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by Douglas J. Penick (Author)
The Gesar epic encompasses a vast range of ancient Central Asian cultural and spiritual traditions. At its center, Gesar, King of Ling battles tirelessly in a world riven by greed, confusion, fear, and religious ambition to open pathways to an enlightened society. The Warrior Song of King Gesar follows the unbroken heritage of that 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 towards true social harmony. The Venerable Tulku Thondup's introduction is uniquely valuable for its profound scholarship 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.
Author Biography
Douglas Penick was a research associate at the Museum of Modern Art, NY, and studied and practiced with Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche and other Tibetan teachers for more than 40 years. He wrote the Canadian NFB's series on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Leonard Cohen, narrator) and libretti for two operas: King Gesar (Sony CD w/ Ma, Serkin, Ax, etc.) and Ashoka's Dream (Santa Fe Opera) with Peter Lieberson. He received grants from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry and from the Graham Foundation, . In addition to three book-length episodes from the Gesar Epic, many of his short pieces have been published in the US, Canada, Malaysia, the UK, France, the Czech Republic, Germany and Australia. His novel about the 3rd Ming Emperor, A JOURNEY OF THE NORTH STAR was brought out by Publerati in 2012. DREAMERS AND THEIR SHADOWS, his new novel about spiritual seekers, teachers and the labyrinth of their longings has just become available. He is married to the renowned clarinetist, Deborah Marshall.
