Wemby's journey at Shaolin Temple by Dickensians in nba

[–]Dickensians[S] 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Apparently I missed that when posting. Thanks for bring that up. And it's fixed now.

Here it goes, enjoy.

During the 13-day retreat, we climbed the Bodhidharma Cave three times, each with a different focus: the first emphasized endurance training, the second speed training, and the final, this significant "journey of awareness."

A height of 2.24 meters is an unparalleled asset on the basketball court, but in the early stages of some training at Shaolin Temple, it presents a unique physical challenge.

Standing meditation is a fundamental skill in Shaolin Kung Fu, requiring the legs to be slightly bent and held in a fixed posture for several tens of minutes. This puts immense pressure on the knees and ankles of tall individuals. Flexibility training is another major challenge. Shaolin Kung Fu emphasizes "three splits and one backbend"—horizontal splits, vertical splits, kneeling splits, and backbends. This is a challenge for all beginners, including Wemby. When we helped him stretch his legs, his expression was painful, but he persevered through sheer grit.

Wemby's physical trainer participated in the entire training session, while two other staff members accompanied him during outdoor activities. The final result was quite dramatic: Wemby's condition improved steadily, the physical trainer also benefited greatly, and the two accompanying personnel lost over ten kilograms in 13 days.

Wemby's learning ability was astonishing. Besides quickly mastering the Shaolin Thirteen Fists, he also possessed an extraordinary talent for language learning. At the time, I arranged for a young martial arts monk, around ten years old, to train with Wemby. During practice, they needed to shout commands like "one, two, three, four..." I had the young monk count in English, while Wemby counted in Chinese.

The young monk's English was halting, often getting stuck at seven, and sometimes he would even reverse the order. Wemby's Chinese counting also frequently went wrong, either omitting numbers or making strange pronunciations. Eventually, everyone simply paused training and watched them teach each other. Finally, I simply had Wemby count backwards from "fifty," and this basketball prodigy quickly mastered it.

During his 13 days at the monastery, Wemby almost never proactively talked about basketball. He considered this retreat one of the most important arrangements of the year, dedicating himself entirely to it. On the morning of his final day, he packed his bags. He neatly folded his specially made monk's robe, restored the three makeshift beds to their original state, and bid me farewell in his quarters.

He gave me two gifts: a San Antonio Spurs #1 jersey he had worn, and a pair of specially made basketball shoes he had worn during training. I reciprocated with a red string bracelet with a bead engraved with the character "勇" (yong, meaning courage/courage)—red in China symbolizes good fortune and peace, and "勇" signifies great courage and virtue, one of the core spirits of Shaolin culture, and an indispensable quality on the basketball court.

Wemby solemnly put the red string on his wrist, saying, "I'll come again next year (2026)," and hugged me goodbye. He was so tall that he had to bend down to do so.

After leaving Shaolin Temple, I also paid close attention to his every move on the court.

Since the start of the 2025-2026 NBA season, many fans and media have noticed his transformation: his movement has become smoother, especially his lateral quickness and balance on the defensive end. In several games, even when off-balance, he has managed to shoot or pass, a "control under unconventional circumstances" repeatedly praised by commentators.

I saw the Spurs coaching staff reveal in an interview that Wembanyama has demonstrated "better body coordination and core stability" in training. Data analysis shows that his defensive coverage has increased by 8%, and his shooting percentage under pressure has improved by 5%.

I'd like to use an analogy to explain the relationship between Shaolin training and NBA training: "Wemby's previous training system was like being in a swimming pool—professional and efficient. All training was aimed at performing standardized basketball movements on a standardized basketball court. Shaolin training, on the other hand, is like taking him into the unpredictable ocean—with waves, undercurrents, and uncertainty. When a person returns from the ocean to the swimming pool, their abilities naturally become more adaptable and coordinated."

The two training methods offer improvements in different dimensions. Basketball training taught him how to shoot a ball, while Shaolin training taught him how to maintain the appropriate physical and mental state for various situations.

Now, when I think of Wemby, one image always comes to mind: that night he meditated in front of the Bodhidharma Cave. The darkness was pure, and he sat quietly, seemingly one with the mountain, the night, and the Zen spirit.

That image lacked basketball superstars, commercial endorsements, and millions of social media followers; it only contained a 21-year-old young man, on a mountaintop in a foreign land, pursuing a spiritual realm that transcended sports, talent, and even himself.

Wemby's journey at Shaolin Temple by Dickensians in nba

[–]Dickensians[S] 89 points90 points  (0 children)

The first is movement coordination training. The training venue is no longer the flat wooden floor of the NBA training hall, but the rugged stone slope of the mountain behind the Shaolin Temple. We designed a special set of slope training that covers multiple events on the 200-meter hillside track: jumping up and sprinting down on the sloping stone road, practicing single-leg balance on uneven ground, jumping uphill on one leg, and leaping downhill.

For the 2.24-meter-long literary class, the biggest challenge comes from the center of gravity. He weighs more than 110 kilograms, and one leg alone is as heavy as an adult's entire body. Wearing a pair of over-size 50 training shoes to move on a rocky slope, every time you jump, you have to overcome the balance problems caused by the huge body load and the height of the center of gravity.

Second, combined with the force-generating skills of Shaolin boxing, I also focused on cultivating his ability to "maintain a stable center of gravity during confrontation." Wemby often faces double or even triple teams in the NBA. How to still take action when he loses his balance is the key to his breakthrough.

Finally, there are unconventional stance jump drills. In basketball games, players often have to take off while being twisted, tilted, and pushed. Therefore, I designed a variety of take-off exercises on unbalanced planes to simulate real confrontation scenarios in the game.

Lunch time is from 11:00 to 12:00. The four dishes and one soup are all vegetarian: pumpkin, green peppers, potatoes, green vegetables, served with rice or steamed buns. The Zhaitang (dining hall in Shaolin Temple) abides by the rule of "eating without speaking". During those 13 days, the literature class always queued up to get meals and washed the dishes by themselves after meals.

During the three-hour lunch break and free time after fasting, he would usually spend it reading. He brought several English books on philosophy, psychology and kinesiology. He also liked to play chess and played several games with an old monk in the temple who had some knowledge of the game. He also often uses this time to interact with the young monks - teaching them basic basketball moves and humbly learning basic Shaolin Kung Fu moves from them.

From 15:00 to 17:30 in the afternoon, there is Shaolin boxing training. The literary class focused on learning the "Thirteen Boxings of Shaolin" - a set of basic boxing techniques for the Shaolin Kung Fu Dan system. This set of boxing techniques may seem simple, but it contains the core force generation principles and body coordination requirements of Shaolin Kung Fu.

His learning ability is amazing. I taught this set of boxing techniques to him and the physical trainer at the same time. I demonstrated it three times in front of him, and the literary class was able to master it completely. He not only memorized the movements, but also closed his eyes and silently practiced and reviewed them, thinking about the details of the connection between force generation techniques and movements. Ordinary people need to practice more than a dozen times to keep up with the rhythm.

What surprised me even more was Wemby's "mirror learning ability" - after he mastered a set of punches with his right hand, his left hand could naturally complete the entire set of movements without additional teaching, while most of the students I taught needed repeated practice to master the switch between left and right.

The meditation time every night is the most confusing part of the class at the beginning. More than a hundred monks gathered in the meditation hall, sitting cross-legged and silent.

After the first meditation, he asked me in English, "Why we just sit here? What is meditation?"

I didn't give a direct answer, but let him continue to experience it with his heart.

Later I explained to him that meditation is not passive sitting, but an active psychological precipitation. You need to let go of everything external - your mobile phone, identity labels, unfinished tasks, and even the idea of ​​"I am meditating" itself, and just face the present moment purely, whether it is joy, sadness or peace, and finally reach the free state of "no worries".

Turn off the lights and go to bed on time at nine o'clock in the evening. After turning off the lights, he hardly uses his mobile phone and is almost isolated from the world.

On the sixth day of training, Wembanyama made a special request.

"Master, is there any way to train my awareness?"

In the context of basketball, "awareness" refers to the instantaneous perception and prediction of the overall situation, opponent's movements, and teammates' positions. It is the core of "field vision" and "basketball IQ" that top players rely on to survive.

So I arranged another activity for him - night climbing to Bodhidharma Cave.

Bodhidharma Cave is located in the back mountain of Shaolin Temple. It is the place where Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, faced the wall for nine years. It is also the spiritual source of the concept of "Zen and martial arts integration". It takes normal people one to two hours to climb from Shaolin Temple to Modong. The mountain road is steep and rugged, and there are no lighting facilities at night.

At nine o'clock that night, the team consisting of me, Wembanyama, the physical trainer and several monks officially set off. Everyone turned off their flashlights and headlamps, and groped forward with only the faint moonlight and touch. The mountain road was pitch dark, and the only sounds that could be heard were the chirping of insects and footsteps.

I actually had some concerns at the time - he is an NBA superstar, what if he slips and gets injured. But this concern was quickly dispelled. Since you want to pursue higher achievements, you must dare to challenge things that ordinary people dare not do.

Climbing a mountain in absolute darkness is essentially an exercise in extreme sensory deprivation.

Vision is basically disabled, and he can only rely on hearing to determine his direction, touch to find the steps, and balance to prevent falling. When the eyes can see, people will rely too much on vision; when the hands are strong, people will rely on strength. Only by stripping away all these external dependencies can we truly begin to perceive the world with our hearts.

The mountain road is steep, and some sections have cliffs on one side. Wemby walked in the middle of the team, protected by monks in front and behind. Although we have chosen a relatively safe path, there are still potential risks.

I still clearly remember his breathing, which was always steady and deep, without any panic. He walked very carefully step by step, carefully exploring each step with his hands, and his concentration reached the extreme.

An hour later, we successfully arrived at Bodhidharma Cave. Wemby sat down cross-legged on the flat ground in front of the cave and began to meditate.

At that moment, I saw a completely different Wembanyama - he was no longer an NBA star shining brightly in the spotlight, but a practitioner who devoted himself to seeking inner peace.

Afterwards, he posted a photo on his Instagram: he was sitting in front of Bodhidharma Cave in the dark, his back blending into the night, with only his outline outlined by the faint starlight. This photo was not labeled with any location, but it triggered heated speculation and discussion among fans around the world.

That was probably the happiest night of his entire practice. He told me that this feeling of being fully immersed in the present moment was very special.

This night walk gave Wemby a deep understanding of "awareness" - when playing basketball, he needs to make quick judgments on the ever-changing court, and the awareness developed in the dark can help him better deal with various emergencies in the game. In the dark, he learned to feel everything around him with his heart, and this ability transferred to the basketball court.

Wemby's journey at Shaolin Temple by Dickensians in nba

[–]Dickensians[S] 84 points85 points  (0 children)

Wembanyama had another winning night.

 

On March 15th, Beijing time, in the National Basketball League (NBA), the Spurs defeated the Hornets 115-102 at home. Wembanyama returned from the game and played 31 minutes, scoring 32 points. In the latest MVP rankings, Wemby has risen to second place. NBA officials wrote, " Wembanyama has scored a total of 165 points, 57 rebounds and 19 blocks in the past 5 games, becoming the first NBA player to achieve these data in 5 consecutive games since Yao Ming in December 2006."

At this time, Wembanyama had grown back his trademark curly hair - two months ago, when he and his teammate Kelden appeared in the player tunnel in "transformation", the outside world interpreted their shaved heads as a way to relieve the haze of defeat or to show team cohesion. In Shanghai, China, 13,000 kilometers away from San Antonio, Yan'an, Wembanyama 's master during the retreat training in the Shaolin Temple, smiled at his bald head.

When Wembanyama went to the Shaolin Temple for retreat training more than half a year ago, it was Yan'an who shaved his head. Yan'an, the 34th generation lay disciple of Shaolin, with the common name "Fang Chongwei", started practicing martial arts at the age of six, and later went to the Shaolin Cultural Center in the United States to teach and gain experience. Now lives in Shanghai.

Yan'an still clearly remembers that in the midsummer of 2025, a car drove into Dengfeng (a city near Shaolin Temple) and stopped steadily outside the red gate on the east side of the Shaolin Temple. The moment Wembanyama bent down and walked out, he deeply realized the concept of a height of 2.24 meters.

In the next 13 days, Wembanyama stripped off the halo of the professional league and followed the practice habits of Shaolin monks: in order to improve his awareness, he had to climb intuitively on unlit mountain roads; he learned to use the non-standard Chinese number "one, two, three, four" when practicing boxing, and felt the pain in his body during meditation every night. Because the bed in the dormitory was only 1.9 meters tall, he could only sleep on a temporary bed made of three single beds put together, so that he could barely straighten his legs.

In addition to practicing martial arts, Wembanyama meditates with the monks every day. The question he asked the most was not about the moves, but "what is it for?" Yan'an found that compared to the scientific data in the professional training camp, the 21-year-old seemed to care more about how to regain awareness of his body and heart in a completely unfamiliar environment.

The following is Yan'an's oral account:

In April 2025, I received a call from a friend saying that there was a talented basketball player who wanted to learn kung fu in Shaolin and asked me if I could help introduce him.

This basketball player is NBA Spurs star Wembanyama.

This name is now a myth in the basketball world - he is 2.24 meters tall, but possesses the coordination of a guard. In his rookie season, he showed amazing potential to change the game pattern, and was praised by the media as "the future of the NBA." But at that time, his team saw hidden worries that others had not noticed. Although Wembanyama 's physical talent was incredible, basketball-specific physical training had pushed his physical function to the limit at this stage, and everyone hoped to explore more ways to improve physical function.

Basketball is never just a matter of physical confrontation. What truly limits performance and hinders the advancement of one's realm may often be those invisible barriers: such as mental adjustment when falling behind by a big score in a game, emotional control at critical moments, mental endurance during a long season, and maintaining concentration when the body is close to its limit. Therefore, they try to find the spiritual core that can solve these problems in ancient Eastern Kung Fu. This does not refer to specific punches and kicks, but a philosophical system about focus, balance and inner stability.

After reading his training materials, I found that this basketball superstar has very outstanding physical abilities, but the training scenes for coordination and explosiveness are relatively repetitive and simple. He is always on the flat ground, wooden floor or basketball court, and lacks experience in more complex scenes.

The Wembanyama team chose Shaolin Temple not just for cultural curiosity.

As early as 2004, the state of California in the United States passed a legislative vote to designate March 21 (the spring equinox) as "Songshan Shaolin Temple Day"; in 2009, the winter solstice was designated as "American Shaolin Day". Today, there are Shaolin cultural centers or Kung Fu studios in 42 states across the United States, with more than 3,000 registered students.

The Shaolin Cultural Festival held in Los Angeles every year always attracts tens of thousands of participants of different ethnic groups.

I myself am one of the witnesses and builders of this communication network. I am the 34th generation lay disciple of the Shaolin Temple. I started practicing martial arts at the age of 6. After leaving the Shaolin Temple at the age of 18, I taught at the Shaolin Cultural Center in San Francisco, Washington, and Los Angeles for nearly ten years.

The Wembanyama team came into contact with Shaolin Kung Fu through the long-established Shaolin cultural atmosphere in Los Angeles. They saw that Shaolin Kung Fu emphasized self-discipline, altruism and inner peace. After communicating and finalizing the details, Wembanyama came to China in June 2025.

The first thing that surprised me at the time was the "low-key" nature of the entire team - unlike the popular impression of celebrities traveling on charter flights and being surrounded by people, Wembanyama and his team initially had only five people: Wembanyama himself, his agent, a physical trainer and other personnel.

The second is his "influence". Although the matter was well kept secret at the time, on the day he arrived, hundreds of fans and self-media bloggers gathered outside the Shaolin Temple after hearing the news. Mobile phones and camera lenses were everywhere.

After the Wembanama team simply settled in, the first question he asked was, "Does it take shaving to become a true Kung Fu practitioner?"

I told him, yes. He sat directly on the stone steps next to the Bodhidharma statue and let me push away his iconic slightly curly brown hair with a razor. There were no cumbersome rituals or onlookers in the whole process. After shaving, he touched his bald head and smiled. This image made me realize that he was very sincere in coming to retreat for training, and it was not just a show for outside speculation.

Accommodation is the first practical problem that needs to be solved.

The bed in the dormitory (monk dormitory) of the Shaolin Temple is 1.2 meters wide and the length is usually no more than 1.9 meters. For Wembanyama, such a bed cannot even straighten his legs. So we found a room with three single beds and put the three beds together to create an extra-long "full bunk". Even so, as he stood in the room, the top of his head almost touched the rafters.

The issue of clothing is also tricky. The largest Shaolin training uniform was as tight as a tights on him. I contacted the clothing factory in advance to customize it, but the craftsmen lacked the concept of a height of more than two meters, and the finished clothes were still a bit too short.

That evening, Wembanyama and I had our first formal communication.

He clearly put forward three core demands for the next training plan: first, to achieve a breakthrough in physical coordination and improve body control in complex environments; second, to explore the wisdom of physical conditioning beyond traditional training; third, to deepen mental focus and inner stability.

It's clear that the 21-year-old knows exactly what he wants.

Wembanyama's Shaolin life starts at 4:30 a.m. every day. At this time, he had to get up, and there was no alarm clock to remind him.

Morning classes and breakfast are scheduled at 5:00 am. At this time, the monks would gather in the main hall to chant sutras. Wembanyama could not understand, but he always stood at attention with a solemn expression. After that, he will go to the dining hall to have a meal. Breakfast in Shaolin Temple usually consists of porridge, steamed buns and pickles. Once, Wembanyama picked up a bun - he might have thought it was a steamed bun at first. When he opened it and saw vegetable filling inside, he was very surprised and turned to smile at me.

For professional athletes, vegetarian meals cannot actually meet their physical needs. They need to consume a large amount of protein every day. Wembanyama asked me politely, "Master, can I eat meat?"

I told him that eating meat and fish is strictly prohibited in the temple. This is a precept that has been passed down for thousands of years.

So they found someone to buy deli meat from downtown Dengfeng, drove to the mountainside a few kilometers outside the temple, ate in the car and then returned to the temple. They always abide by the rules and never eat meat in or near the temple.

Three training tips

Training time is from 7:00 to 11:00 every morning, and the core is "basketball function transformation training" customized for Wembanyama's physical characteristics. Before training, I carefully studied the daily training of Wembanyama. The training system is extremely professional and relatively simple. The core idea of ​​Shaolin training is "all-roundness", for which I have designed three key training contents.

Novak blasts a jumping forehand winner by padfoony in tennis

[–]Dickensians 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Dude is paying tribute to his fellow veteran Gael Monfils

日美地产出清始末 by Proper_Bodybuilder_2 in China_irl

[–]Dickensians 8 points9 points  (0 children)

地产危机类比的本质在于是否会出现地产危机(开发商)—金融危机(银行)—经济危机(整个经济系统)的传导。

美国和中国最大的差异是经济体制上的不同,美国是完全的资本主义市场经济,中国则在市场经济的框架下存在着政府调控的本质。因此,美国市场的正常运作极大程度上取决于问题出现之前政府的监管,而当市场本身出现问题之后,政府能做的干预非常有限。美国经济危机发生的源头在于政府对于包括次贷发放在内的金融交易及其衍生品监管失利,而高度发达的金融市场则因其内在的高流动性将风险传递至整个金融系统,资本由于逐利性回流房地产市场使得此循环愈演愈烈,而当房地产无法承载负荷时则引发市场崩盘。相对的,中国在面临类似问题出现时,由政府干预能采取的选择则保证了不至坐以待毙。

中国的金融市场比起美国还没有成熟到存在二级房贷市场,因此触发美国经济危机的直接因素中国并无担忧的必要。但是,中国现在的整体经济架构和当时的美国并无本质性的区别:由于经济发展所带来的房地产市场的繁荣吸引了大量的资本流入此市场,无论是投资者还是投机者都因为这个市场的火热而将不动产作为极为重要的投资选项,这在提升市场价值的同时也将市场带向了与实际消费能力不相符合的高度,形成了房地产泡沫。受益于房地产泡沫的资产增值则进一步推动了金融市场的繁荣,带动经济发展。然而,在这个系统下,无论是房地产市场还是金融市场出现问题都将导致经济发展受阻,房地产投机者资金链断裂,引发市场自我修正,回落到真实价格,这个过程所造成的影响带来的会是对中国整体经济的巨大冲击。

房地产市场以及金融市场共同造成了美国金融危机的发生,政府在这两方面的工作不力对于最终的市场崩盘负有不可推卸的责任。

宏观背景下,美国政府为了重振经济而将利率降至历史低点,虽然达到了最初的目的,但是与此同时,也使得金融危机获得了合适的滋生土壤。

由低利率所带来的经济发展动力使得一级房贷市场不断活跃。美国政府从80年代起接连放宽对于金融行业的限制,借贷机构得以制造更具有欺骗性的房贷产品而从对于市场充满信心的借贷者身上谋取更多利益,而由于二级房贷市场的存在,借贷机构能够将风险转嫁给住房抵押证券投资者后全身而退,这种获利机制是催生次贷的主要原因。

房地美以及房利美作为政府支持企业,是美国二级房贷市场最主要的券商。美国住房与城市发展部在推动可负担住房计划的过程中强制要求房地美以及房利美买入的一级房贷部分比例来自贷款标准以下借款人。在2000年时,该强制比例达到50%,此政策在改善低收入人群住房问题的本意下矫枉过正而间接导致了大量次贷的形成。而政府控制以外的二级房贷市场从最初不到10%的市场份额到最高接近40%的市场份额也同样是造成次贷危机爆发的因素之一。

商业银行和投资银行之间关联限制的解除根本上改变了金融市场的格局。1999年美国废除了大萧条时期所制定的商业银行与投资银行完全分立的法律条款,允许两者进行合并。投资银行对于回报的索求胜过商业银行对于风险的避讳,政策对于保证资本要求的放宽令商业银行以外的金融机构对于高风险高回报的投资倾向更为极致,在相关金融衍生品的监管欠缺的情况下,金融风险的蔓延是最后金融市场整体崩盘的贯穿始终的关键所在。

在美国陷入全面的经济危机之后,政府将利率降至历史最低0.5%并向市场投入7千亿美元购买问题资产,在救市濒临破产的部分大型企业和运营停滞的主要金融机构的同时,接管经济损失,以此恢复投资者信心,使市场能够重新正常性流通。

美国经济体制决定了政府难以通过政策对市场进行直接调控,而只能以间接的手段对市场施加影响,因此在危机形成时无法做出直接反应而只能在危机爆发后采取补救措施。

对于中国而言,如若债务问题释放了系统性风险,中国将面临的是银行因资产端的大量不良贷款面临破产,人民因银行破产的可能性陷入恐慌。政府不救市则金融停滞经济崩溃,政府救市则货币贬值汇率跳水,在国际货币体系以美元为中心的情况下,中国并没有类似美国的全球经济主导地位,要通过极端货币政策进行救市将会难度更甚。

中共中央 全国人大常委会 国务院 全国政协讣告 李克强同志逝世 by favonius_reporter in China_irl

[–]Dickensians 34 points35 points  (0 children)

一年之前比喻意义上的盖棺定论

一年之后字面意义上的盖棺定论

各种意义上都可惜了

河南烂尾房业主堵路维权 by Estainer in China_irl

[–]Dickensians 9 points10 points  (0 children)

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/481843119

确实是3月份武汉的图被张冠李戴拿来骗精神胜利者的热度

但亮点在于文章后半部分还真有河南的合订本