Matthew Polly

Matthew Polly is an American author who in 2007 published his memoir American Shaolin.

Polly was born and grew up in Kansas and graduated from Topeka West High School. In 1992, at 21-years old, Polly took a leave of absence from Princeton University and traveled to China to train at the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chan (Zen) Buddhism and kung fu.

In exchange for $1,300 a month Polly was allowed to stay and train with the monks. He spent two years at the temple and became the first American accepted as a Shaolin disciple. His experiences included training seven hours a day six days a week, involving running, breathing exercises, calisthenics, kung fu and gymnastics. He became a formidable kickboxer, and won a challenge match against a kung fu master from another province. He also became an "iron forearm" expert, where his arm became impervious to pain by calluses formed by bashing his arm against a tree for 30 minutes per day.

In 2003, he wrote a series of travel articles about his experiences in China for the online magazine Slate.com, "Return to the Shaolin Temple", and again in 2004 with a series on Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas.

April 13, 2005, he appeared as a guest on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Polly wrote about his experiences in China in American Shaolin, published in 2007 by Gotham in the US (ISBN 1592402623) and by Abacus in the UK.