Three Golden Pearls on a String: The Esoteric Teachings of Karate-Do and the Mystical Journey of a Warrior Priest [Paperback]

Thomas White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 12, 1993

"Budo is the way to cut oneself from one’s first step to the point one can reach. To cut oneself means to face our own mind directly, honestly, strictly; to polish the mind by cutting away cowardliness, selfishness, ugliness, and weakness. To have the mind’s eye, me must have a strong mind. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary to be very humble."
-From the Foreword

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas White has a strong lineage of Shorin Ryu/Shotokan Karate Heritage, dating back to Karate Sakaguwa in Okinawa, in the 1600s.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books; 2 Sub edition (January 12, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556431074
• ISBN-13: 978-1556431074
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #692,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars which self do you defend?, November 28, 2001

By 

Kenneth Whitaker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Three Golden Pearls on a String: The Esoteric Teachings of Karate-Do and the Mystical Journey of a Warrior Priest (Paperback)

Sometimes the mental side of the martial arts gets lost in training. Mr. White's book attempts to put back some of the earliest lessons of the martial arts. It is one book that should be reread the longer you train. My copy is now falling apart, but after first reading it some ten years ago I am still learning from this small book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Karate Do in Poetry, March 16, 2001

By 

Corey H. Wiscomb (Orcas Island, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Golden Pearls on a String: The Esoteric Teachings of Karate-Do and the Mystical Journey of a Warrior Priest (Paperback)

As a 16 year practitioner of the martial arts I found Thomas White's words to be inspiring. He has captured the essence of budo training in what normally must be read between the lines of technical manuals - The non-physical elements of Karate Do that are always assumed to be there, but most cannot explain...because no technical manual can guide one to the spirit of the arts. Thomas White has created a wonderful book that describes these mystic elements in what is the only literary form that could capture such an essence - poetry. Sometimes direct to the point, other times more abstract, but always with purpose. All passages reflect the experiences of this humble man on his journey toward self perfection through the martial arts. I have brought this book out countless times to share appropriate quotes and passages with my students. Buy this book. Share in the journey.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Essential Meaning of Karate-do, January 29, 2008

By 

Terry Tozer "TJSKA.com" (Reading, Bracknell, Brighton & Hove, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Golden Pearls on a String: The Esoteric Teachings of Karate-Do and the Mystical Journey of a Warrior Priest (Paperback)

I don't know how this book came to be in my "Recommended for you" list, but I am so glad that I bought it. I had to go to the American site to check out it's customer reviews & after reading the book I felt compelled to leave some. I sincerely hope that I do it and Thomas White some justice.

A nice small book yes, but not an easy one to get on with & digest immediately as it is quite philosophical in nature. This may put some readers off. It's certainly a very thought provoking and deeply meaningful book, full of short allegories that obviously stem from the authors many years as a hard working student and proponent of karate.

Any one who has studied the martial arts for some years and devoted even a moderate amount of effort to it, will recognise the many pearls of wisdom that lie amongst it's pages.

I was nicely surprised to find on one page hidden right at the very back of the book a karate lineage of the author which shows Thomas's karate lineage through his own famous instructor Master Tsutomu Ohshima, through Grand Master Gichin Funakoshi way back to it's origins in China (QED?).

Included are short & poignant extracts from various religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Rig Veda & the Tao Te Ching to name but a few.

I will have to read it a few more times yet to get a fuller flavour it's meanings but the initial and basic thread of the book is that karate is not just about kicking & punching, nor is it intended as a weekend recreational sport, but more importantly as a way of life, to be used thoughtfully in and outside of the dojo and that the biggest enemy to anyone is oneself.

Although first published over 20 years ago, it's message is timeless and worth using for meditating upon.