Esoteric Warriors by Alex Kozma

[grammatoncleric]

This was the highly reputed Alex Kozma's first book I believe on internal martial artists he had met on his search around the globe.

The Chapter on Steven Benetiz inspired me the most, his story of being in the final of an underground martial arts tournament and feeling connected to god and things moving in slow motion was incredible. After that exerience he fasted and prayed for seven days and found his Silat teacher who guided him in the mysteries of the universe.

Uh oh, have to get back to work. Review to be continued.................

[grammatoncleric]

In the book Alex provides insightful descriptions of his training with each master and the masters themselves provide either information on their art or their life.
The most popular Arts in the book are Hsing-I, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua. The book shows different masters training methods but something I found strange was that almost all the masters trained by hitting hard to condition and test their students. I found this method a stark contrast to the Wahnam Method. In one story Alex relates that Master Serge Augier brought up his repressed anger by attacking him with a rubber knife brutally, until he finally became angry at that point, his master smiled and ended the lesson.

Overall I found the book inspirational and informative. I must admit I've been bitten with intrigue over the ba gua system, I was fascinated by the idea that one never stays in one spot, and one is taught to fight from a perspective of 360 degress rather than the usual linear fashion of other arts.

I was also surprised and intrigued by Silat systems I always thought they were external martial arts, I had no idea it was so rich with internal development.

Alex himself recommends that people buy Beyond the mysterious energy gates, instead of this book, which I will be doing.

To check out the author in scary action go to the gallery page of www.ukbaguainstitute.com I've trained under the person he is doing the 2 man Hsing-I exercise with, I hurt my hand hitting him! I left with a profound respect for internal arts, I left to pursue training with Shaolin Wahnam, (I was ignorant of the schools spiritual/emotional development training) and I didn't like being hit so hard .

[Marcus]

Hello Marcus,

I read this book a while ago and really enjoyed it. Personally I like the piece on Grandmaster Cheong Cheng Leong. This Master of Chuka Shaolin Phoenix Eye Fist was first made known to me by Neil Burden. Whilst on a visit to Kek Lok Si Buddhist Monastery in Penang, he pointed out a small picture of the Phoenix eye hand form on a door and told me all about Chuka Shaolin. On my return to England (I was doing a Shaolin Cosmos Chi Kung intensive with Sifu) I looked up and read both of Grandmaster Cheong Cheng Leong books. Excellent reading. In the first one the pictures of Grandmaster Cheong Cheng Leong actually look as if they were taken at Kek Lok Si.

So it was a happy co-incidence when I later obtained Esoteric Warriors and found a piece on Chuka Shaolin.

Kind regards

Marcus



Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha

[grammatoncleric]

thank you for the reply Sifu,

I was also intrigued by the Author's remark that only two teachers he had met with in his travels who practiced Tai Chi used Broken Rhythm footwork, and they were the two best teachers of Tai Chi.

What is broken rhythm footwork? Is it practiced in Shaolin Kung Fu?

[Marcus]

Sorry Marcus,

I have not heard of broken rhythem footwork. Anybody else?

Kind regards

Marcus


Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha Namo Amitabha Buddha

[Mark B]

I read this book earlier this summer, but didn't get much from it. I thought it was going to be like Robert Smith's Masters and Methods, but to me it was just a loose collection of rather vague (and at times pretentious!) essays. There are some interesting leads there, but no real meat to it.

I think its a book to borrow rather than buy...

I'm not sure about broken rhythmn footwork either but I assumed it wasn't anything special. Any martial art concerned with fighting (or sparring) encourages broken rhythmns in all its movements. I think he was underlining the practicality of these 2 teachers' tai chi chuan, when so much tai chi being taught isn't concerned with fighting at all.