Deep beneath the surface layers of the Japanese martial arts lies a mystical core that is revealed to but a few. Why then would it open to a young American, skilled in karate and Zen but only beginning to master the language? Why would he be brought to Japan to be woven into a brocade that even few Japanese know exists? In a world where ancient and modern, dreams and present experience, are often indistinguishable, he must practice stringently and devote all his energies to his sensei's quest for a forbidden art. In the course of this quest he will learn the veiled secrets of astonishing powers.
Advance Praise for In This Living Body
"[In This Living Body is] wise and compassionate and well-written... very contemporary... holds up well to Cormac McCarthy..."
PETER MEINKE
Flannery O'Connor and O. Henry Prize-winning author of
Unheard Music and The Piano Tuner
www.petermeinke.com
"...demonstrates the profound and deep impression [Sullivan's] sojourn [in Japan] made on [him]...images so sharp and clear...we can identify with them all...I can envisage this book being translated into a sensitively done movie, filmed in Japan with English subtitles."
MILAN MIHAL
Professor Emeritus, Asian Art History
Vanderbilt University
"In eloquent detail and a highly sensitive and delicate manner...In This Living Body is a wonderful, mystical story of faith, discipline and honor, told beautifully by a master storyteller."
DR. MAUNG GYI
Founder, American Bando Association
author of Bando: Philosophy, Principles and Practice
Professor Emeritus, Communications, Ohio University
"I have been very inspired by In This Living Body...both an enjoyable read and an education on the subject of Zen. The life of a martial artist is expressed beautifully and with full respect for the seriousness of such an undertaking. [The] characters are artfully drawn [by] a writer...conscious of the workings of the human mind."
DELIA QUIGLEY
Yoga teacher,
author of Empowering your Life with Meditation
www.deliaquigley.com
"...superbly written...a must-read for serious students...a must-read for my students, past, present and future."
HANSHI RON CARLSON, 10th Dan
Gow-Ren-Lu Kempo & Gung Fu
Founder & Director, Kempo First Foundation
"In this Living Body expresses the essence of... the wonders that life through the martial arts truly holds. Everything that I have ever expressed to my students about the truth in budo is here... this book is a necessary reading requirement for all my students seeking a better way of their own."
JASON MAY
Kaicho of Nansho Kempo-Jojutsu and Nansho Budokan
"This was a book once started I could not put it down. It drew me in as if I were really in Japan practicing the martial arts and Zen in the most ancient and traditional ways. I recommend this book to all my martial arts brothers and sisters. I am also making it required reading for all of my students. A must read for all those interested in traditional martial arts and Zen."
SHIHAN BRIAN T. MASCOLA, 6th Dan
Shorinjiryu Kenbukai Karate-do
Founder of Asian Combat Arts
"...[a] clear-eyed journey of the heart into all that is beautiful and disturbing in Japanese life and culture."
JIM HORNE MINTER
"Beautiful. Profound. Compelling... [the] tightly controlled voice, the Japanese tonalities, the understatement, the discipline; writing like the Zen practice described."
BILL BAYNES
author of Bunt
