 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2013) |
 First edition | |
| Author | Mark Salzman |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Biography |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Publication place | Canada |
Published in English | 1986 |
| ISBN | 0-394-55156-7 |
Iron and Silk is a 1986 autobiographical novel written by Mark Salzman. It describes his experiences in China as an English teacher and as a student of Kung Fu. The book was later made into a film of the same name. [1] [2] [3]
Salzman, a member of the Yale-China expedition crew, is offered a position to teach English at the Changsha Medical University for two years. While he is there, he learns Chinese martial arts of many different kinds. He studies from the martial arts master Pan Qingfu.
He encounters political activists, travels, and deals with many different kinds of people, some of them very traditional. [4]
Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and is regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to a 17th-century apocryphal story found in a manual called Yijin Jing, he began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin kungfu. He is known as Dámó in China and as Daruma in Japan. His name means "dharma of awakening (bodhi)" in Sanskrit.
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