Word: ming
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That's the Shaolin temple that yan Ming escaped from in 1992: pious about profits but spiritually bankrupt. While Yong Xin is bent on shellacking Shaolin into tidy anachronism, Yan Ming wants to punch up its traditions?and himself?to suit the realities of 21st century New York City. He openly eschews the usual trappings of Buddhist piety: he eats beef (which he has dubbed "American tofu"), drinks beer ("special water"), wine ("French special water") and, whenever possible, champagne ("very special French water"). He lives with his girlfriend and their 19-month-old son. He models. He acts in movies...
...that doesn't mean he's not serious about being a monk. At his U.S.A. Shaolin Temple, housed in a funky third-story loft in lower Manhattan, Yan Ming instructs nearly 500 students in Buddhism and kung fu from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. Eyes blazing, arms akimbo, voice roaring?picture Yul Brenner in The King and I?he exhorts his students to summon "more qi" and "train harder." "Occasionally" he admits, "I still forget that American students are different from Chinese. In China I could tell a kid to stand in the corner for two hours...
...That's where his combination of enlightening and lightening up comes in handy. Yan Ming's balancing act between sage and giddy child, strict shifu and Drunken Master, endears him to everyone from the garbagemen in Astor Place to the frosty gatekeepers at Soho's snootiest watering holes. "I'm in it for my health," says Derrick Waller, a musclebound N.Y.P.D. detective, "and because shifu is mad cool." Rosie Perez and Wesley Snipes take regular lessons. Musicians Bjork and Tricky drop in when they're in town. And the RZA, the mastermind behind rap collective Wu Tang Clan, checks...
...Ming hopes to build a Shaolin temple in rural upstate New York, where the mountains remind him of his old home. But the project needs cash and right now he's too short on "green qi." So, predictably perhaps, he's turning his attention to a movie career. Director Jim Jarmusch, who gave him a small role in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, believes the qualities that make Yan Ming such a funky monk will also serve him well as an actor. "I love his contradictions," says Jarmusch, "he's so playful and yet he has the potential...
...when Yan Ming brought his disciples to China earlier this fall, it was not only to touch base with his roots but to thumb his nose a little. He led rigorous daily practice sessions in training halls in Dengfeng, as well as in less conventional locales like Great Wall watchtowers and hotel lobbies. He talked about Chan as he shepherded his students through the Buddhist caves at Luoyang. But at night, discipline gave way to aggressively, almost-defiantly boisterous carousing...