Introducing Myself: The Shaolin Way of Life - 少林

Hi Steemians,

I waited quite a long time for my introduction but now I‘m finally sitting down and write my first blog post :)

I‘m Christian, German citizen and living since a couple of weeks in Cyprus, working as a web developer. With all the crypto currency hype last year I finally got involved and also came across the Steem platform. I like a lot the concept of decentralise again the whole Internet like it was meant to be back then and I‘m curious about the future if Blockchain technology can really show us the way.

---

At highschool I started to get involved into Chinese Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu. After 2 months of training at a Kung Fu school in central China I knew that this was not my last time in China, but only with English it would be hard for me to study more about the Shaolin philosophy and train with the warrior monks :)

So I decided to study Sinology (just a fancy name for East Asian Studies with the major in Chinese :D) and I began learning Mandarin Chinese, the culture, history etc.

After 2 years of studying I thought it should be time to test my language skills – I contacted one of my earlier Kung Fu Shifus (師父，師 for teacher, 父 for father）and asked him if it‘s possible that I could stay a longer period of time in China, also to learn more about Buddhism.

And so I went to China, staying a bit longer than a year at a Kung Fu school and Buddhist monastery. At the monastery in Beijing (北京, 北 for Northern, 京 for capital) I got a Buddhist name and took refuge together with the 5 precepts.

I will explain all that in a future blog post because else it would be too much for just an introduction :)

---

The monastery I stayed is called Tiankaisi　(天開寺,天　for heaven, 開 for open, and 寺 for monastery).

Getting up every morning at 4 was tough, that‘s why many monks after chanting the sutras fell asleep in the meditation and even started to snore :D

At this temple there were only some monks also practising Kung Fu and they didn‘t act as a teacher there so I also spent time at one of the many Shaolin temples,　called 北少林寺, the Northern Shaolin Temple (There are a lot..) in Hebei 河北，province　(河 for river, 北 for Noth, the river is the Yellow River or Huanghe).

---

Because I don‘t have that much patience I didn‘t want to learn the Shaolin forms but instead I focused on the traditional style – conditioning the body. I practised for example Tietougong(鐵頭功 , Iron Head Kung Fu).

And we also practised fighting on top of the wooden poles where you not only learn to fight but also become versed in paying attention to your balance.

---

After I came back from China I had to find work and earn money like a normal person so I unfortunately had no time anymore to practise and study the Shaolin way because just of lack of time.

---

I think Steem is a great tool which can enable me to focus again on the philosophy and the sport because I‘m really missing it since I started my career as a IT Freelancer. If you sit the whole day in front of the laptop you just need to go out at least once a day and do a nice workout or you will loose your mind :D Now it‘s time for a change!

If you are interested I will write in the next posts about the daily life in China, about the Chinese language, Chinese Buddhism and for sure the Shaolin way of life.

阿彌陀佛，Stay tuned!