Templestyle Founder and Head Instructor
Rev. 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 importance for a rich human life. He aspires to aid in the process of bridging these ancient and modern worlds and offer teachings and practices that strike to the heart of our needs in the real world!
Early Training
Fa Jun was raised in a Christian family and had his first mystic experiences while in church during worship service. He was often found pondering unresolved Christian mysteries like unconditional forgiveness, an infinite afterlife, and whether Heaven wouldn't get boring after a while!
At age 13 he began to study European pagan traditions, and at 15 had intriguing peak-experiences of 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 applying himself to these studies 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 of Zen Shiatsu 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. He met his mentors in the Sufi Ruhaniat International and studied the profound lineage of practices transmitted by Hazrat Inayat Khan.
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 he was granted instructor certification in Tui Na by Jeff Coté.
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 Master's degree program in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture.
After completing his advanced 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 trainings, Shaolin Kung Fu, Tajiquan, Qigong, Yoga, and healing arts courses.
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Fa Jun held an active practice of traditional Chinese Energetic healing and acupressure, taught in a number of massage therapy 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.
In the early 2010s, Rev. Fa Jun also served as the Director of Religious Education and Lifespan Learning for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Los Gatos.
In 2014, Fa Jun was invited to serve as the half-time minister for the UU Fellowship and in 2016 was installed as the settled minister, a position he held until 2023 preaching three Sunday services each 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 and was certified as a meditation instructor - while also continuing to serve Dashi Baugh and the Lohan Temple. In 2021 he completed the Certificate in Buddhist Studies through the Buddhist Studies Institute after 7 years of regular study. He continues in this Sangha as an Umdze (practice and group leader) while enrolled in the seminary toward ordination in the Nyingma lineage.
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 Qigong, Taji, Kung Fu, and Dharma classes so that Dashi Baugh could have a break after many years spent building up his school and temple!
During this period, Sifu Steve often attended Rev. Fa Jun's classes and gave him a great deal of supportive feedback - helping to assure Fa Jun that he was teaching in a way that was in 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 practice.
In 2017-2019, Rev. Fa Jun completed the in-depth training in Neigong ("Inner-Work") offered by the Temple of Change and Transformation under Dr. Jerry Alan Johnson. This course covered both the physical and spiritual trainings of China's Buddhsit and Daoist warrior mystics. 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. He received authorization to teach this inner work by Dr. Johnson, and was certified in the baguazhang forms of this lineage by his school brother and training partner, Sifu Kelly Lake.
In 2018, Rev. Fa Jun re-established his connection to Lama Lar Short, a disciple of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Swami Rudrananda, and continues to study in the Grace Essence Mandala with its unique blend of Tibetan Buddhism, Shaivism, Daoism, and Yoga practices.
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.
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 continues to develop the work that was given him by Dashi Baugh through continuing studies in Nyingma Buddhism, Inner Alchemy, Martial Arts, Bön traditions, and Qigong. He also spends a great deal of his time researching effective activism tactics, social justice, community building, nonviolence, and environmentalism.
