Tang Soo Tao: The Living Buddha in Martial Virtue
Biography Adult Education Martial Arts Eastern Philosophy Spirituality & Meditation Collectible Sports Taoism Zen Buddhism
Tang Soo Tao: The Living Buddha in Martial Virtue (1981, 1st Australian edition) is the rare 254-page paperback that serious martial-arts collectors and spiritual seekers keep on their “forever” shelf. Robert Caputo, a pioneer of traditional Eastern disciplines in the West, distils decades of training in Shaolin, Tai Chi, Pa-Kua, yoga and Zen into a single, highly readable textbook that is still used in adult-education courses today. Unlike modern reprints, this scarce first printing delivers the original line-drawn movement charts, period photographs and unedited interviews with masters that later editions quietly removed, making it both a functional training manual and a collectible cultural snapshot.
What makes this copy especially appealing is its clean, unmarked interior—no highlighting, margin notes or dog-ears to distract from the crisp technical diagrams and meditation sequences. The binding is tight and square, ensuring the book will stay open flat on the dojo floor, while the only flaws are a discreet publisher sticker and minor corner water marks confined to the rear blank leaves, leaving every page of text and imagery unaffected. For practitioners, the step-by-step breakdown of Tang Soo Tao forms, breathing work and philosophical essays provides a lifetime reference; for historians, the 1981 date-stamp captures the moment Australia helped globalise Asian martial spirituality.
Adults and mature teens who study comparative religion, personal development or sports kinesiology will value Caputo’s straightforward teaching style—he translates esoteric concepts into practical self-cultivation without losing poetic depth. Yoga instructors, university lecturers and re-enactors searching for authentic source material on early Western adaptation of Shaolin and Taoist practices consistently rank this title among the top five out-of-print primers. Owning a well-preserved first edition not only elevates your private library, it guarantees instant conversation whenever fellow collectors spot the distinctive red-and-black cover on your desk or dojo shelf.
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