Sifu Darrell Gooden, Ph.D.

Southern Shaolin – Hang Ling Do

About Sifu Gooden

Sigung Darrell Gooden (8th Degree) has dedicated more than 50 years to the study and teaching of traditional Chinese martial arts. His early training began with Shotokan Karate in high school, and continued in 1976 while stationed at Kunsan Air Force Base in South Korea, where he studied Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan under Grand Masters Lee Hon In and Kim — both direct students of Tang Soo Do founder Grand Master Hwang Kee.

Over the following years, Sifu Gooden trained in several systems including Tae Kwon Do, Bak Shaolin Eagle Claw, Wing Chun, and Southern Praying Mantis. In 1979, he joined the Hang Ling Do Kung Fu Club of Santa Paula, California, founded by Sijo Howard Lee (Cheung Ling Lee). Southern Shaolin – Hang Ling Do became the central focus of his lifelong martial arts practice, and Sifu Gooden has since devoted himself to preserving and transmitting this lineage through his school and through service to the broader martial arts community.

Experience & Credentials

Lineage & History

Sijo Howard Lee (Cheung Ling Lee) is the founder of Southern Shaolin – Hang Ling Do (HLD) Kung Fu, establishing his school in Santa Paula, CA in late 1978. As an eight-year-old during World War II, Sijo Lee observed a Shaolin Priest practicing and began his own study of Shaolin Kung Fu while living in an orphanage. He continued his training as an acrobat and actor in the Chinese Opera, becoming a fierce fighter and a deeply personable teacher. He did not use titles like Master or Sifu. After Sijo Lee passed in early 2000, his five senior students — including Sifu Tom Farrar — committed to keeping the Southern Shaolin – Hang Ling Do schools operating.

Grand Master Tom Farrar was elevated by the senior members of the HLD Leadership Council in 2018 as Grand Master of the Southern Shaolin – Hang Ling Do Kung Fu System. GM Tom overcame significant early-life health challenges, crediting Tai Chi with enabling him to surpass the life expectancy projected by his doctors. He became the master steward of the original HLD curriculum — an innovator whose vision and dedication shaped the comprehensive system still taught at the Mountain Institute for Kung Fu and T’ai Chi today. His martial arts training spanned multiple disciplines, and he integrated classical Chinese traditional systems into the HLD curriculum through study with Grand Masters including Kwong Wing Lam (Weapons & Southern Hung Gar), Henry Look (Guang Ping T’ai Chi Chuan), and Great Grand Master Leung Fu (Bak Shaolin Eagle Claw).

Grand Master Tom Farrar passed away in 2022 at the age of 63. He worked diligently to have HLD recognized by world-recognized organizations in China and by the TCMAF. The day after he passed, he was to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Federation — it was awarded posthumously. Sifu Gooden continues to honor GM Tom’s legacy and the legacy of all the HLD brothers who have passed on.

Sifu Gooden currently holds an 8th Degree Black Sash within the Southern Shaolin – Hang Ling Do Kung Fu Association of Schools. He and Master Manuel Sanchez are Sijo Howard Lee’s only surviving senior students.

Specialties

Teaching Philosophy

A kick is a kick, a punch is a punch. The technique is universal. What makes one practitioner different from another is not the system they follow but the depth of the person who inhabits it.

Sifu Gooden’s teaching is rooted in the conviction that Kung Fu cannot be understood as a fighting method alone. It is a tradition in which the physical and philosophical are inseparable, where mastery of the body and mastery of the self are pursued as one continuous discipline. He draws on the classical ideal of the Shaolin practitioner: fluent in Taoist and Buddhist philosophy, grounded in meditative practice, and committed to community leadership.

Central to his teaching is the concept of Martial Awareness — a state of readiness that requires no posturing or escalation, only presence. The trained person does not walk through the world in fear; they walk through it in awareness, able to perceive a situation clearly and respond with precisely what it requires. He is partial to close-range, natural-body weapons and emphasizes continuous motion as the maintenance of life itself.

Sifu Gooden is a Christian who holds the Bible’s wisdom as foundational to his life and practice. He finds the philosophy of Kung Fu — its conception of the Superior Man, its ethics of peace, its insistence on discipline — to be deeply congruent with that faith, not in opposition to it. The ancient ideal of the Superior Man, one who cultivates virtue, wisdom, and capacity without ceasing, is the organizing aspiration of his practice. Kung Fu, in his view, is one long study in becoming that person.

Sifu Gooden welcomes students of all ages, with a particular affinity for those who tend to be cerebral and creative. The school’s motto — Position, Destination, and Speed — reflects the founder’s personal fighting theory.

Achievements & Recognition

• Inducted into the Martial Artists Hall of Fame (2006)
• Nationally ranked 3rd in forms competition — Inside Kung Fu magazine (1983)
• Competed successfully in tournaments throughout the United States
• Served as Head Coach for the team in four Beijing Wushu Institute International Wushu Invitational Tournaments, where students earned gold and silver medals across multiple divisions
• Co-wrote and co-produced the instructional video Self-Defense for Everyone with Grand Master Tom Farrar

International Competition: Beijing Wushu Invitational

Serving as Head Coach, Sifu Gooden led his team in four Beijing Wushu Institute International Wushu Invitational Tournaments. These journeys were more than competition; they were pilgrimages that affirmed the depth and legitimacy of Southern Shaolin – Hang Ling Do on the world stage. Students who had never traveled abroad stood alongside global martial artists and returned home with gold and silver medals across multiple divisions. Chinese officials, masters, and competitors acknowledged the style with respect, noting its power, refinement, and internal coherence.

Community Involvement

• Co-founder and President (25 years) — Mountain Institute for Kung Fu and T’ai Chi
• Board of Directors — Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Federation (TCMAF)
• Board of Directors — Central Coast Minority Enterprise Resource Affiliates

Training Information

Mountain Institute for Kung Fu
510 Park Rd, Ojai, CA 93023

Corona/Norco, CA Location (Led by Sifu Ryan Steel)
Norco Community Center
3900 Acacia Avenue, Norco, CA 92860