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The Bodhisattva Warriors: The Origin, Inner Philosophy, History and Symbolism of the Buddhist Martial Art Within India and China
This unique study of the development of the earliest form of Buddhist self-defense practiced by Chuan Fa monks and mystics shows the philosophical basis of the skills they passed on to subsequent generations.The material is presented so readers can understand that what we think of as a competitive sport is really a meditation mandala in action. Over 100 illustrations. Glossary, bibliography, and index.
560 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 14, 2012
with a complete overhaul of the structure, language, and attitude, this could be a very good book.
there is much that is interesting here. a study of the inseparability of mind and body and the correlations between movement and thinking is an immensely attractive subject to me and one i'm sympathetic to--in general or, as here, in a specific tradition. as i flip back through my copy, i find several passages i've marked off that are useful, poignant, and compelling. so it's with disappointment that i give this book such a low rating, overall.
Dukes is in sore need of an editor. the notes are a hot mess: disordered, redundantly referenced, rambling and often irrelevant to the text that points to them. in the main text, terms are ill-defined and inconsistently used (sometimes, spelled). terms are translated or not, seemingly at whim, and little concerted effort is made to clarify elements of the language when relations of terminology are under discussion. on the other hand, equivalents for some terms are given in three languages without any clear contribution to the point at hand.
the most prominent feature of the text, though, is the author's pervasive disdain--for other religions, for other strains of Buddhism than his own, for other scholars, for other martial arts than his own particular branch--which stains every page. in his presentation, Taoists are immoral scheming political operatives, Hindus are debased sexual deviants, Muslims are indiscriminate rampaging slaughterers.
a great majority of both academic work and present-day religious practice in Buddhism is, in Dukes' view, incorrect, fallacious, shortsighted, or heretical to "proper" Buddhism as transmitted from Shakyamuni through various selected teachers. in truth, he has much worth saying about the separation of bodily practice from conceptual, esoteric thinking--but the way he says it is petty and low. and on the other side, there's plenty to be said about martial arts traditions that have lost their theo[retical|logical] underpinnings and been reduced to stylized kickboxing--but again, his outright and absolute denial of value to any tradition other than his own is off-putting.
the problem stems, as it often does in the martial arts world, from the position that there is One True Way, or a single source from which all traditions stem. for Dukes, this encompasses both valid moral/transformational teachings and pedigreed martial arts practices. indeed, much of his text is devoted to tracing the movement of Buddhism, as a combination of conceptual and physical practices, from India into its neighboring countries. along the way he continually minimizes the contributions and influences of the native cultures contacted along the way, writing them off as either insignificant, incoherent, or primitive practices due to be rightly superseded by the superior wisdom that sprang full-formed from one point of origin.
if you can honestly believe that the creation of mandala is not a universal human phenomenon, or that only in ancient India did humans model the world in terms of five basic elemental forces, or that the emotional and intellectual content of gracile bodily movement is only properly elucidated in a Buddhist framework (and arises out of it, rather than vice versa), you'll have no problems with this book. otherwise, be prepared to grit your teeth.
there is much that is interesting here. a study of the inseparability of mind and body and the correlations between movement and thinking is an immensely attractive subject to me and one i'm sympathetic to--in general or, as here, in a specific tradition. as i flip back through my copy, i find several passages i've marked off that are useful, poignant, and compelling. so it's with disappointment that i give this book such a low rating, overall.
Dukes is in sore need of an editor. the notes are a hot mess: disordered, redundantly referenced, rambling and often irrelevant to the text that points to them. in the main text, terms are ill-defined and inconsistently used (sometimes, spelled). terms are translated or not, seemingly at whim, and little concerted effort is made to clarify elements of the language when relations of terminology are under discussion. on the other hand, equivalents for some terms are given in three languages without any clear contribution to the point at hand.
the most prominent feature of the text, though, is the author's pervasive disdain--for other religions, for other strains of Buddhism than his own, for other scholars, for other martial arts than his own particular branch--which stains every page. in his presentation, Taoists are immoral scheming political operatives, Hindus are debased sexual deviants, Muslims are indiscriminate rampaging slaughterers.
a great majority of both academic work and present-day religious practice in Buddhism is, in Dukes' view, incorrect, fallacious, shortsighted, or heretical to "proper" Buddhism as transmitted from Shakyamuni through various selected teachers. in truth, he has much worth saying about the separation of bodily practice from conceptual, esoteric thinking--but the way he says it is petty and low. and on the other side, there's plenty to be said about martial arts traditions that have lost their theo[retical|logical] underpinnings and been reduced to stylized kickboxing--but again, his outright and absolute denial of value to any tradition other than his own is off-putting.
the problem stems, as it often does in the martial arts world, from the position that there is One True Way, or a single source from which all traditions stem. for Dukes, this encompasses both valid moral/transformational teachings and pedigreed martial arts practices. indeed, much of his text is devoted to tracing the movement of Buddhism, as a combination of conceptual and physical practices, from India into its neighboring countries. along the way he continually minimizes the contributions and influences of the native cultures contacted along the way, writing them off as either insignificant, incoherent, or primitive practices due to be rightly superseded by the superior wisdom that sprang full-formed from one point of origin.
if you can honestly believe that the creation of mandala is not a universal human phenomenon, or that only in ancient India did humans model the world in terms of five basic elemental forces, or that the emotional and intellectual content of gracile bodily movement is only properly elucidated in a Buddhist framework (and arises out of it, rather than vice versa), you'll have no problems with this book. otherwise, be prepared to grit your teeth.
July 2, 2010
I read this book twice as it added spiritual value to my energetic arts practice
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews