About Dr. Alex Feng, Shi Fu/Sensei*
Dr. Alex Feng
Born in Guangzhou (Canton), China, Master Alex Feng was immersed in the three pillars of Daoism from childhood: physical strength and well being, healing, and spiritual development. He was trained by his father, Dr. Wei Ren Feng, a well-known scholar and spiritual leader who is descended from a long lineage of Daoist philosophers, scholars and healers. The elder Dr. Feng, Grand Master Feng, and his extensive lineage of masters tutored Master Feng who was ordained in the family tradition of Zhi Daoism in the 1970s.
The path of Dao revealed itself to Master Feng at an early age. As described in his words:
“Zhi Dao – I was born into this Path. At age 8 I had climbed to the top of a mountain in Taiwan where my family moved from my birthplace in China after the Communist take over of Mainland China.
As I contemplated the sky above and the land below me, I recognized that Heaven and Earth were my parents.
This provoked me to ask the question: what is my purpose?
I meditated and prayed on this question – no answer came to me. When I looked up from my contemplation and gazed into the distance, I saw smoke curling into the heavens and heard faint chants from a Buddhist temple across the way. I interpreted this as a message, an answer to my question.
I was destined for a spiritual life and an obligation to share that. Since my youth I have been gifted with healing powers for both my self and for others. Realization of this spiritual and healing path is my karma, my purpose.”
During the Cultural Revolution, the Feng family left Taiwan where Master Feng was raised and immigrated to the United States in 1963.
Master Alex Feng studied, literally, at the feet of Grand Master Wei Ren Feng, a highly respected scholar and philosophizer – listening for as long as 7 hours at a time to his teachings. Through the Grand Master, Master Alex Feng was introduced and mentored by leading Chinese philosophers, martial arts teachers, Chinese Medicine Practitioners, and Daoists.
He studied at UC Berkeley and New College of San Francisco and accepted the call to become a Traditional Chinese Medicine physician. He graduated with his Doctorate in Oriental Medicine and a PhD from Samra University in Los Angeles and became one of the first practitioners to be licensed when acupuncture was legalized in California in 1976.
In addition to the spiritual teachings, Grand Master Feng oversaw the physical development of Master Feng. At age eight, Master Feng’s father placed him under the tutelage of a private Gong Fu instructor, Master Wong Jian An. Master Feng entered the Academy of Judo in Tainan, Taiwan at age 12. This teaching continued after the family immigrated to America in the 1960s. His numerous teachers include Master Kuo Lian Ying (Qi Gong, Tai Ji Quan), Professor Ray Law (Jujitsu, Judo), Wakabayashi Sensei (Judo), Professor Wang Pei Kun (Tai Ji Quan, Ba Gua), Keiko Fukuda Sensei (highest ranking woman Judoka), Wally Jay (Jujitsu Master), and Gurumayi (Siddha Yoga).
Shi Fu Feng received a black belt at age nineteen in Judo and Jujitsu and holds a second-degree black belt in Jujitsu and a fourth-degree in Judo. Shi Fu Feng started teaching internal and external systems of Gong Fu, Kodokan Judo and Kodenkan Jujitsu in 1966. In 1967, he was the AJJF national heavyweight champion in Judo.
Master Feng developed the Wu Chien Pai system and opened the Wu Tao Kuan Martial Arts Institute in 1973 in Berkeley. Wu Tao Kuan is now housed at Zhi Dao Guan, the Taoist Center, where Shi Fu Feng continues to blend the uniqueness of Chinese and Japanese styles of martial arts and healing arts into the Wu Chien Pai system. Master Feng continues to teach tai ji (yang and chen), tai ji weapons, qi gong, push hands and judo/jujitsu. This Path of Dao led Dr. Feng into the study of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
He is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and founded the Clinic for Traditional Chinese Medicine when acupuncture was legalized in California in 1976. A graduate of New College and with a PhD and OMD from Samra University in Los Angeles, Dr. Feng’s medical expertise is based in traditional theory and practice learned from academia as well as the hands-on apprenticeships his father arranged for him with specific teachers and masters.
He is an accomplished healer who was voted one of the ten best Alternative Medicine practitioners by San Francisco Focus Magazine. He is past Chairman of the National Commission for Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and also served as a consultant to the California Acupuncture Exam Sub-Committee. He has taught at the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Scineces, in Oakland and is on the faulty at Contra Costa College. He is also staff acupuncturist with Chinese Hospital in San Francisco and practices at Highland Hospital.
Dr. Feng and his wife, Dr. Charlene Ossler, opened Zhi Dao Guan – The Taoist Center in August 2002. This is the first major center devoted to the Taoist Arts in the Bay Area. The Clinic for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wu Tao Kaun Martial Arts Institute, and the Daoist Temple are incorporated into this vibrant Center. Zhi Dao Guan is the actualization of the principles of all his teachers and the outward expression of Dr. Feng’s devotion to the calling to serve humanity.
*Shi Fu is the Chinese honorific term for teacher and Sensei the Japanese term. The term of Doctor recognizes achievement of doctoral level academic preparation.