Shi Yan Ming
| Shì Yánmíng |
|
|---|---|
Shi Yan Ming at USA Shaolin Temple in Lower Manhattan, November 4, 2010.
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| Religion | Chan Buddhism |
| School | Shaolin Temple |
| Lineage | 34th Generation Shaolin Warrior Monk |
| Dharma names | Shì Yánmíng |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Chinese American |
| Born |
February 13, 1964 Zhumadian, Henan, China |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Chan Master, Founder and abbot of the USA Shaolin Temple |
| Religious career | |
| Teacher | Shi Yong Qian (釋永乾) |
| Students | RZA, Wesley Snipes, Rosie Perez, Bokeem Woodbine, John Leguizamo Taimak |
| Website | usashaolintemple |
Shi Yan Ming (born Duan Gen Shan; February 13, 1964) is a 34th generation Shaolin warrior monk, teacher and actor, best known as the founder of the USA Shaolin Temple. Trained at the Shaolin Temple in Henan, People's Republic of China (PRC) since the age of five, Shi Yan Ming defected to the United States in 1992, before opening the USA Shaolin Temple in Manhattan, where he has taught hundreds of students, including numerous celebrities. He has made various media appearances in television, film and print, including National Geographic, PBS, History, Time magazine, and the 1999 American samurai action film, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.
Shi Yan Ming was born Duan Gen Shan in Zhumadian in Henan Province, China, on Chinese New Year's, February 13, 1964, the year of the Dragon, the seventh of nine children. His father grew up in a family so poor that they were essentially homeless, and begged for food door to door. Duan's father, who never went to school, slept under a wood-burning stove, or would dig a hole in a stack of wheat for warmth. Despite these hardships, he taught himself to be a very literate reader, writer and calligrapher. Duan's mother's family was slightly better off financially. As was typical, she was not educated either, had her feet bound, and was raised solely to be a mother and housewife. Duan's parents eventually acquired jobs for the Chinese government under Mao, and worked underground as telex operators.
Prior to his birth, two of Duan's older brothers and one older sister died of starvation in Mao Zedong's "Great Leap Forward" in the late 1950s. Duan himself almost died when he was approximately two or three years old, prompting his parents to spend all their money on numerous doctors, and his father to sell his special calligraphy pen. Doctors eventually gave up on him, and after thinking their seventh child had died, his parents wrapped him in blankets, intending to throw him away, before being stopped by an acupuncturist outside their village who saw them crying, and performed acupuncture on the infant Gen Shan, who promptly recovered. Yan Ming believes the man was a Boddhisattva sent by Buddha to save his life.
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Wikipedia