JOHN DONOHUE
YMAA Publication Center, Inc. PO Box 480 Wolfeboro, NH 03894 1-800-669-8892 • www.ymaa.com • [email protected]
ISBN Paperback edition
978-1-59439-249-8
ISBN Ebook
978-1-59439-248-1
© 2006, 2013 by John Donohue
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Cover Design: Axie Breen
POD0713
Publisher’s Cataloging in Publication
Donohue, John J., 1956-
Deshi / John Donohue. -- Wolfeboro, NH : YMAA Publication Center, c2013.
p. ; cm.
ISBN: 978 -1-59439-249-8 (pbk.) ; 978-1-59439-248-1 (ebook)
"A Connor Burke martial arts thriller"--Cover. First published by Thomas Dunne Books in 2005.
Summary: Asian scholar and black belt artist Connor Burke labors as a deshi (a disciple) under the tutelage of a master warrior-- a practice that draws him into the murder of a Japanese businessman in Brooklyn. An enigmatic message left at the murder scene leads Connor to the lethal samurai heritage of a mysterious martial arts sensei, a Tibetan clairvoyant, and finally to an elite mountain temple in Tibet, where his deadliest challenge awaits.--Publisher.
1. Burke, Connor (Fictitious character) 2. Americans--China--Fiction. 3. New Age movement--Fiction. 4. Martial artists--Fiction. 5. Tibet Autonomous Region (China)--Fiction. 6. Martial arts fiction. 7. Suspense fiction. I. Title.
2013945345 1308
PS3604.O565 D264 2013 813/.6--dc23
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Printed in USA.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
8. SEEKER
9. DARK VALLEY
10. PATHWAYS
11. SCRAMBLE
12. DHARMA CENTER
13. STARE
14. PUZZLE
15. ARROW
16. KIRI
17. FLICKER
18. FLASH
19. LINKS
20. KIMON
21. TRUE BELIEVERS
22. TANREN
23. WARRIOR’S PATH
24. STEEL RAIN
25. FAR MOUNTAIN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY JOHN DONOHUE…
BOOKS FROM YMAA
DVDS FROM YMAA
To Kitty, with love,
for gently holding a writer’s heart
Deshi (The disciple)
The deshi believes he learns from the master And moves on The sensei knows In truth, they are linked Along the same Path In separate places A yoke of flesh and steel, bound together Like two wheels on the same cart —Yamashita Rinsuke
Everyone wants something: it’s one of the few points of philosophy my brother Micky and I agree on. Desires shape the arc of life’s trajectories, leading us to unimagined destinations.
The Buddhists say desire creates illusion, which is the source of all suffering. In the Catholic Church I was raised in, desire was equally disparaged. There are few things in life really worth wanting, but we are cursed with an almost limitless capacity for imagination and need. The truly wise know that what we really need are those things that permit our true natures to emerge. We’re born with that knowledge, then quickly forget it and spend a lifetime trying to remember it again.
The path a life takes is the product of that remembering. We wander along in search of the selves we once knew. The way isn’t easy: it’s stony, studded with obstacles. And we’re not alone on the lurching journey: there are forms crumpled in the brambles by the wayside, markers to those who’ve lost their way. And, when the path dips, there are others, still watchers waiting in the dim woods. Ghosts hungry to snatch us. The way winds and dips. There are times when the path is unclear. Faint tracks lead the unwary off to their doom. But, high up ahead, we can all glimpse the hint of something beautiful. It’s faint and hard to see, but it pulls us nonetheless.
A good teacher tells you to keep looking at that gossamer image. I don’t know whether it’s kindness or cruelty. But it keeps the yearning alive; it makes you stay on the right path. And it prevents you from looking down. Because when you do, you see that there is blood on the rocks.
You think about