Jee Sin Sim See

Jee Sin Sim See (至善) is said to be one of the survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing Dynasty Army. He is one of the most well known abbots of Shoalin. Sim See means Zen master. He is linked to many southern Chinese martial arts including the five major family styles of Hung, Lau and Choy gar, Lee gar and Mok gar; Wing Chun, and Hakka Kuen.

The stories disagree as to whether Gee Seen was a survivor of the destruction of the original Shaolin Temple in Henan or the Southern Shaolin Temple in Fujian. In what may be an attempt to reconcile this discrepancy, some stories say that, when the Henan temple was destroyed, Gee Seen fled to the Fujian temple, only to have to flee again when the latter was destroyed as well.

Others say that Gee Seen and the other Five Elders escaped the burning of the temple at Quanzhou in Fujian. They went their separate ways and Gee Seen built the second southern temple at Jiulian Shan (Nine Lotus Mountain), also in Fujian. Jee Sin was seen as a revolutionary who helped fight against the Ching Government and to restore the overthrown Ming Dynasty. The destruction of the Shoalin Temple was attributed to two of the Elders of Shoalin, Pak Mei and Fung Dou Dak who had helped with the Ching army and destroyed the southern Shaolin Temple with a huge army. Jee Sin, was killed by Pak Mei in a fight during the attack.

 

Abbot Jee Sin Sim See (Sim See means Zen master) put Hung Yan Sim See in charge of thirty-six chambers. Gee Sim is credited with devising the “wooden dummy hall”.

Abbot Gee Sim Sim See passed his teachings on to several students – one of whom was Hung Hei Guen. Hung Hei Guen formally founded the Hung Ga style in the early 1700s.