Hidgi Chuan – A Biography
Hidgi Chuan is a blind Shaolin monk, karate master and martial arts teacher. He ownes several black belts and many Dans in various disciplines, but his interest in martial arts was less in competitions and belt ranks. Hidgi´s Words: “The origin of Karate – Do Shotokai is not a “style”, but a “spirit”.
Hidgi Chuan is a master who, despite his blindness, travels the world to use his skills, knowledge and experience to commit himself for human rights, animal rights, vegetarianism and veganism in the world. He also holds degrees in psychology and osteopathy.
Hidgi Chuan’s childhood
Hidgi Chuan grew up in Paris. There he learned at an early age that it is good to be able to defend oneself, since his Paris neighborhood was occasionally rough.
In 1966, when he was 6 years old, he started karate training. His first teacher was a blue belt, and they met outside to train, as his trainer, being a blue belt, did not yet have his own dojo.
Then he met his new trainer, a wearer of a brown belt, his name was “Bruno”. Bruno also had his own karate club.
When one day Hidgi watched a movie with Bruce Lee he was deeply impressed by his abilities and felt as if he had met “Superman”.
In Paris there was a place where Hidgi always went to train outside with friends. There was a building with a long row of basement windows, which had been built on a sloping slope. Due to the gradient, the height of the basement windows varied. The first window had a height of about 50 cm, the last about 2,50 meters. Hidgi´s aim was to train as much as he could until he would be able to make a kick in Yoko Geri above each of these windows. Yoko Geri is a kick technique in karate. Every time he made a kick over the next higher window, it filled him with joy and excitement. When he was 15 years old, his parents moved with him to a place in the east of France. At that time there were four of these windows left, at a height of which he had not yet managed the Yoko Geri.
Hidgi read comics of “Docteur Justice”, a karate fighter who traveled the world and fought against injustice. He also watched the series “Kung Fu” with David Carradine. Even though David Carradine himself was never a martial artist, and the martial arts scenes of this series were therefore rather lax, the story of the series had a fascinating effect on the young student, because it was about a Karate and Kung Fu hero, who fought for justice all over the world. These “stories”, together with the training, created an atmosphere in the young Hidgi Chuan where he grew up and trained. They gave him strength and let him develop a strong belief justice and awakened in him the desire to one day be able to stand up for justice, himself.
The youth of Hidgi Chuan
Hidgi Chuan trained for many years, competed in competitions and became the youngest black belt of France.
He learned with many teachers in France and Brussels, with teachers of black belt and fourth, seventh and even higher Dans such as Dominique Valera and Master Tetsuji Murakami.
One day he was given the opportunity to meet Master William Schneider. Hidgi was so impressed by his skills, attitude and technique that he immediately left his home and his parents and moved to Nancy to study with Master William Schneider.
During one of the trainings Hidgi witnessed how his Master had the ability to counter attacks deliberately made behind his back (so that he could not see when and with what technique the opponent was attacking) and how Master Schneider was still able to react at exactly the right moment and with exactly the right block. When Schneider was asked by one of his students whether he could handle telepathy, he replied: “That’s not really telepathy! It’s almost telepathy, but it’s not really telepathy!”
This experience set free a revolution in the young disciple Hidgi Chuan. At dinner in the restaurant he asked the other students, and he couldn’t believe that most of them reacted completely indifferently: “Yes, he does that sometimes … Uhh, do you still want some of the food?”
For Hidgi Chuan, however, this experience was far-reaching. He had seen that martial arts could go much further than just belt exams and competitions.
Then he had the opportunity to meet Master Shigeru Egami. Egami was a direct disciple of Master Funakoshi Gichin, who was the founder of Karate-Do-Shotokai.
Image1: Master Funakoshi Gichin: Funakoshi Gichin Sensei-Hidgi Chuan:
“The origin of Karate Do Shotokai is not a “style”, but a “spirit”.
Hidgi Chuan
As far as his level in karate was concerned Hidgi was not very interesting for Master Egami at that time. As Master Egami knew that his life was coming to an end, he was therefore very eager to give many 5th Dans so that his school would continue to exist. Hidgi, a young first Dan, was not very interesting in this respect. Nevertheless Egami turned towards him.
Hidgi Chuan´s interest was not so much in pure karate but in learning how to understand with honesty and to the last detail what he had seen with Master William Schneider.
Master Egami understood that Hidgi Chuan was someone who, after all the experiences he had made with Master Schneider, wanted to learn martial arts not only as a pure technique in a “club”, but he wanted to go further. Master Egami advised him to go to a Shaolin monastery in England and continue to learn there.
Immediately Hidgi Chuan began to work hard for a while to make enough money to be able to afford the journey and a new life in England. He learned English and moved to England.
This was the beginning of a fantastic adventure for Hidgi Chuan. He was very enthusiastic about it. First he worked for a while in the south of England to learn and to get used to the new culture and language, and then began his adventurous search for the Shaolin monastery that Master Shigeru Egami had told him about.
It took him 2 months that he was hiking through the Scottish mountains looking for the monastery. Every time he was about to give up, he said to himself: “I cannot give up my dream!“
After 2 months Hidgi Chuan had found the monastery. He passed the qualification test and began to learn as a Shaolin monk of this monastery.
Hidgi Chuan’s education in the Shaolin Temple
The training in the Shaolin Temple was not only a simple martial arts training, but it contained many, many areas that one cannot learn anywhere else.
While still in the Shaolin Monastery, Hidgi Chuan also began to study psychology. However, he never officially worked as a state-approved psychologist. This had never been of any interest to him. For Hidgi it was important to understand the psychological system of the human being in order to be able to help others in a better way. For this reason he has never asked money for his work as a psychological consultant.
During one of his regular visits to France, he was shocked to receive the information that the woman he loved most had died in an accident. The shock was so drastic and had such a violent effect on Hidgi that he decided never to return to Shaolin Monastery.
A few weeks later he had a dream that remained in his memory like a real experience in all its details: he dreamed that the woman he had loved above all else and who had been taken out of this world by a traffic accident had said to him, “Would you please do something for me if I’m dead? In his dream he replied: “I would do anything, my love”. She said: “Then I ask you: Be happy and live for me!
After this experience, Hidgi Chuan went back to Shaolin Monastery and continued his training as a Shaolin monk.
During and after his stay at the Shaolin Monastery, he decided to commit himself for people who needed help. It was at this time that his first adventure of this kind began, when he decided to free a young woman who had disappeared due to an organisation of organized trafficking in girls.
After completing all 5 levels of the training at the Shaolin monastery, Hidgi Chuan left the monastery and rented a small rural house where he gave martial arts classes and workshops.
After some time he closed the house and taught in different places (e.g. Hachettes School).
Learn more about Shaolin:
https://hidgichuan.com/shaolin/
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov – an important teacher for Hidgi Chuan
Then Hidgi Chuan met Omraam Michael Aivanhov. Master Omraam was a Bulgarian philosopher, psychologist and spiritual master. The teachings of Aivanhov were a great help to Hidgi. He spent several years in the community of Master Omraam Michael Aivanhov, in his community called “Bonfin” in France.
Learn more about Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov:
https://hidgichuan.com/omraam-mikhael-aivanhov/
A commitment of honesty – Hidgi Chuan and the IKDS
At about the same time Master Tetsuji Murakami died. Hidgi Chuan decided to found an international karate organization to help the Murakami School and the family of Master Murakami, that were both harmed by intrigues coming from the ranks of its own students.
During this time he discovered great manipulations within the karate associations: lies, deception, jealousy and theft of money.
Hidgi learned: „Where there is power, where there is money, there you will find darkness. It is very difficult to remain clear under such circumstances.“
He had to stand a very strong position against some of the former students who were about to destroy the memory and the heritage of this great master. With some friends he founded the association IKDS ( l’international Karate-Do Shotokai ).
He found this over and over and over again: in the Bonfin community, in the world of Karate, in the experiences he had when working with refugees, communities or aid organisations, or even in cooperation with spiritual organisations:
Hidgi himself says: “I know you say to me: Oh, but I know someone who is really good! Then I answer: Yes, that’s because you don’t really know this person! If you don’t really work with the light, if you don’t really work with the dreams, if you don’t really work with love, then you will give up sometime and you will start to accept some malice or other”.
Hidgi Chuan – his philosophy, his commitment
One day Hidgi Chuan returned to the building with the basement windows, where he had always trained as a child and teenager: with a slow movement, in perfect balance and absolute control, he kicked the last window, with a Yoko Geri, which reached much higher than he had ever managed before.
That day he remembered what he had always said as a child: “One day I will be a black belt, I will help people and I will fight for justice!
In this monment he realized that he had already surpassed his childhood dreams. He was already a Master, his students already had the 1st and 2nd Dan.
This is something Hidgi Chuan wants to pass on to all his friends and students: “Never forget your dreams! Be the manifestation of your light, of your soul!“
Over time, the IKDS unfortunately became a scene of personal struggles for power and advantages, where one went against the other. Hidgi Chuan left the organization but remained friends with Adam Prince.
Since then, Hidgi Chuan has been committing himself in many struggles for justice: amongst others he was engaging himself for the rights of refugees in many countries, and in Berlin in 2013 he committed himself to the refugees at Oranienplatz.
He unmasked the practices of a group of followers of pranism where even one of the students died following the practices and orders of their leaders.
He travelled to Romania to fight against the sexual exploitation of girls, and he supported animal welfare projects in Lampedusa and the project “La Lumière des Chevaux”, which is led by Matthieu Le Bocq who is also a good friend of Hidgi Chuan. Amongst other actions he also travelled to various countries to work with blind children.
Hidgi Chuan’s message to the world: “The light, the love and the cosmic source of goodness, yes, they do exist, but the darkness is also existing. And the task is to develop, within this paradox, the light and the love in your heart AND to develop the strength and the power to reject the darkness and to fight it. This is the evolution to go to the true light and to the truth.”
Take part in the trainings with Hidgi Chuan (any level / age is welcome):
Hidgi Chuan 
