Lure of Kung Fu(3)

Harman came to China on a kung fu pilgrimage to Shaolin, but what he found at the temple was not for him.

He sought out world-renowned ving tsun master Wang Zhi Peng, whose lineage boasts ties to marital artist and star of the silver screen Bruce Lee.

"Wang Zhi Peng's master's master was Yip Man, who also taught Bruce Lee," he says.

The Beijing Scientific Ving Tsun School has 400 regular students at several locations around the country, and a few thousand casual learners.

Many of them, like Lebanese business lawyer Rashad Tabet, 31, are for eigners living and working in China.

Harman says preserving, promoting and practicing ving tsun martial arts and culture is still at the heart of what the organization is all about. But he concedes the school is a business.

"We are very open about that," he says. "But making money is a sideline to what we do; it just lets us do what we do."

For all their differences, Harman concedes there is an undeniable common ground between ving tsun and wu shu. The basic skills and disciplines of both have practical applications for professionals.

Tabet the business lawyer agrees.

"You have to defend your centerline in business, just like you do in ving tsun. You don't know where the attacks will come from. You have to be on your guard 24/7 in the business world. Always be ready to defend. This is something I learned how to do from martial arts."

Shaolin Temple and Harman's school are not the only kung fu organizations experiencing a boom in business and popularity.

Sichuan-based Liu Suibin, the head of the Qingcheng faction of Daoism, has more than 468,000 followers on Chinese social media. His instructional tai chi video is available for download in the Apple app store, and is reportedly growing in popularity among office-bound executives and professionals looking for stress release and focus at work.

One of his books has also made China's bestseller list.

Abbot Shi generally shies away from talking about the commercial successes of Shaolin and why he's taken the order down a path that's led to financial sustainability.

But reading between the lines when he opens up about his own journey to enlightenment reveals much about the man and his mission.

Born in Anhui province, the son of a train driver, Shi arrived at Shaolin Temple in 1981 when he was 16-years-old. He found the place in disrepair. The monks, he says, "didn't have enough to eat."

"At that time, Shaolin didn't have so many visitors," Shi says. "The temple buildings were in poor condition, and more than 30 monks lived off 28 mu (less than one square kilometer) of farmland. The conditions were harsh and life was tough."

From 1987, Shi was able to help steer the future course of the order. In 1999, he became the abbot, and his reform agenda picked up pace.

"For 1,500 years, our belief, our way of practicing Buddhism has not changed," he says. "But our daily work has been changed. Historically, monks live off farming. Now they mainly work by serving tourists. We used to deal with farmlands, but now we deal with people, which is not as easy."

Shi Yanbo, 25, is part of the new generation of novice monks at Shaolin. He believes going back to the old ways doesn't make sense.

"Tourists are a test of our xiu xing (journey to enlightenment) because we have to make sure that our heart won't be affected by the noisy environment," he says.

"We have to accept it and remain calm and treat visitors with joyful hearts.

"Shaolin belongs to the world now, and develops with the world. We cannot do farming otherwise people would not be able to visit us. All our traditional thoughts and beliefs have been maintained and carried on for generations. Our life maybe different, but what we practice is of the heart, and the heart remains unchanged."

As the sun disappears behind the forest clad Songshan mountain, the tourists empty out of Shaolin Temple. The monks sit quietly and chat beneath swooping squadrons of dragonflies in the gathering twilight, the scene a window into a simpler time before kung fu commercialized.

The Abbot says the temple's growing connectivity with the modern world is about survival, and about spreading the benefits of Shaolin wu shu to those who are seeking it, globally.

He hints that the kung fu wisdom he shares with executives is not just about people wanting to do better in business, but also about people who have done well in business, wanting something better.

"I tell business people how to behave in a good way, how to do things well," Shi says. "They need to be more confident, improve themselves, keep a normal heart toward things and believe that you reap what you sow."

In the ancient mountain fastness of Shaolin Temple, walking in the footsteps of generations of kung fu acolytes, Mabre says he has learned wu shu is about more than physical prowess. It's about mental discipline and the Buddhist drive for constant self-improvement, personal and professional.

"First you learn kung fu for your body," he says. 'Then you learn for the mind and the spirit."

Masoula says she believes the ancient soul of Shaolin hasn't been hijacked and turned into a business with a focus on profit. Maybe, she says, it's a case of kung fu in the 21st century giving business a new focus, and the wisdom to recognize that there is profit, in having a soul.