Talk given by Jianhu Shifu
At Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu School, Boulder, CO 6/17/2024, transcribed and edited 7/28/2024

1. The most precious thing in the world

My name is Jian Hu Shifu, not a kung fu shifu but a shifu of Buddhism, a Buddhist monk. I teach Zen meditation and Buddhist philosophy. But there is a connection, which we will see.

Let’s begin with a story about Bodhidharma. He is very important both for Buddhism and for Chinese martial arts, because he brought Chan (Zen) Buddhism to China. He is honored as the First Chan Patriarch of China. According to legend, he also taught kung fu to the monks at Shaolin Temple. That happened around 1500 years ago. Chan Buddhism flourished in China, and later spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. In Japan it is pronounced “Zen”.

Bodhidharma was originally a prince in southern India. His father the king was a devoted Buddhist, and one day invited his shifu, Master Prajñātāra, to the palace for a wonderful meal. Afterwards, the king made a special offering to the master from the treasury of the royal palace. It was a huge, beautiful, perfect pearl. The master accepted the king’s generous offering.

Now what does a monk do with a pearl? The master decided to use this occasion to teach the Dharma (Buddhist teaching). He saw that the king had three sons standing there respectfully, and so he asked the eldest prince, “Your father, his majesty the king, offered me this incredible gift. I have never seen a pearl this large and beautiful. It must be very precious. Now I have a question for your highness: is this the most precious thing in the world?”

The eldest prince replied, “Master, we are a powerful kingdom, and this is the most valuable thing from our royal treasury. My father gave you his very best. I believe this is the most precious thing in the world.”

Then the master asked the second prince the same question, who replied, “Master, I have traveled across this land to many different kingdoms, and I've seen many precious things. None has value that comes close to this pearl. I believe this is the most precious thing in the world.”

Then he repeated the question to the third prince, Bodhidharma. He answered differently: “Master, this is indeed a very precious jewel, but it is not the most precious thing in the world.”

Now let us pause and reflect: What is the most precious thing in the world to you?

Bodhidharma continued, “The pearl shines beautifully, but it is not the most beautiful shine, because it takes external light to make it shine. The pearl is not the most precious thing because it doesn't know whether itself is precious or not.”

Now who determines the value of a pearl or diamond? Are they inherently valuable? A pearl comes from an oyster or a clam. A grain of sand or a small particle gets inside the shell, and the oyster secretes something that wraps around the particle to protect its flesh. This hardens to becomes a pearl. Now, do you think the oyster is proud of it, “Look at how big my pearl is”? No, it's an unnatural growth inside, like a tumor, isn’t it? What do you think the value of the pearl is to the oyster? It’s negative. But we human beings think it is beautiful. And so we decide, artificially, that this is valuable to us. A pearl has no intrinsic value, its value depends on who considers it.

I used to live in Nevada. There people have a joke about California: “One day California will have a big earthquake and fall into the ocean, and then Nevada will be beachfront property. We’ll be wealthy.” The value of properties change. In fact, anything that you can touch, hold, and trade cannot be the most precious thing because no matter how expensive, something will top it later. Times change, conditions change. A Van Gogh painting was next to worthless when he was alive. One day much cheaper lab-grown diamonds may replace mined diamonds. So if you're trying to find the most precious externally, you will be disappointed.

The third prince, Bodhidharma, realized at a very young age that the most precious thing was …… what was his answer? A pearl does not “know”, it has no awareness. We use our awareness to determine what is precious and what is not precious. So what is his implied answer?

Our mind.

Now, if I give you $100 million in exchange for your mind, would you do it? No way! How much is your mind worth? Can you put a price tag on it? No. Then your mind is truly priceless, isn't it? Everybody agrees?

So who is the wealthiest person in the world? Each one of us! When you're born, you already have the most precious thing in the world. Now, at the beginning of this evening you thought, “I’m not rich.” And you leave this lecture knowing you are the wealthiest person in the world. Is this talk worth it?

2. Unpolished gem

You say, “Wait a minute, Shifu. Something's not quite right there. How come I don't feel wealthy? How come I don't feel so special?” Some of you already feel special, some of you have doubts. “I get bullied in school.” “I wish I were as smart as my coworker.” “I’m just not good at kung fu.” Some may feel that way. So what is wrong with me? What is the missing factor?

The missing factor is that many don't know how to train their mind, how to use their mind in the right place, in the right way. In a way, our mind is like an unpolished gem.

In Buddhism, we learn that our mind is powerful, and the amazing fact is: you don't have to work to obtain it; you already have it. Who doesn't have a mind, raise your hand! Everybody has it. But why is it that somebody goes very far in life, becomes a master in their field, and somebody seems to fail at everything? Well, there are many, many factors, conditions that affect the outcome. But here’s a key that everybody can learn to master, and that is how to train and use your mind. You’ve heard of it: it's the training of mindfulness.

“Buddha” means “fully enlightened one”. What does fully enlightened mean? It means somebody who knows and understands everything correctly, beginning with oneself. Now, do you understand yourself 100%? Who does? So we have something to learn from the Buddha. Buddha discovered that to understand the world, you don't need study every possible subject. That will take so many lifetimes. Instead, you learn about yourself first, and when you truly understand yourself, you can fully understand everybody else, because we are fundamentally equal: equal in that we have a mind that works the same way, equal in that this mind has incredible potential. Upon enlightenment Buddha said, “This is so amazing! Any ordinary person can become a buddha if only they learn to be deeply mindful, and see their true nature.” When you understand yourself, you will understand life and death, and understand others. Everyone has that potential to be fully enlightened as the Buddha.

3. Three elements for learning anything

Now this potential has nothing to do with your gender, skin color, age, and even your education level. In order to realize this potential, however, it does require three elements to be present. Let’s see if we have them!

The first element is to reflect on your own actions . The importance of this is obvious. Can all of you reflect on your own actions? Yes? To grow up is to gradually modify our behavior from being a kid, through our parents and teachers’ guidance. We need to reflect on our actions throughout our lives, especially our mistakes. Mistakes are okay as long as we learn how to fix them . Don't be afraid of making mistakes, everybody does. But the paths of life of those who reflect and learn from past mistakes will depart greatly from those who do not.

The second element is to be able to learn something new . Ever since you were born, you've been learning. If you're born in America, you automatically speak English; while those from other countries had to study hard to learn and speak English. People think that learning Chinese is difficult. But any baby growing up in China learns and speaks Chinese naturally. The key is we all have the ability to acquire new, sophisticated knowledge and skills. But do you continue your learning throughout your life?

The third element is to discern, to make good judgments and decisions.

Do you think you can learn new things? Do you think you can reflect on your actions? And make good judgments? Well, we do need to practice; when we practice, we become better. Everybody has these abilities, but some people choose not to exercise them. Therein lies the key difference.

Today, you decided to come here, instead of going to a bar and getting drunk. Good discernment. Because you have learned something valuable about yourself.. Those of you in this kung fu school, you made a good decision, because practicing kung fu is an example of training mindfulness.

4. Ways of mindfulness training

There are different ways to train mindfulness. Buddhists, both monks and laypeople, train mindfulness via meditation. There is sitting meditation, walking meditation, even working meditation. There are also different types of meditation, such as Zen meditation, mindfulness of breath, mindfulness of body, mindfulness of feeling, compassion contemplation, and so on.

Tea Ceremony is another way to train your mind. Why? You put a tea bag in hot water and you’re done, right? Well, maybe that's the American way. So what is it that makes drinking tea a “ceremony”?

Once I met a Buddhist nun in Taiwan. She developed a way to teach kids mindfulness, by putting five or six kids at a table, and teaching them to perform traditional tea ceremonies. Imagine that!

Tea ceremony is about brewing water, pouring tea in little cups, and serving tea silently and gracefully. It’s about timing and temperature, but also concentration, calmness, and service. So it is not just a ritual, but a training of the mind.

The kids were curious, they had never done that before, and wanted to learn it well. When their parents have guests over, some ask their kids to serve the tea. Guests are amazed and parents are proud.

Another way to practice mindfulness is via training in martial arts. What's the point of kung fu? To beat people up? In ancient times, maybe, people needed to defend themselves. But here in Boulder? (Laugh.) Over time, the kung fu masters realized that kung fu is really about training the mind, and the greatest kung fu masters are the best in training their mind.

5. Four factors of mindfulness

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is a state of mind. When you're angry, when you're jealous, sad, happy, joyful, restless, bored, drowsy …… these are all different states of mind. What states of mind did you experience throughout yesterday? You don't remember much? Exactly. If you had been really mindful, you would remember everything. Now what characterizes a “mindful” state of mind?

First, to be fully in the present moment . Every moment, you're in the present. Just before this talk started, I was really impressed with the young kung fu students rehearsing lion dance. They are holding another person on their thighs, jumping up and down on small platforms. That requires a lot of strength and concentration, that everyone is in the present, right? Because every moment, you're doing a different move. You have to be in the present moment at all times.

It is funny how so much of our life is spent not in the present moment. Why? Worrying about tomorrow, regretting or reminiscing about the past. There's incredible power in being in the present, but it’s something we’ll need to learn and discover.

The second quality of mindfulness is a mind that is calm . One of the simplest meditation is to observe your breath. Now what's so interesting about observing your breath? Nothing. But that's why it is a good method because there's nothing going on. To be able to calm yourself down is very useful. How do you calm your mind when you're agitated, anxious, or under stress?

Simply observe your breath. Every moment, fully devote the mind to observing your breath, and then in a few minutes, that agitation goes away. Why? Because you're fully focused on the breath instead of thinking about whatever worries you. You don't have to take a pill; you don’t have to pay me for a session; you can do it anywhere, anytime. You just observe the breath and then you can calm down. It is amazing how straightforward this is. Some of the best things in life are free. When you become good at this you can calm down within a few minutes, under most situations. But it does take practice.

When you’re doing kung fu or the tea ceremony, driving, or many things in life, you want to have a calm mind. When you are giving a speech, when you have to see your boss, when you're taking a test …… would you like a calm mind or an agitated mind? That’s why mindfulness training is important. When we are watching the lion dance, doing the difficult, beautiful and fancy moves, the performers move fast yet have to be calm, right? They can’t be worrying, “What if I fall? What if the other guy missteps?” That's not gonna work. Calmness is something that everyone can train to have. It’s not something mysterious or “you’re born with it or not.” Calmness is part of mindfulness.

The third thing about mindfulness is clarity of mind . Did you brush every tooth this morning? Did you miss some crevices or sides? You don't remember. Lack of clarity. Clarity of mind is important when you're doing kung fu practice. You want to listen clearly to what the teacher says, and then practice the movements with mental clarity. The more mental clarity, the faster you will learn. Other skills, like sports, carpentry, calligraphy, flower arrangement are the same. Look at this beautiful Chinese calligraphy on the wall; it takes years of training. One must have mental clarity, calmness, and be in the present to make it happen, because every moment the movement, direction, angle, and force of the brush is different.

Imagine you have calmness, mental clarity and are always in the present moment. When is it useful? Virtually everything, isn't it? Do you know why some people do better in life? Because they just stay focused on what they do.

And there's a fourth factor: being unbiased , being objective. One could be very calm and clear, and be a racist. Right? A biased person believes in something that's not true, that is not in accord with reality; then that person may make mistakes or even do something harmful. We are easily biased; to have an unbiased mind requires training. But everybody can learn to do that. You put a three-year-old baby in a room with a chick, a piglet, a puppy, and a kitty. Do you think the baby will think, “This is a pet, I’ll play with it. That is food, it belongs to the cage”? I don’t think so. They just directly perceive reality as it is. They are unbiased at that point. When they see a cockroac, “Oh, a cute bug!” until they are taught differently. Do you think racists in the world were racists when they were born? Will different skin-colored babies in a room play with each other or discriminate each other because of their skin color? It's important to be objective. To examine and unlearn our biases.

These are the four factors of mindfulness. But is it useful to be mindful for two seconds? Sustained mindfulness is what makes it powerful. You're doing the lion dance, you have to be mindful throughout the whole practice. During meditation, you want to stay mindful throughout the whole session. Although a lot of times we fail, even Shifu dozes off sometimes. But that’s why training is needed. Mindfulness training.

6. Pure intention

Sir Isaac Newton is one of the greatest scientists who came up with the theory of gravity about 300 years ago. He was sick and taking a vacation in the countryside to get better. He would be taking long walks in the morning and in the evening, every day. While taking those walks, he made many great discoveries about our world. On those walks do you think he was thinking about how to be a world-famous physicist? How to make a lot of money? (“No!”) What was he thinking about? He was curious about the world and constantly trying to make sense of it. He tried to understand why apples fell on his head. Why planets circle around. Where the sun and the moon come from. He was always curious. That's the intention that motivated him to make those scientific discoveries. Some people naturally have a very strong intention to figure out what they want to do in their life. Do you know what you want to do in life?

Now Newton was not a Buddhist, but I’m sure he was mindful during these long walks in the countryside. He was in the present, his mind was clear, he was unbiased. And that helped him made those discoveries.

Young people in the audience, how do you become good at school? By worrying about, “Am I going to beat the other students? Am I the most popular in school?” Is that how you become a top student? No. How? You just study. That's what I call pure intention. Pure intention.

I recently watched an interview from a young man in his 30s, he founded a billion-dollar tech company. When asked, “What do you do with your money?” He said, “ I don't know. It just sits in a bank.” He doesn't buy properties around the world, he doesn’t worry about how his stocks fluctuate on Wall Street, he doesn’t even have a fancy car. He just wants to improve his app everyday. He's totally immersed in and enjoys his work, he wants to run his company really well. That’s pure intention.

Do you want to be really good at something? Buddha says everybody has that potential. But it does take mindfulness, learning, reflection, and persistence. What keeps you going? It is that intention or that interest, that desire. There are good desires and there are wrong desires, “I want to be a good student so that the teacher likes me, so that everyone like me.” You're probably not going to learn well that way. Good students focus on “I want to understand this. I want to solve this problem.” And that's how Einstein became Einstein. That's how Newton became Newton. That's how any great person becomes a great person. Most of them are not especially gifted. If you think that you have to be especially gifted, that is not the reality. People become really good at something because they figure out how to use their mind. And the intention is what drives them.

Over the span of a thousand years, people discovered that the greatest kung fu masters are those who figured out how to expertly train their mind. The mind comes first, not the body. So as a kung fu student, do I become the best by kicking the other guy when the teacher is not looking? By being jealous of others? No. By pure intention. I simply want to master these moves. Now, is kung fu about positions and moves? Of course. But that's not the core. The core is your mind. And I think Shifu Howie will agree. So when you're doing the moves it's not about “do I look good?”, or “is it 1.2 inches to the right?” or “I need bigger muscles.” Listen to what the teacher says, and then apply your mind to it. Apply your mind wholeheartedly. Every moment, your mind is calm, clear and then you try. And if the first time is not right, you make an adjustment, and try it hundreds of times. That's how you become good at anything. And if you understand this, you can become an expert in any field that you choose. Of course, it is a lot of work. But when you apply your mind, you improve, you will find that this training is enjoyable.

7. Persistence: enjoying hard work

One of my favorite American writers is Mark Twain, who wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Great humor, penetrating satire. I read his (translated) novels as an elementary kid in Taiwan. Do you know how he became really good? He wrote eight hours a day. Every day.

Who is the most famous basketball player now? (Someone says, “LeBron James.”) How many hours does he practice a day? I'll bet it is not less than six hours. World-famous violinists or pianists, the same. Sure, it is work. Is it enjoyable? Why would anybody practice something for hours everyday, on their own, if they don’t enjoy it? Here's the thing: I have a theory that you can learn to enjoy any work if you are mindful in doing it.

I went to high school here in America. In junior year, there's a required course called “American history”. I love Chinese history and was biased, “Chinese have a 5000-year history. American history, 200 years. That course will be so boring.” I thought I was gonna hate that class. But it turned out that the course had a great teacher. He was funny, passionate, and infectious. During that class I actually remembered all the 50 states, their locations, and the names of all the American presidents. (Of course, I forgot everything now.) I actually enjoyed learning the material. Now that I know more about mindfulness, I think that experience indicates something significant: you can learn to like any subject.

Many people say, “I hate school.” “I hate work.” Remember one of the ingredients of mindfulness? Unbiased mind. Maybe there's a different way to look at it. Working on the same thing eight hours every day; homework and tests in school every day. How is it different from practicing basketball for eight hours a day? Somehow, LeBron James’ and Mark Twains and Einsteins find a way to enjoy whatever they're doing, day after day. The key is not “they were born to do it”, but rather being in the present moment, being non-judgmental, just do it.

The practice of walking meditation is important in mindfulness training. What is walking meditation? It is simply walking. In a meditation hall, after sitting meditation, we get up and walk in circles. At the end of the walking meditation, where do we arrive? Same place. You walk and get nowhere. So what's the point? The point is not where you get to, it is in every moment of the process. Every moment I walk, I feel my foot touching the ground, the 26 bones in each foot automatically adapt to any terrain. That's amazing. Scientists worked for decades to make a robot do what a 4-year-old does without thinking: walking. Climbing up stairs. By walking with mindfulness each step, you can sense the whole body working in harmony to make each step possible. All your bones, your muscles, ligaments, your skin, everything moves along with it in a balanced way. Each step is a wonder when you walk mindfully.

So it’s not where you get to, but in the process. Because it is in every moment of doing that you live your life. You can live your life appreciating the wonder of each moment. Or you can live your life complaining where you'd rather be instead .

Do you find your work mundane and boring? Let’s make it meaningful. The fact that your company can survive is because somebody needs that product or service your company provides. Instead of “I'm working just to bring the paychecks home so I can feed my family”, no, going to work is a service. Without me, without our products or service, some people's lives will become inconvenient. I contribute to this society. When your perspective changes, the nature of your work changes.

Sitting here watching the breath for 30 minutes; that sounds like the most boring thing to do, no? But then when you are in the present moment and persist, you begin to know yourself. As you turn the mindfulness inward, you begin to notice things about your body you never knew before, many signals your body's trying to tell you which you have ignored for years. When you're looking at your cell phone for half an hour, your shoulder, neck and eyes are all complaining. Your stomach may be complaining as well because of your posture. Your body is telling you so many things, but you don't pay attention. When you sit here unmoving and just being mindful, you begin to learn more about yourself than you ever would. Just being in the present, having a calm mind, a mind of clarity, and persisting, learning anything and doing anything becomes a new experience.

A kung fu movement is actually a great way to practice mindfulness of the whole body. It’s not just how you throw a punch. It's not just how you horse-stance there and train your muscles. It’s the whole body in balance. There's so much going on in our body that we don't know. As you begin your kung fu practice, with pure intention and full concentration, you begin to understand your body. You begin to understand yourself through mindfulness training. So it's a different approach to Buddhist meditation. Sitting meditation, walking meditation is relatively slow in movement, but you can get into a deeper calmness and clarity through that stillness. With a tea ceremony, you train mindfulness and service to others in a social, cultural setting. When you practice kung fu or tai chi as a mindfulness training, you get muscle tones, you get healthier, you train mindfulness in faster motions, as well as other benefits that Shifu Howie would know more about.

Now remember, in the three examples I gave: Buddhist meditation; tea ceremony; kung fu practice; the core and common thread is mindfulness training. And mindfulness is useful in everything that you do. You apply this concentration, this calm mind, and clarity in your school studies, you become a better student. You apply this at work, your work performance improves. The enjoyment also increases. You apply this to cooking, your family will love you. With mindfulness you learn empathy and build long lasting, stable relationships. It's one of the greatest gifts in life. Past masters in different fields have discovered this common thread, mindfulness, that can be realized through many different methods.

The difference between average, good and great in any skill is how mindful you are. You could do all the moves; they look good, but then you never become a master because it's just form. Form is the skin. But if you do the form, study with pure intention, be mindful in every moment, you're going deeper, into the flesh, and getting to the bones. You become a master of your own life.