Gulun Kungfu Academy

nal Shaolin culture and traditions – Gu-Lun Sect that include Buddism, the original Shaolin Wugulun Kung fu, Medicine, and the secrets of XinYiBa -- which have been passed down through the generations of the Wu family lineage. Sadly Master Wu Nanfang’s father died when the Master was a young child so, as the only son of the family, he took on the role of caring for his mother and sisters and later his own family. Never for a minute, however, did he forget his heritage and he continued to practise Wugulun Kung fu at every available opportunity. He tells the touching story of how he would visit Master Zhang Qing He, who was a doctor, to study kung fu with him. He would practise quietly by himself while the Master was attending to patients and then, in short intervals between patients, he would quickly have a lesson. With the Master he discussed the lack of time available to him to practise and learned a valuable lesson: Zhang Qing He told him that everything he did, every minute of each day, was an opportunity to practise – even riding his bicycle back home! Master Wu Nanfang travelled in Henan teaching his Wugulun Kung fu to many students but in about 1988 he needed to return to his home to take care of his family. Many of his students followed him there and he continued to work and teach in the area. In 1990 Master Zhang Qing He requested him to come to the Shaolin Temple and introduce Dejian to him. Dejian, Wu Nanfang’s elder brother (Because they are fellow students of the same master they refer to each other as ’brother.). This was an important event for two reasons: Master Wu Nanfang became a Buddhist disciple of the then Shaolin Abbot, Master Suxi, who gave him his Buddhist name of Shi Defang, and he met Dejian for the first time, thus beginning a friendship that exists to this day. As time went on, Master Wu Nanfang and Master Shi Dejian became increasingly frustrated with the noise and chaos of the Temple and its focus on tourism, financial gain and the promotion of the ‘wushu’ style of Kung fu with its obvious money-making potential. They could no longer find a quiet space to practise or teach. Master Dejian went to San Huang Zhai, then just a tiny temple inhabited by two nuns and, with the nuns’ happy agreement, embarked on an ambitious project to build a large monastery and healing centre there to further the traditions of ChanWuYi, with an emphasis on herbal medicines and healing. Master Wu Nanfang had already opened his school to teach ChanWuYi and Wugulun Kung fu and to continue to pass on his family’s heritage. Master Wu Nanfang is dedicated to the teaching, preservation and promotion of the ancient Shaolin traditions of ChanWuYi and Wugulun Kung fu. In the past few years, due in part to greater internet coverage, in part to word of mouth, and possibly in part to the BBC documentary ‘Extreme Pilgrim’, more and more people, both western and Chinese, are finding their way to Song Mountain to experience for themselves the origins of the Shaolin Kung fu tradition. In 2011 Master began searching the local area for a suitable site on which to build the school of his dreams a year later a place was found on the opposite side of the valley, still with a magnificent view of Shaoshi Mountain, but away from the noisy main road and interfering and prying eyes of locals and tourists. Friends of Master Wu Nanfang helped with donations, architectural planning, and the use of essential fengshui principles and In April 2013 the construction was complete. The Shaolin Wugulun Kung fu Academy reopened and training commenced. The new building now provides very efficient facilities for all aspects of life at the school: three terraces for training, a spacious kitchen for the special Chanwuyi food, a shop for personal necessities, an elegant reception room. a meditation room, quarters for the Master and his family who are all involved in the running of the school, and big dormitories complete with airconditioning and heating units. A wing for toilets and showers was also built. Without doubt this is now a very beautiful school fit to welcome both Chinese and western students who wish to train in and study this very important system of Chanwuyi kung fu and traditional medicine. The Academy is a small, family-run school located in the foothills of Song Mountain, near the Shaolin Temple, in Dengfeng, Henan Province, China.