Bodhidharma Retold: A Journey from Sailum to Shaolin - Vol. 1: Vol.1. A Journey from Sailum to Shaolin Hardcover – 1 January 2017

Proud to be an Indian. We should know oir ancestos and their history.

it is the best book, every martial artist and zen followers in the world should go through it, it gives many information about some secret practices which is not known to maximum martial artists......it is a beautiful book

Personally I like how Babu T Raghu has written. It is purely based on primary sources like inscriptions and foreign accounts. Not one of the details mentioned is legendary. You can go for it.But if you’re looking for a philosophical point of view this might not be the book for you.But from a historical pov this book is good and valuable.

Bodhidharma retold... a historical book written on highly revered Buddhist monk - Bodhidharma.This book arrives at a new facet to the existing history on Bodhidharma. The historian has kindly segregated the book into four parts i.e. intro and three parts based on evidences on early accounts, inscriptions and socio-cultural elements. The introduction of the book is crisp and gives a neat brief about life of Bodhidharma and his arduous journey to and through china. The last section of book (socio –cultural) is very gripping as it reveals how Zen and martial arts came to be, his birth and death, lifestyle and his successors. The historian has painstakingly foraged through a muddle of evidences before affirming the facts. Also the book is also documented with the photographical evidences.Finally the quality of the book is very good, high quality pages and printing, font is perfect not eye straining.A good book for a beginner to gain an insight towards eastern Buddhist history.

Just went through the Overview of the book and looked at the content. Seems to be reveling interesting facts about Bodhidharma and his roots from Andra Pradesh of India. Also found Quotes of facts found and source of information. Seems to be reliable book of History of Bodhidharma.

The persona of Bodhidharma is shrouded in mystery and attempting to unravel it is an arduous task, particularly when we look at the bits and pieces of evidence in China, and complete lack of mention in India. In that regard this book is a seminal work which attempts to unveil the thick shroud. Most scholarly work in Buddhist scholarship gives a passing mention to the personalities involved and concentrates on the scriptures. Breaking away from that format, Bodhidharma Retold not just tries to attribute a definite persona to its protagonist but also demystifies a legendary figure and brings out a human heroic figure complete with his hopes, aspirations, and frustrations. The importance of this book can also be attributed to its effort to place Bodhidharma in the intersection of different aspects of Buddhism, like Dhaya (Chan/Zen) School, Shaolin Kung-Fa Practices, and esoteric Buddhist Schools.I suspect that this book is a product of a passionate endeavor. The reverence that the author has for the figure of Bodhidharma is evident in the frequent use of superlatives in his descriptions. Following traditional style of Buddhist scriptures, author indulges in repetitive arguments, and by the time one complete the book, I am sure the reader will remember all the main points that author intends to stress on.However, this book looks like a long discourse/dialogue. I wish it went through a rigorous process of proof reading and peer review for it contains several spelling, grammatical, and typographical mistakes. Several arguments in the book are quite rhetorical in nature and present circular arguments. It would have been more helpful for the reader if there was a better system of citation and attribution. One such example, of several that can be found in this work, is the association of the concept of "anti-historical" when describing Buddhist esoteric schools, along with Bodhidharma and the early Chan leadership. Author probably picked this association from Alex Wayman’s work.

The contents are very tempting. Having read through the introduction, it seems like the history of Bodhidharma is being depicted in a new angle than before. The recorded facts about Bodhidharma, a devout buddhist himself, is very interesting and intrigues my thinking.

The book is written just on the basis of linguistic craze. If Pallavas are Telugus, then why did they patronized Tamil and Prakrit over Telugu ? Pallavas are the descendants of Palvel Ilantirayan who ruled the regions of Thondaimandalam during the Cankam period and at that time, the Satavanahas were considered to have ruled the parts of Andhra, Karnataka and Maharasthra. The author of the book has accepted that the book were written to shun the Tamil pride propagated in the movie: '7th sense' or '7am Arivu'. I wonder whether the author had any knowledge about the best books related to Bodhi-dharma: 'A Strand of Dharma Jewels: A Bodhisattva’s Profound Teachings On Happiness, Liberation, and the Path: The Rāja Parikathā Ratnāvalī Composed by Ārya Nāgārjuna for a South Indian Monarch by Ārya Nāgārjuna, Bhikshu Dharmamitra',etc.

excellent book plenty of information good read.