The Overlook Martial Arts Reader: Vlume II

This anthology aims to convey the intellectual and philosophical depth of Asian (particularly Japanese) martial arts to Western readers, but the low quality of the selections undermines the premise that such depth exists. Donohue, editor of The Journal of Asian Martial Arts, includes excerpts from Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist philosophical works, essays by and about martial arts practitioners and snippets of martial arts-themed fiction by the likes of David Guterson and Maxine Hong Kingston; his own scholarly articles on the classification and social psychology of martial arts are among the better pieces. The selections demonstrate that a readable prose style is not among the skills imparted in the dojo. Dull treatises on the flow of chi energy abound, while an encomium to the ""Three Martial Virtues"" of strength, courage and loyalty makes The Boy Scout Manual look scintillating. Profiles of martial arts masters tend towards hagiography: expert swordsman Tesshu is said to have been able to defeat opponents without touching them, using spiritual force alone, and anthropologist David Jones lauds martial arts teachers as ""robust and vital personalities"" who all ""love laughter"" and ""radiate a child-like innocence."" Ironically, the many turgid exegeses of Zen philosophy, which recommends cultivating ""a mind devoid of ideas and judgment... like an empty gourd,"" highlight the anti-intellectualism of the martial arts ethos rather than its supposed spiritual profundity. The collection's one really bright spot, Mark Salzman's electric account of kung-fu training in China, keeps the focus on the discipline's celebration of physical power, speed and agility. On the whole, however, these murky, shallow writings make the martial arts seem like anything but a path to enlightenment.