Soft-spoken and unassuming, with boyish good looks and a ready smile, Tim Mrazek seems like the kind of average Joe you’d expect to meet at Canadian Tire or a junior hockey game. Except that he’s also a 32nd generation Shaolin warrior monk.
The Path to Shaolin, an hour-long documentary airing in July on VisionTV, is the story of how an ordinary guy from the Canadian prairies becomes part of an ancient Zen Buddhist tradition – and of how that tradition itself is evolving and changing in the 21st century.
VisionTV presents The Path to Shaolin on Tuesday, July 6 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. The film repeats on Wednesday, July 7 at 12:30 a.m. ET / 9:30 p.m. PT.
The Path to Shaolin is part of a series of VisionTV documentary and feature film presentations, airing in honour of the Dalai Lama’s 75th birthday, that explore different aspects of Buddhist faith and culture.
Nestled in the forests near Mount Shaoshi in the heart of central China, the 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple is considered the birthplace of kung fu. Its famous warrior monks are a fascinating paradox: while dedicated to the pursuit of enlightenment, compassion and inner harmony, they also practice the most lethal of martial arts.
Tim Mrazek discovered kung fu the way most North American kids do: watching Bruce Lee movies. Powerfully drawn to this ancient art, he went on to study for years with Sifu Chi Wai Lee, a monk whose family has been associated with the Shaolin Temple for five generations. Today, Tim is a martial arts instructor and naturopath in Regina, Saskatchewan.
As the documentary opens, Tim is on his way to Toronto for the discipleship ceremony that will mark the beginning of his life as a Shaolin monk. After this rite of passage, he will accompany Sifu Lee on a pilgrimage to the Shaolin Temple in China – a journey that will lead to unexpected discoveries.
Kung fu was banned during the Cultural Revolution. But with the Chinese government now relaxing its restrictions on religious freedom, there has been a flowering of many long-suppressed spiritual practices – including traditional martial arts.
Still, not all is as it was. The Shaolin Temple itself has become a tourist destination, and martial arts educators – adopting the language of the new, economically dynamic China – speak of bringing “modern marketing techniques” to Shaolin kung fu. Increasingly, it seems, the ancient discipline is becoming divorced from its spiritual roots.
As a Westerner, Tim Mrazek is uncertain whether he can find acceptance in the world of Chinese kung fu. In the course of his pilgrimage, he will learn that his own search for a place in this tradition is deeply entwined in the larger, more complex question of what the future holds for the ancient brotherhood of Zen Buddhist warrior monks.
The Path to Shaolin was produced for VisionTV by Regina-based Zoot Pictures Inc (www.zootpictures.com). It was written, directed and produced by Leif Kaldor and R. Leslea Mair. Joan Jenkinson was the Executive Producer for VisionTV.
To learn more about Tim Mrazek and the Shaolin kung fu tradition, visit the online home of Regina’s Chung Wah Kung Fu Centre: www.kungfuregina.com
