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The Warrior Song of King Gesar [Paperback]

Douglas J. Penick (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

October 1, 2009
This is one of the greatest adventure stories of all time.  It's about courage in the face of loss and compassion in a world of war. Gesar, King of Ling has been inspiring men and women to live a more courageous and joyful life for thousands of years.
 
The Gesar epic encompasses a vast range of ancient Central Asian cultural and spiritual traditions. As its center, Gesar, King of Ling, battles tirelessly in a world filled with greed, confusion, fear, and religious ambition. 
THE WARRIOR SONG OF KING GESAR follows the unbroken heritage of the warrior tradition and presents the saga of Gesar's life, from the hardships of his youth through his great battles against the demonic enemies of the four directions. This ever-evolving epic tradition continues to inspire people in diverse societies by showing that, despite failures, an unsparing spiritual journey is integral to a secular life and that, despite defeats, such a quest is inseparable from working toward true social harmony. 

*
The Venerable Tulku Thondup's introduction is uniquely valuable and contains the only account in English of King Gesar's mind teachings.
"I hope that the wisdom, imagination, and humor with which Douglas Penick has conveyed both Gesar's story and the energy of his being will rouse unconditional confidence throughout the world." -Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, head of Shambhala International, author of "Making the Mind into an Ally" and "Ruling Your World"
"The Warrior Song of King Gesar' maintains traditional Asian epic genres and conventions while simultaneously transforming them into a completely contemporary vehicle of expression.
The book captures in a remarkable way the nomadic warrior traditions from which Gesar's inner life emerged while uncovering the personal reality hidden within them. This work then is not a 're-telling' of the Gesar saga, but an authentic continuation of that tradition which thus becomes available to modern audiences in new and provocative ways." -Kidder Smith, former Professor of Chinese History at Bowdoin College, author of articles on the East Asian classics, lead translator in the Denma Translation Group's Sun Tzu's "Art of War"

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Crossings On A Bridge Of Light: The Songs and Deeds of Gesar, King of Ling as He Travels to Shambhala Through the Realms of Life and Death $12.75

The Warrior Song of King Gesar + Crossings On A Bridge Of Light: The Songs and Deeds of Gesar, King of Ling as He Travels to Shambhala Through the Realms of Life and Death


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Douglas Penick graduated from Princeton University, was a research associate at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at The Institute for Urban Studies, and a chef at Gordon Matta Clark's Food. He studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism for more than 30 years, and has written and taught on Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian religion, history and culture. He wrote the National Film Board of Canada's prize winning two part series on the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the libretti for two operas: King Gesar (Sony CD w/ Ma, Serkin, Ax et. al.) and Ashoka's Dream  (Santa Fe Opera) with composer, Peter Lieberson. He's also written pieces to music by Philip Glass, for choreographer Katsura Kan, and on commission from the New York Philharmonic, the Boulder Symphony, Denver Eclectic Concerts and others. He is the author of three books deriving from the epic cycle on the life of King Gesar of Ling: Crossings on a Bridge of Light, Warrior Song of King Gesar and The Brilliance of Naked Mind. His novel A Journey of The North Star will be brought out by Publerati this spring. Short fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in Bombay Gin, The Shambhala Sun, Parabola, Porte Des Singes, Cahiers de L'Herne, Publishers Weekly and elsewhere.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 172 pages
  • Publisher: Mill City Press, Inc. (October 1, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1936107074
  • ISBN-13: 978-1936107070
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Gesar Kicks Demon A**, June 8, 2000
I am not a student of Eastern philosophy, although I've always thought that I had some appreciation for Buddhist ideas. Well, Gesar is not your sanitary, American high school Buddhism. Gesar is a warrior and superman, and through meditation and divine interaction, he goes out and - excuse the expression - Kicks Some Demon A**. The demon kingdoms surround Gesar's country of Ling, and Gesar must be victorious over them, so the populous will turn towards the tenets of Buddhism and his country have security.

Gesar is an ancient tale from the Himalayan region, and its hero based on a real king. The author has done his best to abridge the major story into a form that is approachable to those of us without extensive background to Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhism, or knowledge of the extensive pantheon of Buddhist deities. However, I fear he has shortened the tale too much; some of his actions seemed like they needed more context. Doing a book search through a university library led me to another translation of the epic of Gesar - *The Superhuman life of Gesar of Ling* by Alexandra David-Neel & the lama Yongden. This version is nearly 400 pages long, compared to 150 pages. Obviously Douglas J. Penick took some liberties with the translation.

This is an exciting tale, filled with magic, demons, and adventure. It is a good, "off-the-beaten-path" story that will give you another perspective on Buddhism and an insight into the cultures of the Himalayan region.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Inspiration, October 3, 2009
This review is from: The Warrior Song of King Gesar (Paperback)
The story of Gesar, the Warrior King offers us a modern hero. The ancient wisdom-culture of Tibet in union with buddhism is the context of this fifteenth century poetic narrative. And while it is tempting to lose oneself in the iron-age magic, the source of Gesar's power is not sorcery, but the depth of his heart.

The impact of Penick's gorgeous line and verse is not just a satisfying romp back to the shamanistic wisdom of the ancient past, though you could read it that way. The Warrior Song of King Gesar is an energizing call to rise from current depression and hopelessness, to engage the obstacles we face. Like King Gesar, we must get intimate and give birth to genuine culture with depth for dreaming, passion for creating, faith to start, and compassion to persevere.

Those of us living in the "anti culture," --the Big-Box materialism that has lead us to global warming and the Shopping Channel ( to mention a few house hold examples of material and spiritual degredation) will find much in this rendition of a fifteenth century epic that is spooky in its relevance: "Our earth is wounded/Her rivers are like running sores...)" To respond takes not just strategy and grim determination, but fundamentally, heart.

The Warrior Song of King Gesar is bone fide, life sustaining human culture: It's called a SONG, not SELF HELP. "Gesar comes like an iron wheel rolling across the sky..." Maybe it is time to start singing.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome back Gesar, October 5, 2009
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This review is from: The Warrior Song of King Gesar (Paperback)
At last this wonderful and often cited rendition of the most famous parts of the Gesar epic is back in print! Buy it, read it, keep it. Its a gem.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
miracle horse, sky kingdom, unconditional confidence, demon lord, meteoric iron
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Kyang Go Karkar, Sechan Dugmo, Magyel Pomra, King Shingti, Lion Lord, Gesar of Ling, Lungjag Nagpo, Kingdom of Ling, Thampa Gyaltsen, Great Eastern Sun, King of Jang, Kingdom of Hor, Metok Lhadze, Great Nyen, Lord of Nyen, Padma Chotso, Padma Sambhava, Imperial Rigdens, Prime Minister of Jang, Rigden Fathers
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