Customer Reviews

Meeting Myself : Beyond Spirit of the Empty Hand

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Meeting Myself is a real Karate story of my own Karate teacher Mr. Stan Schmidt. He was the pionner of Shotokan Karate in South Africa. Despite he is a great Karateka he is also the most polite and gentleman I have ever known.In fact I feel he is my father in the art of Karate. His book is outstanding, very good and interesting stories about his early years at Hombu-Dojo in Tokyo. If you like Karate as sport or art buy this excellent book.

Stan's journey to 7th Dan Ranking of the JKA is indeed a commendable feat considering the amount of time and effort he put in. However throughout his journey and his encounters with the 'Masters', he never seemed at peace with himself. Had he incorporated a daily and disciplined routine of meditation with his gruelling physical training, I am sure his journey would be a true experience of meditation in motion. Nevertheless I am certainly inspired and motivated by his sharing. The style of writing though could have been much more graceful, flowing and transcending with better use of the English Language.

I love Stan Schmidt, though I've never met him.

Through his book, he has made me laugh hard at the funny things he's experienced. For instance, he describes the time he visited a zen temple in Japan to learn meditation. I laughed non-stop for several pages while he described the agony of sitting perfectly still for an hour while his legs gradually became numb.

He writes about the Japanese karate masters he has known, and makes them real, living people instead of far-away figureheads.

He reveals his own humanness when he writes about the lowest periods of his life--for instance, lying in a hospital bed "crying my eyes out" at around midnight. He was on the verge of financial ruin, and prayed desperately.

Even if you are not interested in karate, you will progbably enjoy "Meeting Myself."

As a follow up to 'Spirit of the Empty Hand', 'Meeting Myself' is an excellent piece of work which answers many questions that readers of 'Spirit...' may have had. How, when, and by whom, was karate introduced to South Africa? What was training for foreigners really like in Japan? How does someone go from Bank Clerk to 7th Dan Shihan? Finally the whole story of Stan Schmidts legendary life in karate is told, and will surely inpire karate students for generations to come.

There have been a great many books written about martial arts. Some are technical manuals, a growing number are "philosophical dribble". Thankfully, Stan Schmidts work is neither of these. Auto-biography, is an intriguing peek, a voyeristic insight into the life of its author. Yet in this work, the life's story presented seems disjointed in critical junctures. These presentation are a bad distraction from the basic message, whatever it was intended to be. Half its size, this book would be as honed as it's authors renowned physical techniques.... Maybe next time round.