The Real Thing

It's not often I disagree with Shifu Wu Nanfang.

But in one conversation, I had to cut him off.

Shifu was saying modern people aren't interested in the deep internal arts anymore. They only want flashy external practices.

‘Shifu, I respectfully disagree. Everyone I talk to values authenticity. They are looking for the real thing. All foreigners are frustrated by how difficult it is to find authenticity in China. To attract more students, we do not need to commercialise our advertising. In fact, we should do the opposite, doubling down on the purity of our teachings.’

The Drug Dealer Energy

Last summer, a retreat brought 20 Europeans to the Shaolin area. I joined them for an afternoon. Word got around I'd been in China a couple of years.

People started approaching me with the energy of someone who'd heard there was a drug dealer nearby.

‘Psst. You've been here a while. Have you found the real thing yet?’

They were all on the hunt for the real deal.

Many of them had even come to this retreat, which was taught by someone from the Shaolin performance team, with the hope that they would come across something more internal and deep in their travels.

Here's the irony.

Most kung fu schools have adapted to what they think foreigners want. Their retreats become places to learn some moves and take photos.

They've stopped believing their audience wants depth. So they stop offering it.

And the audience — still hungry — assumes depth doesn't exist anymore.

Both sides waiting for the other to go first.

The Ancient Tree

I invited four of them to meet Shifu Wu Nanfang. Of the four:

• One woman said: "That small meeting made my entire trip. I could feel — that was the real thing."

• A 20-year-old who came looking for hard physical training changed his mind completely. He’s now three months into a yearlong stay.

• A Tai Chi teacher from Australia is bringing her students next year.

• The teacher leading the original retreat is planning to train with us too.

What did they feel?

Not the presence of something magical. The absence of any ego.

Being in Shifu's presence is like being near a particularly ancient tree. The extraordinariness isn't flashy. It's quiet. Still. Empty of performance.

It is quite something to come into contact with a being who wants nothing from you and has no desire.

The Money Thing

Speaking of wanting nothing.

Many people are afraid of coming to China. They've heard masters are interested in marketing. That they'll get ripped off.

In eighteen months I've trained with Shifu, he has never once asked me for money.

When we started training one-on-one, he said I could pay whatever I wanted.

For our online programme, he never asked how we'd split profits. When I said I'd donate them to the school, he waved his hand. "Do whatever you want."

For our retreats in Europe, he didn’t ask a single question about finances.

I say this because I know many are scared of coming to China and being ripped off.

Opening to Westerners

Shifu Wu Nanfang is highly traditional teacher.

For many, ‘traditional’ is code for ‘racist against Westerners and beats kids’.

Not for Shifu.

He is traditional in that he is uncompromising in maintaining the purity of the practice, not diluting the teaching to suit the modern attention span.

And yet, he loves teaching foreigners. He says that Western adults are more committed than Chinese kids, who are often forced by their parents to come here. Westerners see the value of this practice.

‘Bodhidharma was a foreigner who transmitted Zen to the Chinese. Zen is beyond language. Why shouldn’t I teach foreigners?’

We are consciously distinguishing ourselves from modern Kung Fu schools and creating a centre for cultivation of deep internal arts.

A place where people come to find the real thing.

Most people who come to us tell me about the marathon they went on to find us on the internet. While there is something romantic about the challenge of going on a quest to search for a Zen master, I think it better if we make ourselves less invisible.

I’ve traditionally rejected marketing, but by reframing it as helping people who desperately want what we have get what they want, I don’t think of it as such a bad thing.

The real deal is here. The door is open.