Moy Lin-shin

Moy Lin-shin (Mei Lianxian) (1931 in Taishan county, Guangdong - June 6, 1998, Toronto, Canada). As a sickly youth he said he was admitted to a monastery. There he claimed to be trained in the teachings of the Earlier Heaven Wu-chi sect of the Hua Shan School of Taoism and regained his health. Moy reported that he studied the religious and philosophical side of Taoism, and that he had acquired knowledge and skills in Chinese martial arts.

Ahead of the Communist rule Moy moved to Hong Kong in 1948 or 1949. There he joined the Yuen Yuen Institute, in Tsuen Wan district in the New Territories, and continued his education and purported to be ordained as a Taoist monk.

The Yuen Yuen Institute was established in 1950 by monks from Sanyuan Gong (Three Originals Palace) in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, 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 temple for the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism on the grounds of the Yuen Yuen Institute.

In addition to his studies and education in Taoism Moy Lin-shin said that he had learned a range of internal martial arts including Lok Hup Ba Fa, Tai Chi, Hsing I Ch'uan, Bagua and Taoist Qigong. One of Moy's main teachers in Hong Kong was Leung Jee-peng (Liang Tzu-peng, or Leung Chi Pang) (1900-1974), an instructor in Lok Hup Ba Fa and other arts, who was in turn a student of Wu Yi Hui.^[1] Lok Hup Ba Fa is considered a combination of the three forms Tai Chi, Hsing I, and Bagua and is said to have been taught at the Ching Wu Martial Arts Academy in Shanghai. Moy also trained in Hong Kong with Sun Dit, a fellow student of Liang Tzu-peng, who had developed skills in Hsing I and Pushing hands. The origins of his learning of a bagua, a sword and a sabre form is not clear.

He was sent overseas, and after some travel settled in Canada in 1970 and began teaching in a small studio in downtown Toronto, where he also lived and taught wushu. He was successful 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.

He modified the orthodox Yang style Tai Chi Chuan form, integrating it with his knowledge of other internal arts, and called it Taoist Tai Chi. Moy emphasized the non-competitive nature of his style of teaching, and of the form (see explanation in here).

Taoist Tai Chi is a form that is taught mainly by volunteers. A teacher of Taoist Tai Chi is asked to conform to and live by what Moy called, "Eight Heavenly Virtues": Sense of Shame, Honor, Sacrifice, Propriety, Trustworthiness, Dedication, Sibling Harmony, and Filial piety. A teacher should also thus be an example to his students.

To promote his 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 Institute maintains altars to the Taoist deities the Jade Emperor, Guanyin, and Lü Dongbin.

Initially Moy concentrated on teaching just Tai Chi forms, later other internal arts. In 1988 Moy established the Gei Pang Lok Hup Academy, which is dedicated to the memory of his teacher Liang Tzu-peng. It was established with the intent to teach the internal martial arts other than Tai Chi, mainly Lok Hup Ba Fa.

Since the death of Moy Lin-shin the three organisations he founded have been amalgamated, with the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism (main goal: practice of Taoist chanting) as the main organisation and the Taoist Tai Chi Society (main goal: practice of tai chi) and the Gei Pang Lok Hup Academy (main goal: practice of Lok Hup Ba Fa) as part of the Institute. This way is brought together the financial and organisational management as well as making clear that the three activities should be practised together to make a whole.

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. On the same grounds a Taoist Cultivation Centre is being built (2005-2006).