Soul Sword: The Way and Mind of a Zen Warrior

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: After this book caught my eye on the shelf, I read it without knowing anything about Vernon Kitabu Turner. I couldn't help but feel captivated by the amazing story of this man, and I quickly investigated more about him. Needless to say, the more I learn, the more impressed I am. What's particularly interesting is that Vernon is a talented poet and writer, a quality that is unusual to find today for someone who writes with an eastern/enlightened perspective. I highly recommend the book - truly one of a kind.

Rating:
Summary: Soul Sword is mosly about the author, not about zen/ bushido
Review: I ordered this book for my son to teach him more about Zen and the Martial Arts. What I got was an ego filled recounting of one man's unsupported accounts of stories that seemed to be right out of the movie, The Last Dragon. The stories seemed egotistic, self promotional and unbelievable, certainly nothing evidencing any zen enlightenment. Furthermore, he brings God into every aspect of this book, which has nothing to do with zen or bushido. There is very little classical zen here and I can't help but question some of his Steven Segal like fantasies. He even misspells the name of one of the most famous New York martial artists, Jiu Jitsu Master Moses Powell, not Power (p. 54). I really have never heard of Mr. Turner and wonder if it were his friends who wrote these extremely positive reviews. On the jacket cover he includes himself in the same sentence with the Dali Lama. I'm sure he's a wonderful person and martial artist, but I find that this book has very little to do with zen and too much to do with ego and self promotion.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Message but not Zen or Buddhist
Review: I was sure this was going to be a real Zen Buddhist message about facing the war we call life. And it starts out that way. It reminds one of the writing of Bruce Lee.

But as you read more, you discover that the words "God" and "Jesus" and "Holy Spirit" become more frequent until you begin to realize you're not reading a Buddhist text at all but a Christian text.

This is another example of a writer using the word "Zen" to sell books. In his defense, he did quote a few Buddhist passages and he mentioned Buddha a time or two. But the book is steeped in the Bible and Christianity. And that's okay. If that's what you're looking for.

Apparently the author felt the need to explain this dichotomy after page 102. He says, "As a warrior who began the Path in the Christian church, I never saw any reason to stop worshiping God in the same way as my fellow Christians, even though I later became a Zen-Dhyana Initiate. Church was my focus on God as being Supreme and Zen and the yogi paths reveal who I am as a single human being. The two do not conflict in any way when you actually practice."

My point is that no school of Buddhism, to my knowledge, acknowledges a god or supreme being, a heaven or a hell. So to that extent, if that is the sort of book one expects, he'll be disappointed.

Having said that, this is a beautiful book with a lot of wonderful insight and a lot of help for the warrior of life. It helps one to understand a good deal about life and fear and death and how we can relate to them in a healthy way.

I expect I'll re-read parts of the book frequently. But I will have to leave out many parts of the book because it espouses thoughts that I can't buy into.

With all that out of the way, I highly recommend this book.

Susanna K. Hutcheson

Rating:
Summary: One of the Few
Review: It is said that only a few men may ever know the taste of true enlightenment. Vernon Kitabu Turner is one of those men. When I first saw this book, I thought to myself, "Oh, no, another self-proclaimed master," but then I leafed through it and ended up purchasing it. All I can say is, "Wow." What a writer, what a poet, what a philosopher, what a man! This is truly an awe-inspiring book.

Rating:
Summary: soul sword by Vernon Kitabu Turner
Review: Soul Sword definitely gets five stars from me. From the moment I picked this book up I couldn't put it down. I still refer to it often as a daily guide. Myself being a personal student of Master Kitabu Turner consider myself truly blessed to have such an intriguing, insightful, master as my spiritual guide.Master Kitabu Turner has definitely been an inspiration to my whole being since having come in contact with this great man. Whether you're a martial artist or not Soul sword is must reading for anyone looking for answers on how to deal with the battlefield of life. I give Soul Sword five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Soul Sword is mosly about the author, not about zen/ bushido
Review: The author of this book is all over the place. His titles and content do not match. I have read books that taught me much more than this book has. The only thing I enjoyed from this book was the story of the tailor and the Warrior. Apart from that, everything else is repetitive and old stuff. If you are a hardcore reader of Spiritual Warrior lifestyle, then this book isn't for you. I got rid of it by giving it to someone as an introductory to the way of thought...but even so, this book talks more about God than anything else. Nothing wrong with God of course, but the book title should have been changed to God's soul sword and the word Warrior shouldn't even have to appear in the title...If you're into Warrior spirituality, try The Four Agreements by Ruiz or Warrior of light by Coelho.

Rating:
Summary: Good awakening to your inner-warrior
Review: This book, along with "Hagakure," introduced me to a new way of life, a more spiritual - not religious - and complete way of life.

Religion has played an important part of Turner's life, but what he presents transcends religion, and towards awakening something much deeper within, and connecting to you.

Turner does for Zen philosophy and spirituality, what Billy Blanks(Tae-bo) does for exercise - only more gently. He writes with much compassion, confidence, and direction towards living live peacefully.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks for more fulfilling than what the hassle and conformity of society is currently providing them. This book is a wonderful start on the path of self-awareness, the path to enlightenment, through getting to know this dormant spiritual warrior with you.

Rating:
Summary: Like nothing you'd expect...
Review: This is an incredible book by a profound author. At first I picked it up because I enjoyed reading about his awakening into martial artistry with no formal training, defending potential victims from violent gangs, meeting with a Zen Master and learning meditation training-- and then, much like the founder of aikido, culminating his combined training into the instantaneous realization of what martial arts are really about. . . and then giving many demonstrations in which he defeats martial arts masters WITH ONE FINGER, earning a Ronin (masterless warrior) award from the BUDO council and a 4th degree black belt in Aiki-jutsu. And doing it all while remaining as humble, benevolent, and loving a person as you will ever meet.

Then I got past the amusing anecdotes and listened to what he had to say about how he got to them, and what he learned in the process. I read the entire book in a single sitting; it blew me away, and immediately assisted me in making some tough decisions with courage. I look forward to finding out what will happen when I try the exercises (Dancing to No-Music, Wingspan Theory, counting breaths, etc.) he suggests.

While this book does dive deeply into Zen, that should not frighten away Christians-- Zen is not a religion (Buddhism is), and Turner comes from a very strong Baptist background. This book is also not a self-help book, and you will not put it down and be able to defeat skilled martial artists with one finger-- you'll have to put forth the effort. But _Soul Sword_ does illustrate what true martial artists are still trying to get across to the public-- it's not about arrogance and violence; it's about humility and love.