Spirit of Shaolin: A Kung Fu Philosophy by David Carradine
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Book Reviews of Spirit of Shaolin: A Kung Fu Philosophy
Book Review: Carradine's book is the WAY..
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is for the true Warrior. It gives true insight into the mysteries of Shaolin. It tells how to follow the way of the warrior by becoming a musician, philosopher, sage, artisan, warrior, and has a list of of books to aid you in your quest. It is better than any other book that I have seen on the subject.Book Review: This book has something that many martial art books do not
Summary: 4 Stars
It has authentic convictions that are expressed out of personal experience regarding many spiritual, motivational and practical matters. The content veers away from trying to express what is most commonly accepted through traditional teachings and instead offers an honest insight into the personal take on the full spectrum of the martial arts as a very human way of life.
I give David Carradine credit for placing personal truth with a greater priority than acceptance from others in his writings. I am a little critical myself of some of the comments made regarding some other styles and have found what I would guess to be some inaccuracies. Maybe even a couple of differences of opinion on some material. But what is here is like listening to someone who is real, like a friend who is sharing what he is made of. There is a lot of perspective here that is surprisingly uncommon yet enlightening and precious.
The book is basically divided into three sub-groupings.
Book One-The Stories: A biographical history of the author's experience in the martial arts.
Book Two-The Ancient Wisdom: A history and overview of Shaolin ways and David's take on what shined through to him.
Book Three-The Lessons: A practical breakdown of wisdom and advice on a variety of levels.
Like Bruce Lee has said... "All knowledge is ultimately self knowledge" and with this book a deeper knowledge of one's self can certainly be had as well as a deeper knowledge of David Carradine.
Book Review: Too shallow Grasshopper
Summary: 3 Stars
I found this book slightly misleading from the title but should have known considering books like this are a dime a dozen. This book starts off basically giving a low-down of Carradine's start with the Kung-Fu movies and TV series and then discusses some of his other films involving martial arts. From there it proceeds to give general lessons and personal musings on what kung fu is and encompasses. There are some historical mentionings like Bodidharma spreading the art to China from India, the significance of the Tao Te Ching, and a general history of Kung Fu. This book is by no means comprehensive and lacks that extra depth that is appealing for novices wanting to learn more about the art. I found the book to contain profound truth on many subjects but never really felt the message as most of it seemed like recycled cliches and stories you've heard a million times if you are familiar with the Eastern arts. One particular gripe I had about the book involves lack of accuracy. On page 92 Carradine writes, "The limitation of karate stems, at least in part, from its association with Japanese-style Buddhism, which ignores or forgets the Chinese Taoist principles and replaces them with specific, and generally radical, ideas peculiar to the Japanese culture, i.e. Zen. Much could be said about the subject of Zen, but we are interested here in kung fu, so best look elsewhere for that." This is simply not true. There is a large body of work out there related to and examining Zen Buddhism. In this work you'll find that it's common knowledge that Zen is a combination of Chinese Buddhism and Taoist principles. Thus the word in Chinese for the Japanese Zen is Chan. Furthermore, Japanese karate is not necessarily limiting. It's just an evolved development of the spread of martial arts from the mainland to an island. The same philosophical lessons and achievements to be gained in kung fu can also be gained in Japanese karate with the proper attitude and focus. Anyway, this book reads pretty quick and if you are interested in some light-philosophical reading that you shouldn't take too seriously you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, delve into the fascinating martial arts by reading other material.Book Review: David Carradine's views on "Kung Fu" and martial arts
Summary: 3 Stars
I think this book is great if you're a fan of the show and David Carradine, but not if you're looking for martial arts info. Alot of his views in the end of the book about other styles of martial arts are totally inaccurate. He should have done more research if he wanted to mention them instead of just mentioning what he heard.Book Review: Read it only if you want a general view of kung-fu
Summary: 2 Stars
I got the book in christmas, and, as the book cover reads, I expected to obtain kung-fu phylosophy. Unfortunately, half the book contains Carradine's biography and the other half contains just a little part of what kung-fu phylosophy really is. Also criticizes Bruce Lee for being more and actor than a martial artist, which is exactly what should be criticized on Carradine. As he himself explains, D.C. is NOT a great martial artist or kung-fu expert, but feels able to comunicate the little bit he knows. If you only want to learn a bit on kung-fu phylosophy, read it. But if you really want to learn the art, start by Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do and Tao of Gung-fu. Those books contain a lot of pure, deep kung-fu phylosophy written by a serious martial artist.