Moy Lin-shin

Moy Lin-shin (Mei Lianxian) was born in 1931 in Taishan county, Guangdong. Died June 6, 1998, Toronto, Canada. In keeping with Chinese tradition, as a sickly youth he was admitted to a monastery. There he was trained in the teachings of the Earlier Heaven Wu-chi sect of the Hua Shan school of Taoism and regained his health.

In gratitude for regaining his health, and inspired by the example of the Bodhisattva Guan Yin, he made the pledge to use his acquired knowledge to help others ragain their health as well.

Moy trained and continued to develop his adherence to Taoist principles. He studied the religious and philosophical side of Taoism, and acquired knowledge and skills in martial arts.

Ahead of the communist rule Moy moved to Hong Kong in 1948 or 1949 where he became known as an able martial arts fighter. There he joined the Yuen Yuen Institute, in Tsuen Wan district in the New Territories, and continued his education and was ordained as a Taoist monk.

The Yuen Yuen Institute was established in 1950 by monks from Sanyuan Gong (Three Originals Palace) in Guangzhou, which in turn traces its lineage to the Longmen (Dragon Gate) sect of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Taoism. The Yuen Yuen Institute is dedicated to Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

In 1968, Moy co-founded, together with Taoist Masters Mui Ming-to and Mrs Tang Yuen Mei, the Fung Loy Kok Taoist Temple, on the grounds of the Yuen Yuen Institute.

By now, in addition to his studies and education in Taoism Moy Lin-shin had learned a range of internal martial arts including Lok Hup Ba Fa (Liu he ba fa), Tai Chi, Hsing I Ch'uan (Xingyiquan), Pa Kua (Bagua zhang) and Taoist Qigong.

He was sent overseas, and after some travel Moy settled in Canada in 1970 and began teaching in a small studio in downtown Toronto, where he also lived. He taught Wushu, the martial arts-oriented style of Taijiquan.

He was very succesful in attracting students, due, in part, to a growing interest in the west in the early seventies for the eastern philosophies and the popularity of movies about martial arts.

After a number of years, having established a trusted following, Moy turned away from the physical martial arts teaching and started to concentrate on laying the foundation for promoting better health using the skills he developed. Moy sought to make the health benefits of Taoism available to all, through Tai Chi. This way he fulfilled the pledge given in his younger years to alleviate suffering, which is a fundamental theme of religious Taoism.

He modified the Taijiquan Yang style, integrating it with his knowledge of other internal arts, and called it Taoist Tai Chi. The Taoist Tai Chi form has been described as very calisthenic and non-traditional in that it emphasizes muscular stretching, long extensions of the body and a forward squaring of the hips. Moy de-emphasized strongly any connections to martial arts. Initially he concentrated on teaching just Tai Chi, later other internal arts.

To enhance the understanding of the Taoist foundations of Tai Chi, and to facilitate understanding between eastern and western cultures, Moy helped to set up a number of organizations: initially the Toronto Tai Chi Association, which, after Taoist Tai Chi chapters were established across Canada, became the Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada. After expansion into the United States, and later into Europe, New Zealand and Australia the International Taoist Tai Chi Society was established in 1990.

In 1981 Moy Lin-shin, with Mui Ming-to, established the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism (FLK; Penglai ge), the religious arm of the Taoist Tai Chi Society, with the opening of a Fung Loy Kok high shrine at the Society's Bathurst Street location in Toronto. They subsequently established other branches of Fung Loy Kok in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. This organization maintains altars to Taoist deities the Jade Emperor, Guanyin, and Lü Dongbin.

In 1988 Moy established the Gei Pang Lok Hup Academy, which is dedicated to the memory of his teacher, Leung Jee-peng (Liang Tzu-peng) (1900-1974). It was established with the intent to teach the internal martial arts other than Tai Chi, mainly Lok Hup Ba Fa.

In order to broaden the emphasis on health and vitality the Taoist Tai Chi Health Recovery Centre was established in 1997 near Toronto, at Orangeville, Ontario. It is a retreat where one may concentrate on regaining health by learning and practicing taoist exercises and meditation, in a healthy environment.

Taoist Tai Chi is now taught in more than 500 communities around the world with tens of thousands of members. The rapid growth in the number of practitioners in a short span of some 33 years can only be attributed to the personal skills of Moy Lin-shin as a teacher and the inspiration that he provided to his students who now continue to pass on his teachings.

He instituted organisations where members and practioners of Taoist Tai Chi can become teachers of this Tai Chi form, not so much because they grasp and have mastered the art thoroughly, but because they, at least, show a level of competence, and more so because they are willing to put in the time and effort to teach without monetary compensation in the traditional Taoist way.

It is not that the health benefits of the Tai Chi, taught through Taoist Tai Chi, are greater or lesser than those gained from practising other Tai Chi forms. However, one is exposed to more than just learnig a Tai Chi form. One learns that Taoist Tai Chi is, above all, to be a vehicle for taming the heart, helping others and cultivating compassion. Moy's vision and his goal of helping people expressed a deep knowledge of the Taoist arts as both physical and spiritual practice. In Taoism, the synchronous interaction of body and mind is a means to good health. Moy constantly led his students to look at the complete picture of good health. Moy Lin-shin himself stood as an example of compassion, humility, and selflessness for members of the Taoist Tai Chi Society.