Born at the end of 1989 in Sofia, he is a child of the transition period in Bulgaria. He grew up with kung fu movies and the mysticism of the Shaolin Monastery in China. His path passed through aikido training, The National Academy of Theater and Film Arts, an instructor's training at the Bear Grylls Academy in the UK, more than ten years of extreme mountaineering and survival, and membership in the Organization of Bulgarian Scouts. He is Tsvetan Naydenov and in the recent months he has become known as the Bulgarian from Shaolin. Tsvetan is on his way to becoming the first foreign kung fu master to go through the first-ever online program that teachers from the monastery in China opened during the pandemic.

"During the Covid pandemic, China closed its borders to foreigners for three whole years and after that the people there did not know at all what would happen - whether the borders would be opened again. Among the many unknowns, they realized that this martial art is getting forgotten year after year and at some point it could be lost if doors were not opened to more people from all over the world and with new and modern means and approaches," Tsvetan Naydenov has told BNR-Radio Sofia.

The online program is a two-year course. The first year, the program, which, according to the Bulgarian, is of very high quality, is carried out remotely. A closed group for students is created, which today has more than 600 members from all over the world, where video lessons, exercises and practices are uploaded daily. There are optional exams every month.

A year after the beginning of the training program, the Bulgarian understood that in order to reach the next level, he needs to go to the place. So in the summer of 2023, he went for a month to a Buddhist temple in China.

"It is quite different when you are there! There are things that are only taught there, as students need to be under the master's watchful eye, as there are some dangerous things, which are not good to try from a distance. For a month spent there I learned a lot, saw incredible things and met great people with whom we are still in touch to this day," Tsvetan Naydenov points out.

As soon as he arrived in the monastery and after a 50-hour journey from Bulgaria to China, Tsvetan found out that he had been chosen to participate in a legendary local martial arts championship, previously completely closed to foreigners.

"Thanks to my master, about a dozen foreigners including me took part in a demonstration with a group performance. Me and two others were also selected to do a solo performance. We won gold medals for both. For the group performance we even won a gold cup, which was amazing."

At the end of April, Tsvetan Naydenov will leave again for the Shaolin Monastery. This time his stay will be only two weeks long, as he will take the last two exams and complete the program. He is now the first person from the online program with a teaching assistant diploma that he received at the end of his previous stay in China.

"The masters there have bigger plans for me than I have for myself. They want me to represent Shaolin in Bulgaria, to pass on this knowledge to the people here."

Text: Vesela Krasteva (based on interview by BNR-Sofia)

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: personal library, shaolintemple.com