I read an article about this guy at

http://www.wie.org/j15/turner.asp

and was absolutely fascinated. Here’s a guy who, using a special form
of meditation, was able to become a martial arts master and was given
the Ronin Award by the Board of United Dojo Organisations.

Can anyone tell me more about who he is and how he came to possess
such an inate skill at martial arts?

markabe,

I always look forward to the question that gets me to learn about
something completely new to me. Today, that was your question!

The best person to "tell me more about who he is and how he came to
possess
such an inate skill at martial arts" is probably Mr. Turner himself.

Quotes from Turner's book "Soul Sword", from Brian Perkins' "THE EMPTY
MIND" website:

"As a boy, Vernon used to get beaten up all the time, by bullies. He
prayed to the Lord - 'Teach me how to defend myself. I will never
abuse it'.
In 1967, when he was still a teenager, Vernon met a Zen master, Nomura
Roshi...

'He taught me to sit...shikantaza.' (a passive form of meditation -
just sitting with an attitude of faith) ... and one day ...'as I sat
in my meditation room practicing shikantaza, I was suddenly wiped from
existence...'

'Imagine how surprised I was when one day as I sat in meditation there
was a melting away of barriers, a blaze of light, and I immediately
understood the secret of self-defence from the inside out'...

he realized that ... 'Mastery of an art, including the martial arts,
comes from letting the art express itself through a willing(empty)
vessel'."
http://www.geocities.com/brianperkins77/207soulsword.htm


From Vernon Kitabu Turner's own website:
"Sifu Jeff Araiya discovers that a simple shrug from Kitabu Roshi
sends a man flying and the touch of his finger is sufficient to bring
him down. There is no pain. Kitabu Roshi does not harm people. No
demonstration is orchestrated, and the experts are supplied by the
host school. The photographs were shot by Michael Chan at The Tai Chi
Center of Amherst, Massechusettes. The point of Zen Mushin Ryu, the
name Kitabu Roshi has given his practice is, to train practitioners to
free their spirit from the prison of ego-mind, and to forge that mind
into a tool of the spirit."
http://www.vernon-kitabu-turner.com


For more information, you can order Turner's book "Soul Sword: The Way
and Mind of a Zen Warrior":
At Amazon.com for $11.16 + shipping
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1571741518/102-3863297-7553745
From the Publisher, for $9.75 + shipping
https://www.hamptonroadspub.com/main/books/soulsword.html

And his book "The Secret of Freedom":
At Amazon.com for $8.95 + shipping
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1878901699/102-3863297-7553745
From the Publisher, for $6.25 + shipping
https://www.hamptonroadspub.com/main/books/secretof.html

Search Strategy

Vernon Kitabu Turner 
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Vernon+Kitabu+Turner+&btnG=Google+Search


Before Rating my Answer, if you have questions, please post a Request
for Clarification, and I will be glad to see what I can do for you.

I hope this information provides you with exactly what you were
seeking!

Regards,

aceresearcher

---

Request for Answer Clarification by markabe-ga on 17 Nov 2002 23:36 PST

aceresearcher,

I should have clarified my question: the article explained why he
became a martial arts master and such - I was looking more for
information on how he actually did it, so that others (such as myself)
could duplicate similar results.

---

Clarification of Answer by aceresearcher-ga on 18 Nov 2002 00:34 PST

markabe,

After reading some of the stuff that came up in my search, I was
curious, too, and looked around for just that information. Everything
I could find on websites basically said "and suddenly... he saw the
light, and became a great martial-arts master!"

It soon became pretty clear to me that he wants you to buy his books
or take classes from him to find that out, and so he's not being very
forthcoming on the web.

If you don't want to have to buy the book, you can try your local
library. If they don't have the book themselves, they can borrow it
for you from another library, free of charge, through the
"Inter-Library Loan" program.

Before Rating my Answer, if you have questions, please post a Request
for Clarification, and I will be glad to see what I can do for you.
 
I hope this information provides you with exactly what you were
seeking!
 
Regards, 
 
aceresearcher

My question related to how this man came to possess such high skill in
martial arts - the question was not answered.

markabe,

I'm sorry you did not feel that my response Answered your question. I
believe that I DID tell you more about Vernon Kitabu Turner, as well
as providing you his personal explanation of "how he came to possess
such an inate skill at martial arts."

I felt that I provided you excellent value for your fee.

For future reference, you may want to review the Google pricing
guidelines:
 
https://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html  
 
if you desire a more elaborate response. 
 
Regards,

aceresearcher