Shi Heng Yi – Detailed Biography

Shi Heng Yi is a popular Shaolin master and the founder of the Shaolin Temple Europe.

He serves as the leading headmaster of Shaolin Temple Europe, Germany.

Introduction

Tien Sy Vuong (Shi Heng Yi) was born in 1983 in Kaiserslautern, Germany to Asian parents and grew up in Otterberg.

Shi’s parents were born in Vietnam but they grew up in Laos as refugees.

They fled as boat people in 1979 during the war and arrived in Germany as refugees for greener pastures.

His mother was pregnant at the time of emigration and had Shi’s elder brother in her womb.

Shi is four years younger than him.

His father used to work in a factory.

The young Shi was so talkative that his relatives nicknamed him Mr. Radio but later he started reflecting, being mindful and observing his surroundings.

Martial arts

Shi watched a lot of martial arts movies growing up.

He got attracted towards the martial arts at a young age and idolized the martial heroes and wanted to grow up to become like them.

Shi watched the movies of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li and watched The 36th Chamber of Shaolin film and other films on the Shaolin Temple on the television.

It started at 4

As his father was interested in the martial arts, he enrolled the 4-year-old Shi into the nearby Shaolin Temple Europe in Kaiserslautern.

He started practising kung fu at the Shaolin Kung Fu school and fell in love with it. At the time, the Shaolin Green Dragon style by integrating Seven Star Praying Mantis techniques was being practised there.

Shi’s first kung fu master was Grandmaster Frankie Dow and he regards him as his second father.

He found resonance with kung fu as this originated from Asia, much like him.

Shi found the steps to be difficult in the beginning but enjoyed the training and at the time, his motivation was to become good in acrobatics and develop a strong body to withstand confrontations.

He also received mental, physical, and behavioural training and later got attracted towards Qi Gong and Shaolin Rou Quan.

Shi not only learnt martial arts but also the theories behind them at the Shaolin Temple.

The abbot of the monastery used to pick him up from the school in the afternoon and take him to the Shaolin Temple where Shi used to train from 4 pm until 10 pm. He used to also play chess with the abbot.

Shi trained on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and trained in kung fu from the age of 4 to 12.

Becoming Shi Heng Yi

The head of the Shaolin Temple in China sent five Shaolin monks, Da Shi Yanlin, Master Shi Yan Bao, Master Shi Yan Xin, Shi Yan Fei and Shi Ya Hai, from the Songshan Shaolin Temple in China to Berlin to establish the Shaolin Temple in Germany.

Shi became a disciple of these masters in 2001 and earned the monastic name Shi Heng Yi.

Education

Shi did his schooling in Germany.

His parents expected him to excel in studies and wanted him to grow up to become either a doctor, engineer or lawyer.

Shi wasn’t satisfied with the education even after he did a couple of university degrees including an MBA and a few diplomas because it taught him a multitude of things but not about himself.

He learnt self-exploration, self-discovery and monastic practices from a young age from the Shaolin Temple.

A different life

In his early twenties, Shi started feeling invincible and wanted to break out from his routine life.

At the time, his childhood friend, who was originally from Romania, was returning from the United States to Romania.

As they wanted to spend time together, they went on a two-week trip to Romania and Shi decided to study in that country to be in contact with his friend.

So, he enrolled to study for a double diploma in political science, European studies, and communication science at a university. Shi studied political science even though he wasn’t interested in it.

He started partying, drinking and smoking and he used to sometimes sleep during the day and stay up at night.

Even though he spent nearly five years like this, he didn’t stop practising martial arts.

Shi realized that the way of living wasn’t healthy and after graduating, he returned to Kaiserslautern in 2011.

Monastic life

Shi’s parents expected him to get a regular job after MBA but he was attracted towards monastic life. So, he decided to live a monastic life and learn more about himself.

He wanted to quit his monastic life after some difficulties but his father encouraged him to not give up.

Later, Shi decided to teach the Shaolin approach to others as he believed that this approach helped him in effectively balancing his life and it would also help others.

He decided to teach people to improve their lives with martial arts and this was the beginning of the Shaolin Temple Europe.

At the time, Shi was influenced by his master’s advice, “base your life on something that you like to do and that you are able to do.”

Struggles

Shaolin Temple Europe, a Buddhist monastery, was established in 1996.

After completing his studies, in 2011, Shi wanted to establish the Shaolin Temple Europe in Otterberg.

He found an area which was on sale to establish the temple. But he wasn’t able to afford it as he just completed his studies.

He had to take bank credit to establish the Shaolin Temple.

Shi struggled financially to make the temple profitable until 2017. But he turned the tables, as the monastery became popular.

Currently, he is serving as the Leading Headmaster of the Shaolin Temple Europe in Otterberg.

Tidbit- This temple is housed in a wooden building built prior to the 1940s.

Shaolin Spirit

Shi published his German book Shaolin Spirit: Meistere dein Leben in 2023 and published its English translation, Shaolin Spirit: The Way to Self-Mastery, in 2025.

35th Generation

Shi belongs to the 35th Generation of Shaolin masters and follows Buddhism.

He mainly teaches mental and spiritual development. His aim is to spread the ancient knowledge inherited from over 1500 years to the modern world.

He also teaches self-mastery, Shaolin Arts, Qi Gong, breathing methods, etc.

Shi also provides online training through his website and YouTube channel.

Currently, he has more than 680K subscribers on his YouTube channel Shi Heng Yi Online.

Shi delivered his first TEDx Talk “Master Shi Heng Yi – 5 hindrances to self-mastery” in January 2020 in Sofia, Bulgaria and delivered the second one, “Test your might! • Shaolin Spirit” in November 2022.

Personal life

Shi is married to Amal Vanessa and they have a son, Adam.

Shi is a polyglot as he knows Vietnamese, Romanian, French, English and Deutsch.

He lost his father to cancer in 2012.

He lives in Otterberg, Germany.

So, how are you inspired by the life story of Shi Heng Yi?

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Featured image credit- Shaolin Temple Europe/Wikimedia Commons