About Shaolin Wahnam and the Shaolin Treasure House

Our mission

At Shaolin Wahnam, our mission is to spread health and happiness to the world through the practice of the precious Shaolin arts. We protect an unprecedented treasure of practical training methods and strive to preserve the ancient secrets of past masters and their benefits for posterity.

Genuine Shaolin training is more than just a workout program. We want you to get all the benefits of high-level Qi Gong and traditional martial arts, including combat efficiency.

You can train in a non-time consuming manner to improve your everyday life and transform yourself into the best person you can be. Because when all people find health, joy and happiness, this world will become a better place.

While we cherish the history of the ancient Shaolin temples, we have no affiliation with the modern Shaolin monks or cultural centers.

Different to the popular show monks, our lineage can be traced back to the Southern Shaolin tradition. The genuine Shaolin arts we practice and teach have been preserved outside of China, during times of the cultural revolution and the later re-establishment of modernized Wushu by the Chinese government.

So, what you get here, has been passed down directly from the genuine past masters.

You won’t get any show training here but the real deal.

Who are we?

The Shaolin Wahnam Institute was founded by Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit in Malaysia, where his parents emigrated to from China.

Having learned from the four best masters he could find, he was always regarded a good student, fast-learner and a Kung Fu genius. He earned the title “Qi Gong Master of the Year” at the second Qi Gong World Congress in San Francisco in 1997.

His methodology was enhanced further through studying classics on Qi Gong, Kung Fu and Zen and by teaching thousands of classes on his worldwide travels.

Grandmaster Wong is the author of several bestselling books and was an internet pioneer by starting one of the first websites on Kung Fu in the 1990s. Today, his website www.shaolin.org is surely the biggest resource of articles, videos and Q&As on genuine Shaolin practice in the world.

With his never-ending generosity he’s been teaching principles and secrets that many people regard as lost or as a myth today.

Even after exceeding 70 years of age, he never ceases to inspire with his radiant energy and vitality.

If you get a chance to attend his Intensive Courses on Qi Gong, Shaolin Kung Fu or Wahnam Tai Chi Chuan in Malaysia, take the chance! Really! Go for it!

The courses at the Shaolin Treasure House will serve you as a good preparation.

Sifu Leonard Lackinger

Sifu Leo is a direct student and close disciple of Grandmaster Wong.

After a childhood and teenage years full of sport ranging from football, basketball, tennis and table tennis to skateboarding and snowboarding, he joined his first Kung Fu class at the age of 26 and was hooked immediately.

After some years of training with a local school and being appointed an assistant instructor, he attended his first Qi Gong course with Sifu Wong and soon realized the power of his teachings.

Many travels to Malaysia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, UK and other countries followed to advance further into the depths of Grandmaster Wong’s teaching.

After some years of parallel training, he left his first school on good terms, giving up the opportunity to become the successor of his first master.

In 2013 he was accredited to start a Shaolin Wahnam school in Vienna, Austria (Europe) which has since been flourishing.

In 2018 he was announced as Protector of the Shaolin Five-Animal Set of Shaolin Wahnam.

In 2021 he started the online platform “Shaolin Treasure House” with Grandmaster Wong’s approval to spread the genuine Shaolin arts further.

What Kung Fu style do we practice?

At Shaolin Wahnam we practice Southern Shaolin Kung Fu as it was taught at the Southern Shaolin temple until its destruction in the 19^th century.

Some people mistake our Kung Fu with the popular Southern style Hoong Ka (Hung Gar, Hung Kyun). While this is a wonderful style, made famous by the legendary folk hero Wong Fei Hung, and the sets and techniques are also contained in our training, Hoong Ka is a sub-style of Southern Shaolin and we practice its mother style which is simply “Southern Shaolin Kung Fu” or “Shaolinquan” as taught at the Southern Shaolin temple.

While Northern Shaolin Kung Fu built the foundation of Shaolin’s prestigious history, we regard Southern Shaolin Kung Fu as its advancement, as it contains even more depth and variety of techniques, sets and methods to train internal force.

The Shaolin Five-Animals are the prototype of Southern Shaolin and form a wonderful concept for training high-level Kung Fu.

Non-Religious

While the training at Shaolin Wahnam can be very spiritual, our school is non-religious. Buddhist and Taoist philosophy are engrained into the practice but we don’t ordain monks or nuns.

You can continue to practice your religion (or no religion) and find out that our practice will make you a better Christian, Muslim or whatever faith you follow, as you cleanse your soul and become happier and more peaceful.

Our ideal is to become a “Scholar-Warrior”, an upright person with high moral values who lives a healthy and successful life, whilst enjoying spiritual joys when they appear.