Author Archives: B Gourley

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About B Gourley

Bernie Gourley is a writer living in Bangalore, India. His poetry collection, Poems of the Introverted Yogi is now available on Amazon. He teaches yoga, with a specialization in pranayama, and holds a RYT500 certification. For most of his adult life, he practiced martial arts, including: Kobudo, Muay Thai, Kalaripayattu, and Taiji. He is a world traveler, having visited more than 40 countries around the globe.

BOOKS: “Shaolin: How to win without fighting” by Bernhard Moestl

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Shaolin: How to win without fightingShaolin: How to win without fighting by Bernhard Moestl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site

This is a self-help book that nominally draws on the philosophy of Shaolin Kung fu and its Chan Buddhist underpinnings, but – more broadly – employs quotes and examples from many, mostly Eastern, sources. For example, the ideas and stories of Miyamoto Musashi are perhaps as common as any source (Musashi was Japanese, not Chinese, and was not noted for being Buddhist. In his own words, he respected the gods and buddhas, but didn’t expect their help.)

The book offers a fine discussion of Eastern philosophic thought in action, particularly that which arose from warrior sources, but it isn’t particularly ground-breaking in any way. For those who like homework, the book does include many exercises to make the reading a more interactive experience.

I enjoyed reading this book well enough, but it didn’t distinguish itself and will soon fall into the mind-space of a fuzzy amalgamation of similar books I’ve read over the years.

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Lingerers [Haiku]

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side-by-side trees:
 one bloom-laden; one with 
  a few lingerers.

DAILY PHOTO: Boats on the Mekong

Image

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Fire, Short-lived [Haiku]

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overcast dawn:
 cloud edges burn... briefly,
  then cool to gray.

“Song of the Open Road” (2 of 15) by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]

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You road I enter upon and look around, I
   believe you are not all that is here,
 I believe that much unseen is also here.

Here the profound lesson of reception, nor
   preference nor denial,
 The black with his wooly head, the felon,
   the diseas'd, the illiterate person, are not
   denied;
 The birth, the hasting after the physician,
   the beggar's tramp, the drunkard's stagger,
   the laughing party of mechanics,
 The escaped youth, the rich person's 
   carriage, the fop, the eloping couple,

The early market-man, the hearse, the
   moving of furniture into the town, the
   return back from the town,
 They pass, I also pass, any thing passes,
   none can be interdicted,
 None but are accepted, none but shall be
   dear to me.

Blue Sheep [Lyric Poem]

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The Blue Sheep must be ever so sad:
 For of all the colors in which its clad --
 None is blue; there're shades of brown, black, and white,
 But blue must be symbolic, if judged by sight.

Brisk Morn [Haiku]

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brisk morn dragonfly:
 too cold to move, or dead?
  unmoved by footfall.

Full Moon [Senryū]

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a drunk staggers
 around the corner, and stares
  into the full moon.

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Kuang Si Falls

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“Song of the Open Road” (1 of 15) by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]

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Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open 
   road,
 Healthy, free, the world before me,
 The long brown path before me leading 
   wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself
   am good-fortune,
 Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone
   no more, need nothing,
 Done with indoor complaints, libraries,
   querulous criticisms,
 Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,
 I do not want the constellations any nearer,
 I know they are very well where they are,
 I know they suffice for those who belong to 
   them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
 I carry them, men and women, I carry them
   with me wherever I go,
 I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of 
   them,
 I am fill'd with them, and I will fill them in
   return.)