Bok Leen Pai Kenpo

Make no mistake, Bok Leen Pai Kenpo, is not a sport. It is a traditional martial art that started with the ancient warriors and maintains a high level of relevance for today’s modern warrior.

The art we call “Bok Leen Pai Kenpo” has travelled many miles and years to arrive at the art we now know.

Bok Leen Pai Kenpo is a wonderful, dynamic martial art that exists due to the love and devotion of Daniel K. Pai. As a young boy Daniel started training in the family martial arts under his grandfather’s tutelage. His family had a long well known standing in the martial arts community. His elders, the Po, Fong and Pai ancestors, brought with from China a vast knowledge of dragon and crane chuan fa, as well as many of the other animal styles.

As a teenager Daniel was exposed to the Chinese / Okinawan system of martial arts known to a select group as the White Lotus. Much secrecy and speculation surrounded this guarded knowledge. Even today stories spring up and discussions of fact and myth arise at the tables of conversation. It is said that the group, nucleus of training known as the “Byakurenji” was secretly mastered on the northern coast of Okinawa by Chinese and Okinawan masters. There are stories of the Byakurenji Temple, rather this was a physical building, a natural training location or the temple in the practitioner’s minds is again more speculation.

Bok Leen Pai Kenpo is alive today and named with respect for the place of its origin. “White” for the color which they believed showed purity of spirit. The “Lotus Blossom” flower that blooms though the harshest of winter weather. The ancestors believed this showed fortitude and perseverance. Pai, of course, comes from the family that is preserving it. Bok Leen Pai Kenpo / Byakuren Ji has strong roots in Zen Buddhism development and vice versa, yet should not be confused for passive philosophies. One is taught to seek peace always and maintain the spirit of a true warrior at all times.

Daniel K. Pai brought this art and a mix of other family arts to the mainland in the 1950s. As a young man he continued to study the Chinese, Hawaiian and Okinawan arts and would establish his families art of Pai Lum Tao Martial Arts. During the 1960’s through the early 1990s, he taught in many places around the US. Now it is our honor to be the ones that bring this beautiful art into the future!