For the average resident of Reading the closest they come to the ancient mysteries of the martial arts is at the cinema watching Kill Bill or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. But not for Sam Dyson, 32, of New Town, whose martial arts interest and passion took him around the world to live in Japan, Thailand, China and Hong Kong in search of perfecting his martial arts skills.
He began his martial arts career in England learning karate and soon after receiving his black belt packed his bags and left for Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. His aim was to train with the best and try to perfect his skills with the best Asia had to offer. Three years later he had won the Kyushu forms championships two years running, the only westerner who had ever entered, and come fourth in the full contact division. After three years in Japan and two more black belts and given the title Sensei by his teachers, Sam travelled to Thailand to train with the legendary Muay Thai Fighters for six months to further hone his skills before returning home.
Determined that his training wasn’t over Sam then set his sights on the legendary Shaolin temple in Henan China, the birth place of kung fu. With his head shaved and all possessions renounced up he entered the temple as a Buddhist Warrior Disciple hoping to eventually be ordained as a monk of the Shaolin temple.
The Shaolin Warrior monks train in the Song Shan mountains with the temple being secluded in the forest far from any nearby towns or people. The training was hard, waking at 4:45am to begin training running up into the mountains to practice Tai Chi as the sun rose, training was then broken up into three two and a half hour sessions each day, including weapon training and full contact fighting ending the day with meditation for an hour and a half. Living in the temple meant living as a monk with no possessions and living off a vegan diet there was also no electricity or running water which had to be collected from a well in the temple. After practicing kung fu with the monks eight hours day for a year in the remote mountain temple, learning to fight with 12 different weapons including swords, spears, axes and bull whips, he was ordained as Shaolin Monk. Being ordained as a monk meant that he was given the name Shi Miao Zun meaning Great Honourable Respect, entitling him to refer to himself as a 36th Generation Shaolin Warrior Monk, also meaning that he would always be welcome in any Buddhist temple in China.
After being ordained in the temple he was given permission to leave the temple with his ordained name and continue his training or return home. He Choose to travel to the south of China to Foshan, just north of Hong Kong, famous for its martial arts and home of many past masters, including the Character played by Jet Lee in the recent film Hero, and Bruce Lee’s teacher Yip Man. Sam was welcomed to Foshan to train and studied Wing Chun Kung Fu under three different teachers and was soon made a teacher himself, referred to as Sifu.
On his return to England Sam continued his learning of the oriental arts by undertaking studies in Chinese medicine in which he will soon be qualified to practice. He now practices his martial arts in Reading after setting up his own school, Fight School, teaching small classes with a select group of individuals sharing his same passion for the martial arts. Training and teaching focuses on self respect and for others, and understanding the true meaning of the warrior spirit which can be found in all of us. If you would like information on classes please text Fight School to 07803 358 637 or visit www.fightschool.co.uk.
