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Lewis HowesLewis Howes

Shaolin Master REVEALS The Secret To SELF MASTERY | Shi Heng Yi & Lewis Howes

Get access to Master Shi Heng Yi! Shi Heng Yi is the headmaster of the Shaolin Temple Europe.

Lewis HoweshostShi Heng Yiguest
Apr 5, 20232h 38mWatch on YouTube

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  1. 0:00 – 6:33

    The first hindrance: sensory desire and “positive” distractions that derail goals

    1. LH

      I'm so excited that you're here because I feel like the modern world is lacking self-discipline, self-knowledge, and they're lacking connection to their authentic selves as human beings. And I've been there in my life where I've lacked these things as well, and it's a constant process, uh, of learning, staying accountable and disciplined to these teachings that you have. So I'm very excited that you're here, and I wanna, I wanna make this a very special long format episode and interview. And I wanna ask you first about the five hindrances that you've talked about online before. These hindrances that hold people back from mastering themselves and their inner world. I'm curious if you can talk about what those five are first.

    2. SY

      Yes. So when it comes to developing something about yourself, it doesn't matter what it is.

    3. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    4. SY

      If it is just following up in becoming great in any type of sport, or even if you want to build up like a small community or something for yourself, it's about if you want to go somewhere, if you have a goal and wanna go somewhere. Along this way, you will meet different type of hindrances that we call, that will sometimes make it difficult for you to, let's say, reach the goal where you would like to go. And to very easily explain it, one way, for example, is if you are too easily being caught by positive emotions. So that means-

    5. LH

      What, which type of positive emotions?

    6. SY

      All types that is raising something inside of you that you are relating to that feels really good now.

    7. LH

      Mm.

    8. SY

      But it takes you out of your ordinary. So that means you have a goal on the mind what you want to achieve. You start walking, you start doing your, your jobs and your obligations, but along this way, you are meeting a distraction-

    9. LH

      Mm

    10. SY

      ... which is giving you a lot of positive emotions. Because you are in that average state of the mind, that overall, um, let's say, normal state of the mind. Now, if it takes you out of the average of being positive, it's very easy for us that we get attached to these type of feelings.

    11. LH

      Mm.

    12. SY

      So what it ultimately means, you're going to lose track of your goal because you would prefer right now to spend more time with all of these things that give you positive emotions.

    13. LH

      Can you give an example of one of these positive emotions or a situation that someone might have?

    14. SY

      Positive emotions, for example, uh, let's take a very nice one. Fame.

    15. LH

      Mm.

    16. SY

      Yes. You have a goal in the mind what you want to achieve, but along this way, you feel there is that word of fame. And so what does it mean? It means you are getting the views, you're getting the sight of different people, and now you are encountering something that you haven't planned about it before. But now that you meet it, and now that you feel it, that it's this type of fame that you could get from the people, well, now the question still is, if you can stick to your initial plan or not, or is the fame going to move in front of all of this?

    17. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    18. SY

      And it's not your mission anymore that was important to you, but now suddenly you are replacing your initial goal with something that gave you positive emotions along this way.

    19. LH

      Right. So the positive emotion, is that the first thing that could be a hindrance for you?

    20. SY

      I definitely think it is something that you need to consider as a human if you walk through this lifetime and want to build something which is out of the ordinary.

    21. LH

      Mm.

    22. SY

      You are 100% going to meet various positive emotions, and one of them is just that example that I brought right now. But it can also be very simple things that your eyes are catching the attraction too quickly about things that look beautiful.

    23. LH

      Mm.

    24. SY

      About things around you that taste too great, that smell too good.

    25. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    26. SY

      So that means it's very easy, especially nowadays with all of the advertising being around, to lose your awareness in the outside, in the outside distractions.

    27. LH

      Mm.

    28. SY

      Let's call it that, uh, like this.

    29. LH

      So I think, uh, is this what you call sensual desire? Is this like having too much sensual desire, these positive emotions around the senses?

    30. SY

      Yes.

  2. 6:33 – 14:54

    Negative emotions, stress, and how thoughts condition feelings

    1. SY

      ... these things are existing, the positive emotions, just like the negative emotions. Negative emotions meaning you have a goal, you're already preparing yourself to go there, but now things are becoming difficult. Your daily schedule is not going according to plan, how you wrote it down in your schedule. Things are coming in that you didn't expect. Because you didn't expect it and maybe are not prepared for it, it can easily happen that you are getting stressed out by so many different impacts. So that means there are now events coming along this way that are giving you, that are raising negative emotions inside of you.

    2. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    3. SY

      And so what does it also mean? It means that the chances at these type of mental states, it's easy right now to find an argument and give up and stop the journey.

    4. LH

      Mm.

    5. SY

      And this is exactly, it's the five hindrances of the mind. What I'm talking about is mental states. Beware of your mental state. Now, sometimes in different traditions, you hear it already, we have the body and the mind. Sometimes you also have traditions where we talk about the body, your thoughts, and your emotions. So now you suddenly have three areas. You can make as many areas as you would like-

    6. LH

      [laughs]

    7. SY

      ... because these are just concepts.

    8. LH

      Mm.

    9. SY

      They are there to help us humans just get into the right direction that you can work with. And now the reason why very often we are only in our traditions say there's the body and the mind, and are not separating anymore into the feelings, is simply because of this. Feeling and mindset, mental state and the way how you feel, I think they are very, very close related-

    10. LH

      Mm-hmm

    11. SY

      ... to each other. And what you can try to just observe about yourself is the feeling, no matter what it is, very, very often is just the postponed, let's say, the postponed reaction of what way before that was already implemented inside or cultivated inside the mind.

    12. LH

      Can you give me an example of that?

    13. SY

      Yes. You go to any type of meeting where you have persons that you maybe meet for the first time. Just choose any of them. Before you talk to this person, sit somewhere in the corner, always observe the person, and pay attention to everything that you can criticize.

    14. LH

      Mm.

    15. SY

      So that means consciously educate the mind to always find the mistakes in that person. "Yeah, look how he dresses. Look how, how he's walking."

    16. LH

      [laughs] So sloppy and this and that, yeah.

    17. SY

      "Look how he's talking. Uh, look how he's behaving." So, and just make this, project this idea always over and over again towards this person.

    18. LH

      A judgment.

    19. SY

      A judgment. Before you even go to that person, so before that, just use it as an experiment. And then after some time, really go to that person, even without talking to him or her, and just feel what is it, what type of feeling do you have when you're standing now next to this person? And it is my-

    20. LH

      Hmm

    21. SY

      ... yes, it is my belief that you can either choose how you judge the, the, the, the people. You can continuously pre-condition your mind that your feelings are going to follow in this direction.

    22. LH

      Hmm.

    23. SY

      Or you pre-condition your mind in general towards people around you, towards this world, in a completely different way as well.

    24. LH

      In an empowering way.

    25. SY

      Yes.

    26. LH

      A positive way, a way that supports you in building a relationship or a connection, right?

    27. SY

      For example. So what I'm saying is the way how you feel meeting people, getting into a situation, and then saying, "See? I told you it's gonna be like this."

    28. LH

      Hmm.

    29. SY

      No. It's like this because you before that decided already it's going-

    30. LH

      Interesting

  3. 14:54 – 21:21

    Turning inward: heart qualities, responsibility, and the “personal retreat”

    1. SY

      So it's not just in the last month, let's say. I do think that it is a progress. The general idea is that from time to time, it absolutely makes sense to take that conscious decision, "Okay, I have a family, I have friends."

    2. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    3. SY

      "I need to take care of them. I need to take care also of my job." So that means you're investing a lot of your lifetime trying to support, trying to build up, trying to establish something, let's say, outside of you. At the same time, what we then have is that teaching of yin and yang.

    4. LH

      Mm.

    5. SY

      Everybody knows that symbol. Okay? What does it mean? Inside and outside, up and down, black and white, hot and cold, success and failure, outside, inside belong together. And so besides the time that you spend outwardly oriented, I think it is normal and it's necessary. There is, I think there is no choice to decide from time to time for yourself that you take your personal breakout, your personal time out. You can take care, of course, but you also need to take care of yourself in the first place. So reason for that, until I come back to the question.

    6. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    7. SY

      You're responsible for your team. You're responsible for your employees. You're responsible for your family. You're responsible for your children. Responsibility, what is it essentially? Is it the way how you behave? Or is the behavior which comes out of a responsible feeling what we're talking about? So that means, how can you be responsible for something around you if inside of yourself, your body, in the world of your feelings-

    8. LH

      Mm-hmm

    9. SY

      ... you don't know how does responsibility feel? So that means we're talking about it's a feeling, just like you love the world. How can you love the world if inside of you, you do not carry the feeling of love?

    10. LH

      Hmm.

    11. SY

      Why is it important to respect your parents, to be thankful and grateful towards your parents? Because if the people that granted you this life right now, you are not even grateful for, to who else you wanna be grateful in this world then?

    12. LH

      Oh, interesting.

    13. SY

      And these, let's say, feelings that I mentioned, sometimes we also call them, these are qualities of the heart. Because the heart, we know it's like it goes very deep. Yes, because it's related to how you feel. So the point is, whatever you would like to express into the outside world, number one is you need to have it.

    14. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    15. SY

      So this is the baseline. This is the main idea.

    16. LH

      So if you wanna express love to the outside world, you must have love within you.

    17. SY

      Yes.

    18. LH

      But if you don't, if you have anger within you, it's gonna be hard to express it to- Your friends, your family, or the world

    19. SY

      Yes, but that's way easier because anger is something people are sure how this anger feels nowadays. With the other attributes, they're not so easy because anger from its quality, it's a quality that naturally starts to separate things. Actions out of anger, thoughts out of anger, what is their nature? The nature is you are separating stuff

    20. LH

      Mm-hmm. And you're protecting yourself. Is that right?

    21. SY

      Yes. Loving is not the way of separating. Loving, if you carry love inside, you always, let's say, understand you, me, in a way, we come from different mothers, we come from different areas, but there's still something that's connecting us

    22. LH

      Mm

    23. SY

      And so that means even if you have been mean to me, acting out of love or acting out of the feeling, no matter what, still we are connected

    24. LH

      Mm

    25. SY

      ... is different. And so this is what, uh, I regard as being really important to cultivate first of all, uh, before we, let's say, do too, too big stuff on the outside world. And this is the point where it comes back again to this personal retreat

    26. LH

      Mm-hmm

    27. SY

      ... to the time where you watch inside yourself. What do you have inside of yourself?

    28. LH

      Mm.

    29. SY

      What is your... Yeah, take off your clothes, take off the jewelry, take off the tattoos you have on the body

    30. LH

      Mm

  4. 21:21 – 31:39

    Ill will as a mental state: what it is and how to “stand above it”

    1. LH

      Right. One of the other things you talked about that I've seen you talk about online about mastering the inner self and the things that hold people back is ill will. And I think, you know, it's like if you look in the mirror and you say, "Oh, there's anger inside of me, there's judgment inside of me," is that also associated with ill will? Is it towards yourself, towards others, to the world? What does that mean, ill will?

    2. SY

      To the mental state. Whatever triggers it is pretty irrelevant

    3. LH

      Mm-hmm

    4. SY

      You know, it's sometimes also, just think about it, when we were young and we didn't get what we wanted, we became angry

    5. LH

      Mm-hmm

    6. SY

      As a teenager, somebody took something away from you, you got angry. Nowadays, 21st century, somebody takes something away from you, you're angry. The reasons why this anger came up always different. Yeah, but the anger is always the same

    7. LH

      Mm

    8. SY

      The anger you feel today is the same anger that you felt in, when you were in young ages. So that means there might be the feeling that outside circumstances are triggering something inside of you. Yes, it's triggering something, but what eventually comes up is what you have not been able to adjust-

    9. LH

      Mm

    10. SY

      ... in the proper way yet

    11. LH

      Mm

    12. SY

      And the same is like ill will. Ill will is a state of the mind. It's not just, doesn't matter if it's towards yourself, towards another person, towards, uh, an animal, towards your colleagues. It's always the same ill will. It is something inside of you, which if you don't pay attention to, is going to be a hindrance along your way of walking

    13. LH

      How do we heal or integrate ill will so that it's no longer inside of us? How do we reevaluate it, mend it, heal it, uh, go beyond it?

    14. SY

      Go beyond it, I think, is the more proper expression

    15. LH

      Mm-hmm

    16. SY

      Because this is now really playing with the words

    17. LH

      Mm-hmm

    18. SY

      ... but it's still important, because we don't try to get rid of all of these things. You don't wanna get rid of the body that it's never gonna be inside of your body anymore. You don't want to get rid of your jealousy when it comes up. You don't wanna get rid of the joy that you feel. You don't wanna get rid of your feelings. You want to have a very great variety of different feelings that you can tap into

    19. LH

      Mm-hmm

    20. SY

      The only thing which makes the difference is if you are tapping into this world of feelings consciously, or if that world of feelings is just unconsciously imploding inside of you

    21. LH

      Mm-hmm

    22. SY

      This makes the difference And so to overcome it means to realize it is there. Yeah, but now, like sometimes, uh, what to do? You need to find something, a state of your, the state of level on which you are coordinating.

    23. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    24. SY

      Which means you have to stand above you. Learn to get into a perspective where you are standing above you, which means this is not about you at the moment.

    25. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    26. SY

      This is not about you. Stand above it. It is about you see, okay, you s- you see that person at the moment has an issue. How would you, as somebody watching at you, help him?

    27. LH

      Hmm. How would you coach, guide, teach?

    28. SY

      How would you coach yourself-

    29. LH

      Yeah

    30. SY

      ... guide yourself-

  5. 31:39 – 43:13

    Breath + intention + compassion: practical tools for emotional overwhelm

    1. SY

      I breathe in deeply and I breathe out.

    2. LH

      Mm.

    3. SY

      And this sounds super ridiculous, but if you really ask me how do I cope with such a situation, this is meanwhile what I do. I am very aware that I have it right now, and I combine my breath, meaning something is getting out of me, together with my deep intention and with my deep connection of the mind together with the breath. First of all, they don't know better.

    4. LH

      Mm.

    5. SY

      If they would have more information available, they would maybe see me differently.

    6. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    7. SY

      And together with that physical aspect, this is what, what I do. This is the first, and it's like a valve. Before you start imploding-

    8. LH

      Mm

    9. SY

      ... before something starts to rise too much and the pressure builds up, first of all, get rid of that steam. Get rid of that air out, and that's why it sounds very ridiculous sometimes to really say just breathe out. But it's not about the breath only. It's about how serious-

    10. LH

      Mm-hmm

    11. SY

      ... are you living different type of teachings and methods. And if you are able to learn to combine the breath with an intention, work with intention more consciously-

    12. LH

      Mm-hmm

    13. SY

      ... then I think it's very, very possible to get into an area where breath becomes everything to you.

    14. LH

      Yeah. I'm a big believer in breathing, meditation strategies, whatever meditation and breathing strategies work for you. But having some type of breathing practice where you slow down the breath, I feel like, benefits all human beings. Um, and there's lots of different strategies and styles of breathing, but I think focusing on the intention and the breathing combined, like you said, is extremely powerful. I'm curious, if someone is feeling anger, unfairness, or any emotion around ill will about something that's happened to them, and they feel this is unfair, and they have this anger or defensiveness, you're talking about the breathing. What is the intention that they can think of during those moments, 60 seconds, 10 minutes, however long it takes, to go beyond it? It, what is the intentional thought while they're in that, "Ah, it's stressful. The heart is pounding. Ah, I don't like this. I want to break free of this"? What can they think or say internally along with the breath to help them go beyond?

    15. SY

      This is sometimes what people then refer to as a mantra can be-

    16. LH

      Yes

    17. SY

      ... helpful. So especially in such moments, you have something you always tell to yourself, continuously repeat. And now these can be different things. If you merge together the thought, "They don't know better," together with the cultivation of a heart quality of compassion inside of you, then I think even this thought together with that heart quality-

    18. LH

      Mm

    19. SY

      ... and the breath has a very powerful-

    20. LH

      Wow

    21. SY

      ... uh, impact.

    22. LH

      Wow.

    23. SY

      And this is why initially I said about there are heart qualities.

    24. LH

      Heart qualities.

    25. SY

      Heart qualities.

    26. LH

      Yeah.

    27. SY

      Yes.

    28. LH

      Yeah.

    29. SY

      So that means this is why it's helpful, um, to, to really from time to time make clear to yourself again, so the greatest love you have ever felt in this lifetime, how did it feel? How does it feel?

    30. LH

      Mm-hmm.

  6. 43:13 – 50:29

    Enemies as mirrors and the hindrance of laziness (lack of energy)

    1. LH

      Wait on it, yeah. Think about it. Speaking of, you mentioned enemies for a second ago. What is the Shaolin philosophy around enemies when you're not in a actual physical war, when you're not in combat, when you're not fighting for your life, but there is a potential enemy psychologically, business, relationship, whatever, family friend who's feeling like an enemy? What is the philosophy of the Shaolin way-

    2. SY

      Mm

    3. LH

      ... on how to approach an enemy when it's not a physical attack?

    4. SY

      If we're really not talking about physical attack, then I think it's very easily, uh, expressed that we are right now in the field of Buddhist teachings or of Chen, uh, Chan or Zen teachings.

    5. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    6. SY

      Which means it is about the mind. We're only talking right now about psychological aspects.

    7. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    8. SY

      And every confrontation that you are feeling inside the mind, for me personally, what it means is if something is resonating and is still triggering me mentally, and therefore, also emotionally-

    9. LH

      Mm-hmm

    10. SY

      ... the only thing it means is that is one of the next areas I need to learn to adjust. This is my initial, I don't know what else to say.

    11. LH

      That's the lesson. It's more adjusting within you, not them.

    12. SY

      No. No. The reason why they are there is to show you your weakness.

    13. LH

      [laughs] What was your biggest weakness that you had to overcome as you started to grow up, you know, studying martial arts, living in the modern world, and then becoming, you know, a teacher, a student in the, the temple? What was the biggest inner enemy that you faced and overcame, or you're still in the practice of overcoming?

    14. SY

      It seriously is still the five hindrances.

    15. LH

      Uh-huh.

    16. SY

      Because it is just something common.

    17. LH

      Yeah.

    18. SY

      You know? So for example, one of the next hindrances is laziness.

    19. LH

      Yes.

    20. SY

      Very easily. The lack of energy, meaning you have great ideas, you have great plans, all of this, but the spark to put you under fire-

    21. LH

      Mm

    22. SY

      ... is just not there.

    23. LH

      Why do so many people lack the spark to act, to launch, to build momentum, to be consistent? Why do so many people lack that energy, desire, and stay lazy or dull?

    24. SY

      I think it's a combination of the way of life people have lived before, and the lack of vision what lies in front of them. So both of these things. You know? So what I mean by that is not always it's just like a, let's say, the physical appearance of that, uh, laziness, of that dullness, of that heaviness. It's apparent, but why is it there? And this has so many different variations now when you look into the past. It can really be because of the food that you're eating.

    25. LH

      Mm. Mm-hmm.

    26. SY

      Because the lack of movement that you're having, because of your habits, whatever type of habits it is, that caused you to now end up in that body which is at the moment pretty inefficient-

    27. LH

      Yes

    28. SY

      ... uh, to generate fire. You know, I, I have to say, yeah, sometimes in my, in my spare time, I, I like to build engines.

    29. LH

      Really?

    30. SY

      Yeah, I build engines. I, I build race engines.

  7. 50:29 – 59:34

    Dreaming big with commitment: service, loneliness, and life as a “video game”

    1. SY

      And this is what I mean by how far is your view on your future vision of what you wanna achieve there.

    2. LH

      How far should we be thinking out in terms of our vision or our mission? Is it based on the season of life we're in? You know, if we're 18 years old and we're going to school, we should just be thinking out, you know, the next four years, or should we be thinking out five, 10, 20 years? Because so much can change so quickly in life and situations and...

    3. SY

      Okay. I can only talk about myself.

    4. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    5. SY

      Yes. And I have to say I'm a dreamer.

    6. LH

      Yeah.

    7. SY

      Yeah. I'm a dreamer and a visionist. A visioneer probably. I don't know how you call it.

    8. LH

      Mm-hmm. Visionary.

    9. SY

      Visionary. My dream, my way of seeing this world where I'm embedding in is super huge.

    10. LH

      Mm.

    11. SY

      That's why, of course, you can always say, "Yeah, but this is just your imagination." Yeah. Yes, which is your most powerful source. Your ability to put something into your own mind where nobody else has impact on, and only you know that day in, day out you just still walk this path and feel for yourself-

    12. LH

      Mm

    13. SY

      ... how it's getting real because it's unbroken, because there's nobody who can interfere. It's all small things. And probably I can just say that maybe to try it out. Okay? Of course, you should not like dream too big, which is like unrealistic, let's say like this.

    14. LH

      Mm.

    15. SY

      Of course not. But a vision that there is something you can bring out about yourself that this world has not seen yet-

    16. LH

      Mm

    17. SY

      ... this is something which is quite appealing to me, and is therefore also something that I also, let's say, um, continuously practice and keep on the mind. And now comes the but. Whatever vision and dream you have on, upon yourself, that you are projecting upon yourself, I do think that you need to have, at the same time, a commitment.

    18. LH

      Mm.

    19. SY

      And first on, for example, the commitment and what are you going to do with that identity of yours if you're gonna get there?

    20. LH

      So you mean a commitment of like the daily actions you're gonna take that you're committed to, or-

    21. SY

      Mm-hmm

    22. LH

      ... once you're there, what are you gonna do with it?

    23. SY

      The commitment now very clearly, you are creating because you want to help.

    24. LH

      Mm. To serve.

    25. SY

      Yes.

    26. LH

      To help others. Yeah.

    27. SY

      Yes. You are not creating any identity of yours in order to harm.

    28. LH

      Mm.

    29. SY

      Because I think if this is what your initial intention is, then I think, um, the penalty will come.

    30. LH

      What if your in- your intention is to only serve yourself, is to look good, to make money for you, to get famous for you, to buy things for you because you wanna be successful, but you're not including doing it in the service of other people as well? What happens when it's only about me?

  8. 59:34 – 1:05:56

    Finding your voice: from quiet practitioner to explaining the philosophy behind a punch

    1. SY

      I think, uh, before we talked about it already a little bit, that within the last three years, four years, uh, I could really witness in a way how, like, these type of teachings, or let's say my name was really spread out into the world and more and more people starting to also participate in listening to what is it that, uh, is being shared out, for example. And at the same time, I can also feel that everything I have to say, everything that I, like, shared, the reason why I could share all of these things, is because the first 35 years before that, I was not the talker at all. There couldn't be any more quiet person than me. Uh, so I was very-

    2. LH

      Really?

    3. SY

      Yes.

    4. LH

      Until when? When did you start using your voice?

    5. SY

      Uh, I think it happened in the moment where people asked, uh, me to explain what I'm doing.

    6. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    7. SY

      Yeah. So and then I just said, "Look, I'm, I'm not just doing, like, my punch. This is not punching for me." So in the martial art, for example.

    8. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    9. SY

      I started to explain, for example, the punch is not just for me something, let's say, physical. It has also something to do what are you doing to prepare inside of you before you throw out that punch? Because if you throw out something, if something moves outwards-

    10. LH

      Mm

    11. SY

      ... the question for me is: Where does it get in? Because if you throw out punches- 500 punches every day, you just throw them out. Where do you get the energy from to throw 500 things out? And now, different ways how you can express it, but for me, coming from this field of martial arts where the yin-yang symbol does matter and also does matter why it is around.

    12. LH

      Mm.

    13. SY

      Means for me, I start to explain. If you want to throw a punch, there are different ways how to throw it. If you have a lot of mass already on yourself, you probably can just use, uh, straight line movements, no issue at all. But if you look at me, small Asian-

    14. LH

      Mm

    15. SY

      ... I have to compensate for the lack of mass somehow.

    16. LH

      Mm.

    17. SY

      And therefore, I need to use another method. I need to use different methods to compensate for the lack of mass that I have-

    18. LH

      Mm

    19. SY

      ... in comparison to other people. So, and suddenly, out of a question, how do you punch, starts the talking discussion.

    20. LH

      [laughs]

    21. SY

      Yeah. And, and honestly, I think this is where the beginning lies, where then people found it interesting-

    22. LH

      Mm

    23. SY

      ... that apparently there's a hi- whole philosophy just behind like a punch. And I said, "Yes."

    24. LH

      How did you... I can r- r- resonate with the fact that, you know, you were shy most of your life, right? You didn't, you didn't speak that much up, you didn't s- use your voice as much. You were more introverted with your voice. Is that correct?

    25. SY

      Yes.

    26. LH

      So how did you have the confidence and learn that skill of confidence to use your voice when you really didn't use it that much beforehand? Were you fearful? Were you nervous? Were you afraid? Or how did you step into that?

    27. SY

      I just had to laugh [laughs] right now.

    28. LH

      [laughs]

    29. SY

      Because I just imagine in my mind, there were very often, also now in school time already, of course my, my, uh, my friends, they were standing in the break time, everybody having discussions, and I was always quiet.

    30. LH

      Yeah. [laughs]

  9. 1:05:56 – 1:16:25

    Training to give and take: hardening the body, five phases, and recovery medicine

    1. LH

      So I'm 100 pounds more than you, right? I would, I would say roughly. Um, how do you prepare? I, I'm not trained in martial arts like you, so I don't even think I could punch through, uh, whatever without the proper training. But with my mass, I can do certain things physically just with mass alone, but I couldn't do certain things without the right method, intention, and training. How would you or how do you prepare for a punch, let's say, in this situation? With... What is the intention and the process before punching when you know you need more than just physical mass to break through what you're punching? What does that process look like?

    2. SY

      Sometimes it's about giving, and sometimes it's about taking. This is the balance. Sometimes you need to give, sometimes you need to take. And so that means the training is also, in a way, built up exactly like this. You have, of course, training methods in order for you to practice your body mechanics, your mind, in order to express, to give. But at the same time, you also need for it that it is, like, complete, a complete system. You also need all of these method where you are learning to take. It's not about you now giving something, it's about you getting the impact.

    3. LH

      Mm.

    4. SY

      Yes.

    5. LH

      What does, what does that look like to receive something before the punch?

    6. SY

      Mm. That is like typically what we regard as it's so-called hardening training. So hardening training, which means all the areas that are vulnerable on your body-

    7. LH

      Mm. Mm

    8. SY

      ... there are ways to develop it, that at least they are not so easily to be penetrated.

    9. LH

      Right, not as weak anymore.

    10. SY

      Not as weak anymore. Of course, it all has a certain limit, but the limits can be quite high.

    11. LH

      Mm.

    12. SY

      Yeah.

    13. LH

      What are the places on the body that are most vulnerable that you train to harden and strengthen?

    14. SY

      I think as a martial artist, especially all of the areas of your limbs that normally have-

    15. LH

      Mm

    16. SY

      ... the first contact with your counterpart.

    17. LH

      The shin.

    18. SY

      Which means it's the forearm-

    19. LH

      Forearm

    20. SY

      ... below, the forearm on top. It's, in our case, it's the wrist.

    21. LH

      Man, that wrist is... Look at your wrist. If you bend it, man, look at that. That's hardened, yeah.

    22. SY

      Yeah, so it's the forearms.

    23. LH

      Wow.

    24. SY

      It's the elbows. Sometimes it's for the shoulder. Then it's the knees, of course, it's the shin bones, and it is the chest. But this is not to, to give, it is for you to take, because sometimes-

    25. LH

      Yeah

    26. SY

      ... people punch still on the chest, so okay.

    27. LH

      So how do [laughs] ...

    28. SY

      Yeah.

    29. LH

      How do you harden all these places? Is it just a matter of striking repeatedly until you break something, like right before breaking it? Or just hardening it little by little and going stronger?

    30. SY

      So now it really comes into a whole... And this is, this is the nice part why still after 35 years, I'm still, like, l- diving even in, into this area, and why the Shaolin arts for me is just giving me so many answers.

  10. 1:16:25 – 1:25:42

    Restlessness (monkey mind) and skeptical doubt: depth, presence, and the 99%/1% principle

    1. LH

      the fourth hindrance that you talked about that I've seen is restlessness. Can you talk about what is restlessness, and do you ever face it yourself in this practice and in this discipline?

    2. SY

      So restlessness, there is a nice picture you can always think about, we say it's the monkey mind.

    3. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    4. SY

      Monkey mind meaning there's always one... Y- you're jumping from one sort to another, from one branch to another. What it means is that you are maybe having contact with a lot of branches, but it's very difficult to really focus and concentrate on one thing specifically.

    5. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    6. SY

      Now, why would I say that it is important to learn and concentrate on one thing specifically? Because this is the pure expression of what the Buddhist teaching, or also the Shaolin teachings, are about. You can spend your time traveling this whole world, always visiting different lakes and oceans, but the way how you are visiting them is you drive on the, on the, on the coastline of it, watch over it, say, "Oh, okay, that's the ocean," and then you keep on driving to the next one. Which means what you do is you keep traveling the world, watching at the surface of each of these lakes and oceans. I do think that if you just stay with the Pacific Ocean and start diving down into it, you will never ever again need to visit another lake or ocean in order to make discoveries.

    7. LH

      Hmm.

    8. SY

      So the point is that it is about going deeper. Going deeper means it is going to give you an insight. And so what is Buddhist teaching about? To give you insights.

    9. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    10. SY

      Into what? Sometimes into your body, sometimes into your mind. So what's the problem with the restlessness? You don't gain insight because the monkey all the time is jumping too much and staying too much on that surface area. And now translated, it just means that on a average day, whatever job you are doing- You do it under your possible potential

    11. LH

      Mm-hmm. Mm.

    12. SY

      [clears throat]

    13. LH

      Yeah

    14. SY

      And also what it means is it's like you can't really, you can't really embrace what you actually have there. You know? It's like you are at work, you are supposed to concentrate and work, write down your emails, but all the time you're already, like, jumping around, making plans for the weekend, who to call, or that you are hungry or that you are thirsty, what movie to watch.

    15. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    16. SY

      This is how you behave when you are at work. Then afterwards, you drive home and maybe the family is waiting for you, and now... Yeah, it's a good example, but the children or your wife or your husband want to spend time with you, but they can see very clearly your body is there, your mind is not there.

    17. LH

      You're not present. Yeah.

    18. SY

      You're just not present. So then, then sometimes the question just is, uh, why do you have then a wife and a, and a husband if you don't pay them the necessary respect and attention that they, uh, let's say, deserve, or also towards your children? And if it's a conscious decision why you don't pay attention to them, well, that's something different. Then it's really the question, why do you have one family then?

    19. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    20. SY

      But that restlessness can also mean it happens unconsciously.

    21. LH

      Yeah.

    22. SY

      Yeah? And maybe for you, yourself, you don't realize it, but people around you, they realize very quickly if you are with them or not.

    23. LH

      Right.

    24. SY

      And I just think that this is hindering you. Now, in that picture of, of reaching that mountain or reaching that goal, it's hindering you because whatever you do, you don't do it properly.

    25. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    26. SY

      You jump from one to another. You maybe have, y- you maybe have touched many different surfaces, but none of them you can really... You don't really have an insight into them.

    27. LH

      Right. You haven't delved in deep into it. Yeah. The fifth one you talk about, hindrance that holds people back, is skeptical doubt. What is, what is skeptical doubt, and why do we have it?

    28. SY

      Why do we have it? I don't know.

    29. LH

      [laughs]

    30. SY

      I, I really, I really don't know. What it means, therefore, or what it, uh, still means is you need to trust in what you do.

  11. 1:25:42 – 1:36:12

    The RAIN process: recognize, accept, investigate, and non-identify with hindrances

    1. LH

      Yes. You have this four-step method you call RAIN to help you clear your mind and overcome these hindrances. Uh, can you share what this four-step method is?

    2. SY

      So for example, once you are ... Once you know or have understood about yourself what type of mental states these hindrances, for example, represent, yeah, the way how we just try to explain to them. Every time one of these mental states pops up into your mind, which means positive emotion, negative emotion, ill will, you feel depressed, you feel weak, you feel that lack of power, you have this restlessness inside of you, or you have, um, uh ... What, what was the last one?

    3. LH

      Uh, the skeptical doubt.

    4. SY

      Ah.

    5. LH

      Yes

    6. SY

      Or you, or the skeptical doubt coming up. So most important is you need to realize it. Realize-

    7. LH

      Mm-hmm

    8. SY

      ... that it is just there. Sometimes you realize it, sometimes you recognize it.

    9. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    10. SY

      Yeah? This is the idea why it's a very, very nice, uh, simile to remember those four-

    11. LH

      Mm-hmm

    12. SY

      ... methods later on what we regard as RAIN, yeah?

    13. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    14. SY

      R-A-I-N. And we are at the moment with the R, meaning you recognize and you realize that apparently at this moment in time, you are finding yourself in one of these mental states which are representing hindrances.

    15. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    16. SY

      Okay. Now, the next step, what are you doing after you have recognized that you're in it? Now starts the point where it becomes very helpful if we start to analyze, and analyzing meaning you do everything that is in your possibilities to just ask questions about why did it come up?

    17. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    18. SY

      What, what did it trigger? When did it exactly come up? How actually did this feeling in the first place get into yourself? When was, for example, the first time that you realized that you are having this type of mental state? So what analyzing means is you try to look into your past also. Yeah?

    19. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    20. SY

      Is it something related to the education of your parents? Is it something related to an idea that you caught up from, I don't know, from where? So analyzing means that you make an investigation.

    21. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    22. SY

      Yeah? Investigation means this time you go deeper.

    23. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    24. SY

      This is where we are at the I already.

    25. LH

      Mm. Oh, and the-

    26. SY

      Yeah?

    27. LH

      ... the third one, yeah.

    28. SY

      Yeah. I is investigation. A ... I'm sorry, I said, uh ...

    29. LH

      Analyze?

    30. SY

      Analyze, no. It's accept.

  12. 1:36:12 – 2:02:43

    Manifesting a vision with “heaven–man–earth”: form, mind, plans, and skill-building (kung fu)

    1. LH

      Yeah. This has been about the, the five hi- hindrances that hold people back from mastering their inner selves and really feeling more abundance, peace, love and joy. Um, I'm loving everything we're talking about. And I wanna ask you now, I wanna transition into a new topic about how to manifest your dream future, and how you think we can step into this. If someone has a vision, a dream that they wanna manifest something, where do you think we should begin in this process of dreaming and manifesting the future? And I know you've talked about, uh, heaven, man, earth concept that has helped you manifest a vision. Is this something that we should think about? And if so, what's this concept? Can you explain it?

    2. SY

      So this sentence, heaven, man, earth, heaven above us, man in the center, earth below us, is just expressing from the same, let's say, family of teaching, the same that also we find in the area of the yin and yang symbol. It's just a little bit more detailed, meaning there is something inside of us humans Which we say has some heavenly connection. At the same time, there is something about us humans which has a very, uh, strong foundation rooted in the Earth.

    3. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    4. SY

      So let's start with the Earthly aspects about ourself. So Earth means for me, first of all, I can see it. Uh, if I fly on the plane, no matter where, if I look down, I know where to look-

    5. LH

      [laughs]

    6. SY

      ... to see the Earth.

    7. LH

      Right.

    8. SY

      So what does it mean? It means there is something to see. Our whole world is based on seeing. What is it that you can see? You can only see something that has a shape. Something without a shape you can't see. But talking about you can see it, talking about it has a shape, what is the nature of a shape? The nature of a shape is separating.

    9. LH

      Mm.

    10. SY

      It's separating what is inside the shape and what is outside of the shape. It is separating.

    11. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    12. SY

      So one quality of the Earth is it's based already from the, let's say from the natural side, based upon separation. Based upon this is life and this is death. This is growth and this is decay. And now our body, our physical body, how come when we were born we maybe had our like three kilograms, four kilograms baby, and now look at how huge we have become.

    13. LH

      Mm.

    14. SY

      Not me, you. [laughs]

    15. LH

      [laughs]

    16. SY

      Look how much like we have, we have grown.

    17. LH

      Yes.

    18. SY

      So where all of this come from-

    19. LH

      Right

    20. SY

      ... very, very easily said, from the food, from the nutrition, from everything that we have taken and give our body to eat or to drink. Even if it is meanwhile some products, uh, are created in a laboratory, but even the resources for that, ultimately everything comes just from the Earth.

    21. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    22. SY

      So if you now just follow up on that thought, our body is created upon, let's say, individual aspects from this Earth that by nature already are limited in a way, limiting inside and outside. So limiting, that means our body automatically is limited. It is what we call nowadays-

    23. LH

      Mm

    24. SY

      ... lifetime. So simply said. Sorry for the long explanation.

    25. LH

      Sure.

    26. SY

      But that is what it means for me. It is no doubt about it. I don't need to philosophy around it.

    27. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    28. SY

      I can see it. This is out of question. It's gonna go. That is the Earth part about ourself. At the same time, giving me insights. You wanna change something about that, what is it to take care of? Everything that comes from the Earth.

    29. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    30. SY

      Very easily. Which means food, drinks, the breath probably.

  13. 2:02:43 – 2:29:37

    Affirmations, gratitude, and training in cycles: balancing hardness with an open heart

    1. SY

      Now, that word came flying before when I said you need a, uh, you need a commitment. I didn't mean commitment. You need an affirmation.

    2. LH

      Affirmation.

    3. SY

      That, that is the word. For your goal that you set into your life, for whatever you want to develop yourself in, you need to connect it with a personal affirmation. That is something that, that fuels it. This is what fuels actions. Yeah, just similar, like I say before, in the kung fu training, for example. You are learning techniques. You are learning body mechanics. Yeah, but that is something you learn on the outside. It's the form. It's the shape that you are supposed to take and why you make, let's say, this movement. You need it, yes, but there is something more that you need. You need something that is going to fuel that movement.

    4. LH

      Mm.

    5. SY

      You need something that fills up that form. So, and now just to, to explain to you, you have no real drive to fight. You don't want to win.

    6. LH

      [laughs]

    7. SY

      You don't care. You know how to do it. Uh, against somebody who needs to do it because it's about an existential question, no matter what type, okay? There is a different spirit behind it if you meet those two people.

    8. LH

      Mm.

    9. SY

      Somebody who has nothing to lose and puts everything on one card because you have no choice. Either you make it now or, yeah, or your family suffer. You fight differently.

    10. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    11. SY

      So that means it's not always the technique, the form that you see on the outside that is so impactful. What is it that fuels your actions, your daily actions? What fuels when you walk to the office prepared to do the work? What fuels you to invite other people? Waking up every day, even if it's hard, even sometimes you're sick, you still go to the office and do the work. And that fuel, I think, is very, very essential.

    12. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    13. SY

      And yes, and I can only imagine, even if maybe you don't call it like this or people are not officially expressing it like this, I cannot imagine there is one person existing in this world who in some way has achieved something without an affirmation.

    14. LH

      Mm.

    15. SY

      I think it doesn't exist.

    16. LH

      Wow. What's your affirmation?

    17. SY

      I think we are all connected.

    18. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    19. SY

      On the one side, I really love this life.

    20. LH

      [laughs]

    21. SY

      So as long as I can, I would like to experience the variety of everything that is existing here.

    22. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    23. SY

      But at the same time, I also see it as part of my obligation that if I have a possibility to do something that supports other people along the way, this is what I do.

    24. LH

      Yeah.

    25. SY

      I just think this is, this is what you do in a family.

    26. LH

      Mm-hmm. I'm curious about your thoughts on the actions people should take in order to manifest. And it seems to me like there... that the world, there's a lot of weakness in the world. People don't have, in general, a lot of people don't have the discipline, the actions that create good habits that support them in being consistent, you know, having the right thoughts, the right actions, all those things. And I, and I wanted to ask you about how can we... You know, you train the body, right? You're training the limbs, the weaknesses. You're, you're, you're callousing the bones and all these things to take on more force, more stress. How do we harden certain things in us, but al- while also keeping our hearts open, loving, compassionate, giving? How do we do both in this process?

    27. SY

      Always when there is something consisting of two aspects, at least, or both, like you mentioned-

    28. LH

      Mm

    29. SY

      ... the answer's always balance.

    30. LH

      Mm.

  14. 2:29:37 – 2:38:21

    Closing reflections: three lessons, self-mastery, and a definition of greatness

    1. LH

      ask everyone towards the end of my conversations. It's a hypothetical question. So imagine you live as long as you wanna live in this physical three-dimensional space-time reality. Uh, I think I heard you say 108. Is that... 100 and-

    2. SY

      108, yeah

    3. LH

      108. It sounds good, right? Yeah. So imagine you're 108, right? And you get to live the life you envision. Everything you wanna do, it happens. You create it, you overcome, you learn, you master all these different areas of life, and you serve and impact the world through your teachings. But for whatever reason, in this hypothetical scenario, at 108 years old, um, you have to take all of your content and message with you. So this conversation goes to the next place. All the TED Talks, all the interviews you've ever done, for whatever reason, they're not here in this physical world anymore. Hypothetical scenario. But you get to leave behind three lessons with the world, three lessons from all of your teachings and all your learnings, and this is, for whatever reason, all you could share, these truths that I like to say. What would be those three truths for you, if you could only share three?

    4. SY

      You know that this is a really [laughs] super hard question.

    5. LH

      I know. I gotta get you to think a little harder, you know?

    6. SY

      Okay. Sounds super funny, especially if I'm not gonna talk about it.

    7. LH

      Mm.

    8. SY

      But one message is just a flower. If you want a flower in a pot, doesn't matter. The first message, one I don't even need to speak about it. It's just a flower in the pot. That's number one.

    9. LH

      What does that mean, flower in a pot?

    10. SY

      It means everything. There is a history behind it. The future of that flower, in a way, is in your hand. The care is-

    11. LH

      Mm

    12. SY

      ... integrated. The nature is integrated. No words to be spoken. Sometimes you don't need to speak about it. It's feelable what needs to be done.

    13. LH

      Mm. Okay.

    14. SY

      You know? So this is one message, let's say.

    15. LH

      Okay. That's number one.

    16. SY

      Yeah.

    17. LH

      Number two.

    18. SY

      Keep community.

    19. LH

      Mm-hmm.

    20. SY

      It's not necessary to always be right. It's more important to also have backup if you're not right. That feels better.

    21. LH

      Mm-hmm. And the third?

    22. SY

      Sorry. [laughs]

    23. LH

      I gotta challenge you, you know? I gotta-

    24. SY

      Yeah. No, you do already

    25. LH

      ... I gotta challenge you. [laughs]

    26. SY

      You do already Number three is, it's repeating

    27. LH

      It's repeating?

    28. SY

      It's repeating

    29. LH

      Everything?

    30. SY

      Just as I said it

Episode duration: 2:38:22

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