GMW is first and foremost a mystic. This means that since his early youth, GMW was driven by a deep, unceasing desire to return to an unknown source and to the original true nature and to realize deeper truths. GMW lived in temples both in the Himalayas and in the remote mountains of China. After decades of sacrifice, searching, and long sitting with awakened personalities such as the Dalai Lama, Jiddu Krisnamurti, and Master Ni Ching Hua, to name a few, GMW was awakened in a private conversation with the enlightened Zen Master Yamahata Daido Hogen San, born in 1935.