History

The foundation style of the LFMS is the White Crane System studied by Khangsar Tersang Ming, a Tibetan Lama situated in the Litang monastery located in Kham Tibet. Khangsar left the monastery after 1860 to take on the roll of traveling monk. It was during this period that he developed the Charging White Crane System from the traditional White Crane System. In 1899 Khangsar received a request from a distant relative for their son to study under a Lama. After agreeing, a young Chou Dhieh Hsiang arrived in Kham to meet Khangsar and begin his studies. For the next 11 years Chou Hsiang traveled with Khangsar learning the Charging White Crane system in addition to healing techniques which would later serve him as an oriental medicine practitioner.

After finishing his studies, Chou Hsiang continued with his own travels thru China, central Asia, Mongolia, and India. It was during this time that he not only enhanced his healing knowledge, but also learned additional Kung-Fu styles for a balanced system of self-defense. After mastering the Cheng Tien Temple Tiger Claw Style, Cobra Hand Style, and the Srilan Dragon Style, this would complete the system that would eventually come to form the Lightning Fire Mountain Tibetan-Chinese Gung Fu Association.

In 1968 Master Hsiang arrived in San Francisco, sailing from Hong Kong, eventually settling in North Western Mexico. After a year of a meditative retreat and continued refinement of the martial arts, Robert K. Markorre Cooper became acquainted with Sifu Hsiang teachings and became his student. After studying and mastering the system Cooper would open is his own school in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1973 as the Lightning Fire Mountain Gung-Fu Association to preserve the traditional aspects of Sifu Hsaing's lifetime of commitment to the martial arts.

At the Rapid City studio a student, Roger Stainbrook, studied with Cooper and became a full-fledged instructor. Roger would later go on to open his own studio in Dallas, Texas as the Energy Balancing Center in 1991. Roger continued sharing the teachings as the Lightning Fire Mountain System in addition to practicing oriental medicine, herbalism, and acupuncture. With Sifu Roger passing from the physical form in 2022 the tradition is continued with LFMS certified instructors.