Monk Brings Chinese Temple Practices to Studio

As young boys, Wang Bo and his brother Yuan Jing learned to live the life of monks, waking at 5:30 a.m. to the same routine of meditation, training and discipline. They did not have toys, new clothing, computers or movie nights. But they were among the fortunate ones. Born in an impoverished village in China’s Shandong Province, the brothers were chosen at the ages of eight and ten to live in the famous Shaolin Temple, high in the Shaoshi Mountain in China’s central Henan Province, to become masters in Kung Fu.

“Our parents wanted us to be confident and to step out with a happy step,” said Wang Bo. “We learned Kung Fu to protect ourselves from fear.”

This sense of fearlessness drove the brothers to leave the sheltered life of the temple and find a new life in the United States. They settled near Palos Verdes, recently opening a center for Kung Fu and Tai Chi on Rolling Hills Road called Shaolin Temple.                  

Their Kung Fu abilities took them around the world. By the time they were teenagers, the Wang brothers were chosen to travel in the Wheel of Life performances, a pageantry of Kung Fu, drama and Tai Chi performed by the monks in the Temple. In 2001, Wang Bo was invited to perform at Queen Elizabeth’s birthday in the United Kingdom and in 2007 he went to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin. He got a taste of the world and wanted more.

So, a year later, Wang Bo left China to see if he could live out the principles and challenges he was taught all his life in seclusion on the mountain.

“I wanted to test myself,” the 22-year-old said. “Could I survive? I lived in the temple for so many years. I wanted to see if the stuff I learned in the temple really worked.”

The first year in America was tough. Wang Bo barely spoke English and did not know how to drive. He was lonely and confused. He could barely make ends meet teaching Kung Fu in Venice and Santa Monica.

“I had a lot of stress all of the time,” he said. “I had no peace in my heart.”

And then a happy accident changed his fortune. He walked into the Sacred Stone Gallery in Redondo Beach and the owner, Gustave Schindler, asked him if he was a monk. Wearing his telltale flowing yellow robes, Wang Bo said yes and that he wanted to start teaching Kung Fu and Tai Chi to pay for his living. Within a few weeks, Wang Bo was leading a small group in Tai Chi organized by Schindler at Veteran’s Park.

“He wanted to do everything on his own and he realized it is not that easy,” said Schindler, who said he felt like they had been “old friends from a past life.” “He grew up in a sheltered environment where he was taken care of. So here, everyone loved and supported him at his early stages. It became like a family. I am glad the monk is here and now he is plugged in.”

Last August, after a few months renting out space in other studios, Wang Bo opened the Shaolin Temple on Rolling Hills Road. Today he has six employees and about 85 students, some from Palos Verdes, learning Kung Fu and Tai Chi. In June, he performed at the .

His spacious studio is painted a bright orange and yellow in honor of the Shaolin Temple’s colors. He transformed an office into a tea garden where he sits before class to meditate and drink jasmine tea. Before beginning a Kung Fu routine he is calm and serene, but then his face contorts, his body tightens into a flurry of well choreographed kicks and punches that Kung Fu aficionados recognize as authentic.  

“He is one of the ambassadors of the temple who has the direct lineage to the teachings,” said Jerry Erickson, who has studied Kung Fu for 45 years and is the owner of Erickson’s Fitness in Torrance. Erickson is now learning from Wang Bo and hopes to eventually visit the Temple. “He is a true Zen monk. Instead of going to Shaolin, Shaolin came here.”

Living without his parents since the age of eight and such a life of deprivation, Wang Bo, said he understands what it’s like to have a hard childhood. He sees a lot of parents here pushing their children too hard.

“Patience and compassion are hard to practice,” he said. “Parents don’t need to push too much. If things are meant to happen, they will happen.”

One of Wang Bo’s goals is to teach students how to live their life, enjoying moment by moment and appreciating what they have. After all, he says, nothing lasts forever.

“Everything we have, will go away one day,” he said. “It is all temporary. Once you realize that, it becomes very powerful.”