I was hoping all of you with more/different experience and time in martial arts could help me in my search for knowlege by recommending books that you have read on the Martial Arts, Martial Philosophy, and general Eastern philosophy. I tried to put a list together and found that I only have 9 that I’ve read and would recommend. As you can tell, I have a long way to go. In no order:
Art of War - Sun Tzu
Zen in the Martial Arts - Joe Hyams
Living the Martial Way - Forrest Morgan
Kodo - Ancient Ways - Kensho Furuya
Book of Five Rings - Musashi (translation by Stephen Kaufman)
Warrior Within - John Little
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu
Tao of Jeet Kune Do - Bruce Lee
Tao of Gung Fu - Bruce Lee
Please list title and author so I can look them up and get a better idea of the content. Thanks for your help.
I agree that Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, the Book of Five Rings, and Tao of Gung Fu are good books. Other’s that I’d
add to the list are:
Zen and Japanese Culture by D.T. Suzuki Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (the abridged William Scott Wilson version) Complete Wing Chun by Robert Chu, Rene Ritchie, and Y. Wu Samadhi by Mike Sayama Warriors of Stillness: volume 1 (I haven’t read volume 2 yet) by Jan Diepersloot Principles of Aikido by Mitsugi Saotome The Power of Internal Martial Arts by B.K. Frantzis
These are in no particular order and I don’t necessarily like each
of these books for the same reasons, but I like these.
Aikido and Dynamic Sphere - sorry forgot the author It explains the principles and philosophy of Aikdo pretty well as well as the skill.
Bubishi - patrick McCarthy - explains some interesting research about karate/te and the relation to chinese kung fu and culture. Has some interesting stuff about qigong and principles of styles etc.
Siddhartha (Herman Hesse)
Art of Happiness (His Holiness, The Dalai Lama)
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (Sogyal Rinpoche)
How To Practice The Way to a Meaningful Life (His Holiness, The Dalai Lama)
Tao Te Ching (Lao Zi)
Hua Hu Ching (Lao Zi)
I-Ching
Miyamoto Musashi
Book of Five Rings (Miyamoto Musashi)
Art of War (Sun Tzu)
The Bubishi (Patrick McCarthy) - great MEDICAL textbook. I use the vital point/meridian stuff all the time on my students. The quan at the end looks EXACTLY like my Seng Men kung fu system.
Xing Yi Quan Xue (Sun Lu Tang) - a truly complete manual on Xingyiquan, though the Chinglish is unintelligible. The pictures speak far more than the words do, though I’ve changed the postures for my own combat usage.
Brazilian Ju Jitsu (Renzo/Rorion Gracie) - the manual of the maneuvers of this great style. Beautifully done, very useful.
Wing Chun (Joseph Wayne Smith) - the best Wing Chun books I’ve seen so far. The 3 volumes have all of the basic maneuvers of the art.
Drunkard Kung Fu (Leung Ting) - Not a fighting manual, but a complete guide to a set of Southern drunken boxing. The moves CAN be used for fighting, contrary to what even the author believes!
Karate Do Kyohan, Karate Jutsu, My Life (Gichin Funakoshi) - anybody connected with Shotokan karate MUST read all three of these books. For me, “Karate Jutsu” was even more valuable and understandable than the “Kyohan” was.
Tae Kwon Do (Richard Kim, I think) - this mammoth text covers a lot of the old school Tae Kwon Do methods, including groundfighting and chin na.
Shaolin 10 Animal Form (Leung Ting) - Kwan Tak Hing is featured demonstrating this set, and the moves are very combat applicable. There’s no better way to gain a preview of the Shaolin 10 animals than through this text.
Knocking on the Gate of Life - this textbook is a survey of Chinese qigong methods. Combined with the Bubishi, it can really help a person’s health.
Iron Body Ninja (Ashida Kim) - A lot of people (here especially) trash Ashida Kim, but that didn’t stop me from appreciating this book on MEDITATION. The 8-Section brocade and Ba To’s 5 animal play are presented in this text, among other things. Only a FOOL would throw this baby out with the bath water.
I’d also like to get my hands on the 5-volume “Shaolin Kung Fu: A Course in Traditional Forms” books offered by Wing Lam Enterprises.
That text teaches modern day Shaolin kung fu as it’s taught in Tagou.
It explains the principles and philosophy of Aikdo pretty well as well as the skill.