago when he was 15, and was soon regarded as the top Kung Fu practitioner, the top man among the very elite.



"At 3am, some monks get up to do their Kung Fu training alone in the mountains, and then at 4.30 everyone takes part in prayers. It's a very simple, quiet, peaceful life, and I was there for over 15 years. At the Shaolin Temple there are five rules: don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, don't have illicit sex, and no alcohol. It's not so difficult, really. I improved quickly with Kung Fu, and won San Shou (Chinese free-fighting) competitions throughout China.

Many people got to know me, and slowly my confidence grew. Although I was proving successful on the competition side, I felt unfulfilled: I had not spent enough time on my mind and had many unanswered questions. I felt I needed more. What is Kung Fu for, if you are the number one fighter? What does it mean, being the best? I felt like I was at traffic lights, wondering which way to go."



Shifu's master encouraged him to intensify his study of Zen Buddhism. "You must find out who you are. When you know where you are from, then you know where you are going. Then you can overcome fear. But how can you not be scared if you are fighting? For me, what helped me to get confidence was to face my reality. That doesn't just mean set meditation in a quiet place. Meditation means thinking wherever you are." In his quest to demonstrate to the world that Shaolin Kung Fu is the true way, the new, improved Shifu continued to take on fighters all over China, proving himself able to react to whatever style was flung at him.

He was then taken on by the Chinese Special Police, to train their already top notch members. "When the most dangerous things happen, they go in. They need many special skills to make the mind calm and to control the self. I taught them about Zen Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu for three years. It's not easy to teach a team like this, because they already had some martial skills.

During the training people wanted to challenge me: if you want to teach someone you have to prove it. Okay. So I gave them a demonstration. I said, 'You can confront me, kick me, punch me, I don't attack'. So they came to punch and kick me and I just stood there. I feel no pain, because my body is ready." Those still not convinced were handed a thick pole, with which they could test the 'steel jacket' powers of the stationary monk. "The pole breaks, no problem. Some people then want to fight, they challenge me. I don't want to hurt someone, but I need to give lessons. When they see what I can do, then they believe. Zen Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu taught me to understand myself and to be calm and peaceful, and I believe I can control myself in any situation."



For the past two years, Shifu Shi Yanzi has been based in North London, working towards building a Shaolin Temple Cultural Centre here. "I learned Kung Fu in the Shaolin Temple in order to prove it internationally. You can't just disappear into the mountains. You need to face everything, the city, cars, big buildings, traffic, the reality in your life. I don't think it's difficult to concentrate wherever you are.

I believe that ultimately anyone can do this, everyone has the real power."