New Book “Shaolin : Temple of Zen”

I’m considering ordering a new book I’ve just come across on CoolHunting, called “Shaolin : Temple of Zen“.

It’s a photographic tome rather than an instructional manual and seems to give a bit of insight into the real life behind the closed doors of the Shaolin Temple.

To me, this is welcome since I suspect that once the Western world is watching, the Shaolin marketing machine is usually put to work creating an image of what they’d like the rest of the world to see.

More photos and book synopsis below.

Technorati Tags: book, China, Justin Guariglia, martial arts, photography, Shaolin : Temple of Zen, Shaolin Temple

Book Synopsis

For the first time in history, the notoriously guarded warrior monks of the fifteen-hundred-year-old Shaolin Temple—a Chinese Buddhist sect dedicated to preserving a form of kung fu known as the “vehicle of Zen”—have allowed their secretive society to be documented.

With the blessing of the main abbot, Justin Guariglia earned the trust and full collaboration of the Shaolin monks to create an astonishing, empathic record of the Shaolin art forms and the individuals who consider themselves the keepers of these traditions. Over the past eight years, Guariglia has deftly captured the changing context of this ancient sect as it encounters the increasingly hyper-modern world of contemporary China.

This amazing work by one of today’s most promising photographers provides viewers with a rare opportunity to examine the energy and spirit of the Shaolin’s unique Zen practice, which has previously been seen primarily via pop-cultural interpretation in such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

BUY Shaolin : Temple of Zen on Amazon

The official Shaolin : Temple of Zen book website
The Photographer Justin Guariglia’s website with a useful video flick through of all the book’s pages
More on Aperture.org

Via CoolHunting