Founder and Head Instructor,

Fa Jun Shakya

Rev. Fa Jun has made it his life's mission to preserve and advance the wisdom traditions he has received from his teachers. Fa Jun holds the inner sciences of meditation and contemplation and the outer sciences of evidence based practices to be of equal weight. He aspires to aid in the process of bridging these ancient and modern worlds, which is so important to our time!

Early Training

Fa Jun was raised in a Christian family and had his first intuitions of mysticism while in church contemplating such mysteries as forgiveness, the infinite afterlife, and if Heaven would get boring after a while!

At age 13 he began to study European pagan traditions, and at 15 began having peak experiences of inner meditation and contemplation. During these teen years he studied wicca, druidry, and norse mysticism, Kabbalah, Western "high" magic, and began his exploration of Buddhism, Daoism, Taiji and Qigong.

In the mid and late 90s, Rev. Fa Jun took up the formal study of martial arts beginning with Kung Fu San Soo and Yang Style Taijiquan. In 1999 he began training in Reiki energy healing and seeking Qigong instruction in earnest. Soon after beginning to ask within for this guidance, he met his Root teacher, Sifu Steven Baugh.

Training in the Lohan Order

Fa Jun spent the 2000s training with Sifu Baugh and with many other master instructors. He served as the caretaker and live-in student for the Lohan Temple and School of Shaolin from 2000-2001 and earned his Qigong instructor certification at that time. During that time he also gained his first massage and energy healing certifications.

In 2003, Fa Jun completed his studies with the Boston Shiatsu School, and went on to be trained as a teacher through both this institution and the Charles River Institute of Healing Arts. During this time he also trained with teachers in the Boston area including Yang's Martial Arts Association and the Boston Healing Tao. He explored Aikido, Baguazhang, and other arts through local academies.

Fa Jun continued to study with Sifu Baugh through intensive sessions and was awarded his Internal Arts Sifu ranking in 2005.

He completed his Medical Qigong Practitioner certification in 2007 through the International Institute of Medical Qigong and continuously trained in advanced Asian Bodywork techniques including Shiatsu and Tui Na (Chinese Medical Massage). Also in 2007, Fa Jun was awarded the rank of 'Associate Instructor' in the International Healing Dao.

In 2008, Fa Jun was granted ordination into the Lohan Order, a unique synthesis of the lineages that Dashi Baugh was tasked by his mentors with handing on. This initial apprenticeship process included 9 years of study in Daoism, Buddhism, Earth-centered spirituality, martial arts, healing arts, teaching techniques, and spiritual counseling. In that same year, he tested for and attained the rank of Sifu in Dashi Baugh's Shaolin Kung Fu lineage. At this time, Rev. Fa Jun was acting as the lead instructor for the Heartwood Institute's Asian Healing Arts program and in that capacity taught meditation, qigong, taiji, yoga, shiatsu, tui na, and energetic healing - all the healing practices of our Daoist lineage.

Active Ministry

During the 2010s, Rev. Fa Jun began working earnestly to live up to the vow he swore during ordination of "working to benefit humanity".

In 2009, with the closure of the Heartwood Institute during the financial crisis, Fa Jun moved to Santa Cruz, Ca and began studying toward his Master's Degree in Medical Qigong with Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson. He completed this process in 2011. During this time he also studied the Yang Style Taiji and Baguazhang curriculum under Dr. Johnson.

During this period Fa Jun taught for the illustrious Five Branches University, both in their massage program, and teaching Chinese Medical Massage and Qigong Exercise for the Acupuncture degree curriculum.

After completing his medical qigong certification, Fa Jun began an active ministry by founding the Ling Qi Center, a small Dharma center in East Santa Cruz. In this space were held Dharma classes, meditation, Shaolin Kung Fu, Tajiquan, Qigong, and healing arts courses.

During the early 2000s, Fa Jun held an active practice of traditional Chinese Energetic healing and acupressure, taught in a number of massage programs, and completed the 18 Courses of the Asian Classics Institute (a 7-year Master's equivalent course modeled loosely on the subjects of Geshe degree of Tibetan Buddhism). At this time he also completed coursework from the Yoga Studies Institute, becoming a faculty member and yoga instructor in that system. During this time, Fa Jun also acted as the Director of Religious Education for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Los Gatos.

In 2014, Fa Jun was asked to serve as the half-time minister for the UU Fellowship, and adjusted his practice to aim toward effective leadership in this congregation. In 2016 he was installed as the settled minister for this caring community, where he continues to preach three Sundays per month.

In the mid 2010s, Fa Jun began studying with Pema Khandro Rinpoche, a recognized Tulku in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He became a teaching assistant in her school in 2017 while continuing to serve Dashi Baugh and the Lohan Temple. In 2021 he completed the Certification in Buddhist Studies, and continues on as an Umdze for the school.

The mid 2010s were some of the most rewarding years in Rev. Fa Jun's ministry as he spent a number of years traveling each month from Santa Cruz to Las Vegas, to help Dashi Baugh with his ministry, serving Sifu by teaching his Qigong, Taji, Kung Fu, and Dharma classes so that he could have a break after many years spent building up the school and temple!

Sifu Steve employed a very powerful "Skillful Means" by attending Rev. Fa Jun's classes and giving him a great deal of supportive feedback - helping to assure Fa Jun that he was teaching in a way that was in full alignment with his Sifu's standards and desires. Dashi Baugh at this time gave his "stamp of approval" for Fa Jun to train priests in the Lohan Order, as well as the entire curriculum of internal arts including Taijiquan, Xingyiquan, and Baguazhang. Sifu encouraged him to continue to bring insights he had learned from other teachers and lineages to help round out and continually upgrade our own lineage of practices.

In 2017-2019, Rev. Fa Jun completed the in-depth training in Neigong offered by the Temple of Change and Transformation under Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson, and as a Sifu and ordained person under Sifu Baugh, was given access to the "inner door" methodology reserved solely for instructors, abbots, and lineage holders.

After Sifu Baugh's passing in 2019, Rev. Fa Jun spent the next quarter of the year teaching for the Lohan School and temple as interim Abbot, to help in the transition process from this abrupt change. He then refocused his energies on serving his UU congregation, building his martial arts training group in Northern California, and instructing initiates in his branch of the Lohan Order.

Today!

Today, Rev. Fa Jun is the founder and director of Templestyle Integrative Arts - an online sanctuary serving as a global Training Hall. Through this medium he coordinates Qigong Instructor Certifications, Meditation retreats, the Empathy Dojo, Taijiquan and Qigong Classes, and much more!

Rev. Fa Jun's mission continues to be building bridges between the inner work of meditation and self-cultivation, and the outer evidence of scientific processes and thinking. He is deeply informed by the Integral philosophy developed by Ken Wilber, and uses insights from this work to continue to develop his offerings in qigong, spiritual studies, and interpersonal relating into ever-evolving forms.

Fa Jun preaches weekly at the UU Fellowship of Los Gatos, and is constantly developing new ways of making dharmic studies available through online courses, blogs, videos, and more!