Very Interesting....

[bookofmirrors]

Excerpts from a conversation with gaeasson:


gaeasson: got a question.

bookofmirrors: I like your questions :)

gaeasson: was your bookofmirrors name by any chance inspired by a cheesy kung-fu movie?

bookofmirrors: lol No! But please forward me info on same! I find that hilarious :)

bookofmirrors: It has many-faceted meanings, actually... maybe I'll make a post about them today :)

gaeasson: I don't even remember the name of the movie...

gaeasson: but there was this guy who fought through all sort of hell and hardships...

gaeasson: gained and lost a wise old teacher. beat his way through uncounted numbers of adversaries...

gaeasson: to win his way through to a monastery wherein was kept the book that contained all the answers of life.

gaeasson: once there rather than having to fight his way to the book, the monks escorted him there to the books reliquary in a high tower.

gaeasson: he opened the book with all the answers to life's questions, and found that there was a mirror on every page.

bookofmirrors: Oh, WOW.... that is SOOOO fucking cool

bookofmirrors: I'm so totally gonna have to quote you for this on my entry

bookofmirrors: That's just PERFECT

gaeasson: of course laughter followed. first bitter then joyous as the lesson sank in.

gaeasson: cheesy movie, but cool as hell for the ending.

bookofmirrors: Yeah, definitely... and that definitely speaks to one of the facets of the name

gaeasson: I got the distinct impression that the "monks" were almost exclusively other seekers who had won their way through and had the same experience.

gaeasson: He thought he was raiding the monastery, when in fact he was being initiated into it.

gaeasson: The movie ended then, but I always imagined the monks gave him a few minutes to himself, then gently led him down to his new room where there was a meal prepared and his robes already laid out on the bed.

bookofmirrors: Oh, very cool :) I like that idea

EDIT: I think THIS is the movie he was talking about...

Comments

[dragontdc.livejournal.com]

The movie he speaks of is "Circle of Iron" released overseas as "The Silent Flute". I have all my students watch it.

The production was cheesy because the studios couldn't understand a martial arts movie about Zen philosophy back in the '70s. They certainly weren't convinced it would make money at the box office. So it was retooled to sell better, but the essence remains.

It was written by Bruce Lee himself.

My favorite movie

[dragontdc.livejournal.com]

Oh, it has a star-studded cast, too. Basically all of Bruce's friends from hollywood.

Christopher Lee as Zetan
David Carradine gives an amazingly versatile multi-role performance as The Blind Man, The Monkey King, Chang Shah, and Death. Best acting he's ever done. (Which, alas, isn't saying much.)

And Roddy McDowell(sp?) as the Tournament Judge.

It's a splendid Poly movie, too. Chang Shah shares his 9th wife with the Seeker, who reminds him that she is his for the night only, but he tries to posess her and take her and so seals her doom. Afterwards, discussing it with the Blind Man, the Seeker is told "Every moment that passes changes us. We cannot hope to posess even ourselves. How then can we possess any thing or anyone else?"

Re: My favorite movie

[bookofmirrors.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely... I must watch this sometime... :)

Re: My favorite movie

[fornorald.livejournal.com]

It's a wonderful movie. There's a surreal quality to it that's hard to explain without having seen it. Like trying to describe a smell.