ALAMO - East-West Kung-Fu has won the International Kuoshu Championships four years in a row, but you wouldn't know it by taking a look around the school here. The trophies are tucked away in the office of Grandmaster Richard Lee, who opened the school in 1967.

Of course, you might not find Lee's office, either. The only way to reach it is by finding the staircase that rises up from a secret door behind a wall.

It is with this understated theme that Lee teaches Chinese martial arts, something he has done for more than four decades. Lee is one of the most decorated non-Chinese-born martial arts experts in the world, but he's not the typical kung-fu teacher.

While many instructors can be arrogant and brash, Lee takes a different approach. He puts his pupils through such rigorous physical and mental training that there's no need to mask insecurity with false bravado. East-West students simply believe they deserve to be superior, and victory is just a matter of fact.

"You want the other person to underestimate what your abilities are," Lee said. "You undercommit and overdeliver. Martial arts is not something where you tell people how good you are. The most experienced martial arts person you would never, ever know."

Appropriately, East-West Kung-Fu is hard to find. It's tucked away in the back of a shopping center on Danville Boulevard, but it's arguably the center of Chinese martial arts in the United States. Several hundred students are enrolled in the school, which has more than 30 instructors.

Lee has an eighth degree black sash, one of only two people outside of China with this recognition. He also is one of only three people outside of China with a 10th degree black sash. Lee has a doctorate in Chinese martial arts and was named 2004 Instructor of the Year by Inside Kung-Fu magazine.

Lee, 63, has produced some of the top Chinese martial artists in the world, including hundreds of national and international champions. John Buckley, Lee's No. 1 disciple and the student Lee has entrusted to carry on his system and beliefs, is a fifth degree black belt and coached the U.S. team at the 2003 world championships in Brazil.

"There's so much ego in martial arts," Buckley said. "If you were to walk into the average martial arts school and meet the head teacher, it would be very different (from East-West Kung-Fu). Grandmaster Lee's whole motivation is to help the people around him. He has an ability to inspire belief in his students."

Lee doesn't emphasize the competitive aspect of martial arts. After all, he says, martial arts wasn't designed to be a sport. Instead, Lee focuses on the relationship between mind, body and spirit.

"The mind has to discipline the body to protect the spirit that dwells within," Lee said. "The Chinese monks who put martial arts together, they didn't view it from a competition standpoint. It was your character, your morals. The only thing that you get out of this in the sport aspect is that it teaches you bravery, it teaches you range and it teaches you timing. You learn what the limitations of your body are."

Ironically, it's the downplaying of the competitive aspect of martial arts that Lee believes allows his students to be the best in the country. As Buckley puts it, competition can lead to a heightened ego, which could give further motivation to an opponent.

"It seems like a paradox, but it's the reason that we've had the opportunity to get to the point where we can say we've competed with the best and won," Buckley said. "In the process of what the student goes through in terms of becoming a black belt, they're going to get their share of medals. But the point is what they came away with as an individual."

Lee had his first martial arts lesson in 1953 as an 11-year-old growing up in Connecticut. He coached the U.S. team at the first-ever world championships in 1975 and has been all over the globe imparting his teachings.

"When I was in Africa, I would watch animals fight," Lee said. "If you took a tiger and a lion, who would win? They say the lion is the king of the beasts, but the tiger is bigger. It depends on the attitude of the tiger, or how hungry the lion was. What I discovered is you have to develop the attitude of the competitor."

Lee's students are humble yet determined. He says when his pupils participate in tournaments, they aren't boastful and are friendly with their competitors.

"Most martial arts people are very arrogant," East-West black belt instructor John Worden said. "They talk a good game about respect and want everyone to respect them, but then act like jerks to people. Grandmaster Lee is the opposite. He's the most respectful, nicest guy you'll ever meet. He treats everyone the same, from black belt to white belt."