Customer Reviews

Chinese Hand Analysis: The Buddhist Wu Hsing Method of Understanding Personality and Spiritual Potential

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The author claims to have studied this `tradition` of hand reading from Zen Buddhists whilst resident in a Buddhist monastery in Japan. However, discerning students of hand analysis will note that he has, in fact, gleaned many of the ideas presented in this work from earlier works, notably Fred Gettings `Book of the Hand` of 1965. Gettings makes extensive use of the elements as a symbolism to interpret the hands features, especially with regards to handshapes and quadrants. Whilst some of the interpretations Dukes gives to the lines of the hand, especialy considered in this elemental way, are indeed interesting, actually many of these can be seen to be an elemental `re-writing` of commonly found palmistry books. This is not really a `unique` tradition at all. Having said that, the reader will learn something more of the philosophical implications of hand analysis - but be warned! You will need a good dictionary and a great deal of perseverence to make your way through this book. One thing that should be noted is that many of the remarks he makes about health and illness from the hands are quite incorrect and reveal his suspect knowledge of things medical, whether that be from western medical traditions or Chinese traditions (his diagram of the acupuncture pints in the hand is quite wrong, for instance). Moreover, the claims that are made with regard to the original Chirological Society of K St Hill are quite absurd as she did not use any form of elemental system whatsoever. The `history` that he presents is not agreed upon by any other historian of hand analysis and is not supported by any documented evidence whatsoever. Having said that, the tone and manner of this work will make readers think more about this art and try and address some of the evident problems that can be found in most palmistry books. But don`t expect to learn anything new about hand analysis here - the work is more of a theoretical textbook than a practical workbook.

I was unfortunate enough to have a business associate of mine give me this book as a gift many years ago. It is complete nonsense. First of all, as a Buddhist, I am amazed that this person "Shifu Nagaboshi" (aka. Terry Dukes) had the gall to pass himself off as a Buddhist priest. If he was a Buddhist, then he'd know that Buddha condemned fortune telling as being a BAD way to make a living. Also, as a linguist, I am appalled by the way he strings together very bad Japanese and Chinese (maybe he was pulling things out of a dictionary?) Even his name, "Nagaboshi Tomio" is nonsense. Nagar-E-boshi is a "Shooting Star." Tomi is "good luck." To my knowledge, "Tomio" is a made-up nonsense word. It would appear that Terry Dukes was trying to say his name was "Master Lucky Star." HOWEVER...in ancient times, a falling star was often considered to be a BAD omen in China and Japan. (It is also laughable how he used a Cantonese Chinese word for his title, instead of the correct Japanese term: Sensei.) Perhaps the most glaring error is for "Nagaboshi" to have fabricated a "Buddhist Wu Hsing" method. Five Element theory (Wu Hsing) is a CONFUCIAN and TAOIST concept, NOT a Buddhist one (this fact alone should make a serious student's alarms go off!) If you are seriously interested in traditional oriental forms of divination (palm reading was never a favorite method of fortune telling in the orient) there are many wonderful books available at great prices from Amazon.com. Try reading "Chinese Numbers, Signifigance, Symbolism and Traditons" by Evelyn Lip for starters. "Feng Shui Symbols of Good Fortune" by Lillian Too is a great reference book for finding general information. A more serious student can try tackling "Sung Dynasty Uses of the I Ching" by Kidder Smith, Jr., Peter K. Bol, Joseph A. Adler, and Don J. Wyatt. You will notice in all these things that Chinese and Japanese people traditionally put very little emphasis (almost none) on palm reading, which is primarily a western form of fortune telling.

The same author has actually published exactly the same book (same contents) under Pelanduk Publications (M) Sdn Bhd in Malaysia under the title : Chinese Hand Analysis and calling himself Shifu Terence Dukes - title self-bestowed?

I agree with the orther reviewer who was less than complimentary.