"The Spiritual Legacy of The Shaolin Temple"

[Mike B]

http://www.wisdompubs.org/products/0861713524.cfm

Has anyone seen-read this? Can't cut and paste enuf in apple to give more info but sub-title refers to buddhism , daoism and the energy arts... (and blurb qigong).

Does Sifu get a mention I wonder and if not who is this half-hearted author who hasn't done his research properly!!

[Mike B]

Overview

(from the above link):
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Spiritual Legacy of Shaolin Temple, The
Buddhism, Daoism, and the Energetic Arts
Andy James, Author
Jerry Alan Johnson, Foreword
Comparative Religion / Introductory Texts / Gift Books / Meditation / Zen Buddhism / Chinese Buddhism
List Price: $16.95
Discount Price: $13.56 (20% Off!)
Pages: 200
Size: 6x9
Binding: Paper
ISBN: 0-86171-352-4
Forthcoming
Combining the genius of Chan (Zen) Buddhism and Daoism with rigorous physical and martial discipline and breathing exercises, the training that originated at China''s famous Shaolin Temple was a unique elixir that would change the way the world perceived mind and body. Here, Andy James exposes the hitherto unrecognized spiritual legacy of Shaolin Temple, which has provided modernity with comprehensive, time-tested techniques in martial arts, health maintenance, energetic healing and spiritual transformation. In addition to Buddhism and Daoism, James explores Qigong (Chi Kung) and the "internal" systems of martial arts such as Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan). While many books have traced Chan''s story into Japan, James remains in China to explain how the unique spiritual, martial and energetic traditions of the Shaolin Temple continued to interact and evolve in dynamic relation to culture, society, and the individual. This engaging and very personal book will appeal to martial arts enthusiasts, healing arts professionals, and anyone interested in the mind-body connection.

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MB> I find the 'very personal' tends often to be a euphemism for completely random and idiosyncratic - anyway hope my suspicions are incorrect in this case...

[Mike B]

Has anybody tripped over this one at all? No reviews on amazon yet. Could be good, could be bad...

Mike

[Marcus]

Hello MikeB,

I just ordered it off Amazon, and then find this thread! It's not going to turn up until 15-17th December, so will post my personal opinion around Christmas.

Anyone else already read it?

Kind regards

Marcus


Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha

[Mike B]

Marcus

Thanks for guinea-pigging this for us all!

Will be interested in your views - after all something covering Buddhism, Daoism and the energy arts could be great or not! No doubt the most likely thing is 'on the one hand on the other'.

I await with interest.

Mike

[cnholmes]

Marcus,

Please could you give us an update on this book?

Chris.

[Marcus]

Hi Chris,

Yes, will give an update on my return to Devon at the weekend. (up in Nottingham looking at houses ).

Regards to you and your family

Marcus



Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha

[cnholmes]

Marcus,

And regards to you and yours Good to hear from you.

Chris.

[Marcus]

Hello All,

These views are my own and are for guidance only, as the words to that wonderful program "Different Strokes" go: "Now the world don't move to the beat of just one drum, what might be right for you, may not be right for some".

This review is long overdue I know, but to be honest after about 60 pages of this book, I lost interest in reading it further. In the name of fairness I cracked on, but even now I am only on p129 of 172. The title of the book is very mis-leading in my opinion as hardly any detailed reference is made to the Shaolin Monastery or the Monks. As this was what initially led me to buy the book I was quickly disappointed. For those who are new to the wonderful world of Taoism, Buddhism, Chi Kung, Energy arts and martial arts this could prove an informative introduction. But to anyone who has read up on these subjects most of the information presented will already be familiar.

I disagreed with many of the author’s assumptions and hypotheses. To give an example from the Conclusion (which I read first ) (internal martial arts in this book are defined as Tai Chi Chuan, Pa Kua Chang and Hsing I Chuan):

"I think of qigong and the internal martial arts as the softer, more pliable yin legacy of the Shaolin temple, in contrast to the more famous and forceful yang legacy, which includes Zen and the "external" martial arts of Shaolin, together with their many offspring, both in China and the rest of the Far East."

Once again Shaolin Kung fu is defined as "external", which to me highlights a limited understanding of Shaolin by the author.

To be fair I have not read the entire book, though most of what's left is instructions for exercises that I will only glance at. The reason being that years of reading martial art books and attempting to learn exercises from books has educated me to the fact that book learning is frustrating and time consuming.
The book is well written and well researched but I was disappointed with this book, for example there was some interesting information on Yoga, which I later discovered was already covered in Sifu's The Art of Chi Kung . Consider me biased if you wish (I am ), but if you want reliable, clearly written books about the Shaolin Temple, the Shaolin Arts, Buddhism, Taoism, energy arts and martial arts, read Sifu's.

Kind regards

Marcus



Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha

[cnholmes]

Thanks Marcus, its a shame the book wasn't what you would have liked. Thank you for reviewing it.

I'm wondering if some people might feel you didn't give the book enough of a chance, but your description of how you looked at it sounds exactly like the advice I was once given by a senior lecturer at University.

At the start of the course I had my first progress review, and proudly announced I was reading through one of the course texts. The lecturer widened her eyes and puffed out her cheeks "Phew!" she said, "Thats a lot of effort". She then gave me an excellent lesson on how to read a text book. Read the introduction, read the conclusion, read the contents to see if there's any chapters more relevant, familiarise yourself with the book enough to know what each chapter covers, read the introduction to selected chapters, read targetted sections. NOTE: these don't have to be in that order, and you can miss them out if they're not needed = your judgement . You actually end up doing far more work and knowing the book much better, but with less effort (a nice side effect is you learn what the structure of a good text book is like)

Thanks,
Chris.