Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #781618 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

"...one of those stories that that contains everything you need to know.. "
The Ronin,
Based on a Zen myth, this masterpiece of story telling peels back layers of your own psyche as you read.
The Ronin is a unique blend of wonder and horror, adventure and revelation, heroism and monstrosity. (attributes sometimes displayed by the same characters).
The characters and reader alike are stripped bare in this journey, if the reader is open to it.
At the end we find that just as Jennings did upon reading the original Zen Myth "The Tunnel" , we have read all we need to know about the human condition in this brief story.
Despite the books sublime economy of keystrokes, we are left absorbing a tale Biblical in it's scale of revelations.

This book can change you, it can show you more about yourself than you may want to know.

Read it. I've done so more times than I can recall. It has answered so many questions for me I have lost count. I turn to it like an old friend, or an analyst in time of need.

Hipster Koan, Splatter-Movie Wisdom
This book is a bizarre combination of overheated 1950s men's magazine pulp fiction, Tom of Finland erotica, Japanese martial arts and genuine Zen Buddhist wisdom. Chances are you've never read anything like it. Like a Zen parable, it is challenging, heartbreaking, disturbing and strangely moving. Written by William Dale Jennings, a hero of the early gay rights movement and well-known 1950s screenwriter, it is a classic of purple prose and unexpected insight. It is filled with earthy, violent and sexual images, but then again so is real life. Don't let the overwrought prose fool you - it is definitely a creature of its (chauvinist) era and a reflection of its author, but superficial it is not. It is well worth reading, even if only for the camp value. And don't stop halfway!

NOT COWBOYS AND INDIANS
This is a wonderful eccentric book that is not meant to be the asian version of cowboys and indians. Instead, the story reveals the path to, and meaning of, a warrior's discipline, the elusiveness of truth, and the value of non-attachment all told through a subtle and beguiling tale that (never fear) does have moments of sex and violence.
I read this book 30 years ago. It was treasured, never re-sold and never re-read until recently. Now it is even more treasured.
If your interest is merely expert swordplay or exquisite ceremony this is probably not for you. If your interest is more than historical and more than martial then this is a fantastic read.