Scott Shaw, Samurai Zen book? Any good?

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[elizondo]

I was wondering if anyone has read his book samurai zen?

I found the waking up exercises to be good but his techniques with the sword were awful and not correct. So before I try his other breathing and meditation exercises, I wanted to know more info on the guy and if its any good?

Thanks

[Don_Modesto]

I was wondering if anyone has read his book samurai zen?

I found the waking up exercises to be good but his techniques with the sword were awful and not correct. So before I try his other breathing and meditation exercises, I wanted to know more info on the guy and if its any good?

ThanksNot read it. Conventional wisdom is: "Run away, run away!"

Judging from pics of Shaw and his histrionic face-menace machine, I agree.

(Not to mention all the academic stuff refuting the oft-repeated identity of Zen and martial arts...)

[Keith Larman]

Run away is an understatement... You'd need a rocket car to get away fast enough... But if you must Samurai Zen is on Amazon. And if you look more closely you'll see you can buy used copies for under 1 dollar... I suppose that shows others were similarly unimpressed. I guess selling them for under a buck is better than just throwing the book in the fireplace, but not much... Frankly if I had a dollar bill burning a hole in my pocket I'd rather save it to use as toilet paper in a pinch than to buy his book.

Just one guy's opinion... ;) YMMV.

[TomW]

Frankly if I had a dollar bill burning a hole in my pocket I'd rather save it to use as toilet paper in a pinch than to buy his book.

Just one guy's opinion... ;) YMMV.

I dunno, you could spend the dollar, then you'd have 50 some pages of toilet paper.:D

[Keith Larman]

I dunno, you could spend the dollar, then you'd have 50 some pages of toilet paper.:D

But I'd feel dirtier afterward than if I just used the dollar... :D

Seriously IMHO the guy is a loon.

[Cady Goldfield]

Hey, be nice, fellas. Mr. Shaw was one of the most prolific writers for the MA magazines back in the '80s, when his domain was mainly taekwondo and that kind of thing.

Give the guy credit for reaching out into new areas of MA far beyond his scope! A man's gotta let his reach exceed his grasp in order to keep growing.

:D

[Buck]

I was wondering if anyone has read his book samurai zen?

I found the waking up exercises to be good but his techniques with the sword were awful and not correct. So before I try his other breathing and meditation exercises, I wanted to know more info on the guy and if its any good?

Thanks

Being critical isn't a bad thing with stuff like this. You get bad information and the result could be harmful. Or you get up looking foolish.

[Keith Larman]

Hey, be nice, fellas. Mr. Shaw was one of the most prolific writers for the MA magazines back in the '80s, when his domain was mainly taekwondo and that kind of thing.

Give the guy credit for reaching out into new areas of MA far beyond his scope! A man's gotta let his reach exceed his grasp in order to keep growing.

:D

True. And on that note let me get back to writing my book "Zen and Self-Applied-Neurosurgery." Now, I wonder if titanium drill bits will work or if I'll need the cobalts... Only one way to find out! :freaky: