An amazing demonstration of the power of Zen in martial arts - Roshi Kitabu, who can physically defeat a powerful opponent with just one finger, shows the reader how to tap into the power of 'no mind', to connect with the Divine Spirit, and to overcome all the obstacles that life throws in his way.
In our fast-changing, uncertain world, it's easy to feel under the gun. Now Zen master Vernon Kitabu Turner throws away the gun and picks up the sword in an inspiring practical guide filled with step-by step advice to help you transform your life by unifying mind, body, and spirit. Wrapping profound truths in homespun analogies, Turner employs his trademark engaging style to awaken your inner samurai.
How the samurai cultivated Zen, relating its teaching of a free and spontaneous mind to the experience of a warrior in individual combat, and finding philosophical strength in Zen as they prepared themselves for death.
From its etymological roots, sex is related to a scission, Latin for sectus, secare, meaning "to divide or cut." Therefore, regardless of the various studies applied to defining sex as inscribed by discursive acts, i.e. merely a 'performatively enacted signification,' there is something more to sex than just a social construction or an aprioristic substance. Sex is irreducible to meaning or knowledge. This is why psychoanalysis cannot be formulated as an erotology nor a science of sex (scientia sexualis). In this matter, sex escapes the symbolic restraints of language; however, it is through its failure that it manifests itself through the symbolic, e.g. symptoms or dream life. So, what is sex? Sex and Nothing embarks upon a dialogue between colleagues and friends interested in bridging psychoanalysis and philosophy, linking sex and thought, where what emerges is a greater awareness of the irreducucibility of sex to the discourse of knowledge and meaning: in other words, sex and nothing.
In our fast-changing, uncertain world, it's easy to feel under the gun. Now Zen master Vernon Kitabu Turner throws away the gun and picks up the sword in an inspiring practical guide filled with step-by step advice to help you transform your life by unifying mind, body, and spirit. Wrapping profound truths in homespun analogies, Turner employs his trademark engaging style to awaken your inner samurai.
Soul of the Samurai contains modern translations of three classic works of Zen & Bushido. In Soul of the Samurai, bestselling author and respected translator Thomas Cleary reveals the true essence of the Bushido code or Zen warrior teachings according to 17th-century Japanese samurai master Yagyu Munenori and his Zen teacher Takuan Soho. The three works of Zen & Bushido translated in Soul of the Samurai are: The Book of the Sword by Yagyu Munenori The Inscrutable Subtlety of Immovable Wisdom by Takuan Soho The Peerless Sword by Takuan Soho Yagyu was a renowned swordsman and chief of the Shogun's secret police, while Takuan was the Zen spiritual mentor to the Emperor. This samurai philosophy book contains the first English translations of their seminal writings on Bushido. Cleary not only provides clear and readable translations but comprehensive notes introducing the social, political, and organizational principles that defined samurai culture--their loyalty to family, their sense of service and duty, and their political strategies for dealing with allies and enemies. These writings introduce the reader to the authentic world of Zen culture and the secrets behind the samurai's success--being "in the moment" and freeing the mind from all distractions, allowing you to react instantaneously and instinctively without thinking. In these classic works, we learn that Zen mental control and meditational training were as important to the Samurai as swordsmanship and fighting skills.
The responsibility for the future lies with the individual human being, to whom is given the free will to change for the good and to become noble from within. This book has the ability to guide us to a deeper understanding of the purpose of human existence, indicating to us our role in the machinery of the Universe. The book explains the seven most important Laws of Creation, which lead to the liberation of the spirit and speaks to the heart, awakening an awareness and responsibility towards the world. The Law of Attraction of Homogeneous Species, the Law of Gravity and the Law of Reciprocal Action play key roles in all areas of our lives. We always reap what we sow - and we must understand that we do not only sow with words and deeds but also with our thoughts and our intuitive perceptions. Essential steps, relevant ideas and solutions for a future worth living are shown and the foundation for a successful life based on the Spiritual Laws is explained.
Few feelings are more debilitating than fear. It may seem that fear comes from the outside, but it is always brought under control from within. Ki-Asana Zen is a practice dedicated to the restoration of resiliency and spontaneity to the mind. The resilient mind springs back from adversity. The spontaneous mind does not harbor fear because it does not cling to thought patterns of any kind. Such a mind taps into instinctive wisdom, called prajna paramita, in Sanskrit. When we have achieved this gift, we will know what to do when faced with a problem, even one which comes swiftly. Ki-Asana Zen is a meditation technique that is balanced, relatively easy but internally sound. It bridges the gap between east and west by embracing both its sun and moon nature . . . Ki (intensification) . . . Asana (posture). The power of it is not in what you see, but in the responses generated by what you do. With Ki-Asana you don't meditate . . . IT meditates. This powerful but simple technique will teach you how to deal with any problem that comes your way.
This classic interpretation of Miyamoto Musashi's famous Book of Five Rings is intended specifically for the martial artist--as Miyamoto Musashi originally intended. It explains the underlying truths necessary for a full understanding of Musashi's message for warriors. The result is an enthralling book on martial strategy that combines the instincts of the warrior with the philosophies of Zen Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism and Taoism. It is a crucial book for every martial artist to read and understand. Like the original, this classic book of strategy is divided into five sections. The Book of Earth lays the groundwork for anyone wishing to understand Musashi's teachings; the Book of Water explains the warrior's approach to strategy; the Book of Fire teaches fundamental fighting techniques based on the Earth and Water principles; the Book of Wind describes differences between Musashi's own martial style and the styles of other fighting schools; while the Book of No-thing describes the "way of nature" as understood through an "unthinking" existing preconception. Famed martial artist and bestselling author Stephen Kaufman has translated this classic without the usual academic or commercial bias, driving straight into the heart of Musashi's martial teachings and interpreting them for his fellow martial artists. The result is an enthralling combination of warrior wisdom and philosophical truths that Musashi offered to other warriors who wished to master the martial way of bushido.
Takuan Sōho’s (1573–1645) two works on Zen and swordsmanship are among the most straightforward and lively presentations of Zen ever written and have enjoyed great popularity in both premodern and modern Japan. Although dealing ostensibly with the art of the sword, Record of Immovable Wisdom and On the Sword Taie are basic guides to Zen—“user’s manuals” for Zen mind that show one how to manifest it not only in sword play but from moment to moment in everyday life. Along with translations of Record of Immovable Wisdom and On the Sword Taie (the former, composed in all likelihood for the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and his fencing master, Yagyū Munenori), this book includes an introduction to Takuan’s distinctive approach to Zen, drawing on excerpts from the master’s other writings. It also offers an accessible overview of the actual role of the sword in Takuan’s day, a period that witnessed both a bloody age of civil warfare and Japan’s final unification under the Tokugawa shoguns. Takuan was arguably the most famous Zen priest of his time, and as a pivotal figure, bridging the Zen of the late medieval and early modern periods, his story (presented in the book’s biographical section) offers a rare picture of Japanese Zen in transition. For modern readers, whether practitioners of Zen or the martial arts, Takuan’s emphasis on freedom of mind as the crux of his teaching resonates as powerfully as it did with the samurai and swordsmen of Tokugawa Japan. Scholars will welcome this new, annotated translation of Takuan’s sword-related works as well as the host of detail it provides, illuminating an obscure period in Zen’s history in Japan.