Before meeting David Carradine,I was well aware of his Kung Fu TVseries. I also knew that he was a studentand teacher of Eastern philosophy andvarious martial art styles. In addition, Ihad recently read his book The Spirit ofShaolin. In Chapter 9 of this book, aquote about healing caught my eye:

“We have seen that the Masterneeds to reach out to others to be help-ful, and a force for good. This helpful-ness can take many forms. With thepower that comes with the teachings,

great things can be accomplished. Theknowledge and techniques that put thewarrior in the center of the flow can beused to do the same thing for others.The heightened awareness and sense ofrightness which the student has devel-oped can be activated to diagnose andadjust the out-of-sync aspects of people,animals, things, and even events, condi-tions and situations.”

Your chi can absolutely reach intoand heal bodies and minds and spirits.There is no doubt about it. The same

power that can defend and harm cansoothe and rebuild. Certainly, this pro-found statement flows from ancientwisdom.

David Carradine is the son of leg-endary character actor John Carradine.He is an author of several books as wellas a composer, editor, producer, director,sculptor, Kung Fu master, Tai Chiteacher, singer, poet, nature lover andloving father. In other words, Carradineis a complex man. His life story piquedmy curiosity and raised two central

A Conversation With

David CarradineBy William E. Marks

Photo Courtesy of Marc Mangano

Wellness Bound™ Magazine©2004 All Rights Reserved.

questions; Who is David Carradine?What does David Carradine trulybelieve in?

By fateful coincidence, a Burbankwater friend of mine, Patricia Rude, wasvisiting Tarzana’s Coffee Junction,when she struck up a conversation withco-owner, Sharon Benson. Sharon men-tioned Carradine’s interest in helpingthe world’s water situation. Patriciamentioned my name as author of thespiritual/philosophical book, The HolyOrder of Water.

Sharon called me and introducedherself. She told me that David had justreturned from a world wide tour pro-moting the recent release of Tarantino’sKill Bill: Vol. 2 She suggested thatDavid and I get together. He and I werevicariously aware of one anotherthrough Rashid Alimov, the enlightenedUnited Nations ambassador fromTajikistan, who is responsible for usher-ing in the UN’s “Year of Water,” and theupcoming “Decade of Water.” So, follow-ing this fateful flow, I left the comfort ofmy writer’s cabin on Martha’s Vineyardto visit with David Carradine inCalifornia.

The clear Ventura night sur-rounding Sharon Benson’s home washot and hazy. The room next to her liv-ing room was set up like a music studio— sound mixer, amplifiers, speakers,standing microphones, various instru-ments and other musical paraphernalia.In a visual sense, Sharon’s home madea statement, “Music lives here.”

Besides being the co-owner of theCoffee Junction, Sharon is lead mem-ber/founder of “Soul Dogs,” the bandthat David Carradine likes to relax andtour with. Sharon is a noted musician,lyricist and vocalist whose music is fea-tured in several movies. On occasion,Soul Dogs tours other countries, withoccasional local performances at theCoffee Junction. According to CoffeeJunction’s co-owner, Linda Sherlis,“The Coffee Junction serves as a placeof refuge. It’s a place where people cancome in and relax; eat healthy food and

smoothies, and take a break from theworld.”

As I stood in the Sharon’s livingroom sipping chilled ice tea, ClynellJackson (C.J. III) arrives. CJ shook myhand and proceeded directly to settingup and tuning his bass guitar.

Before meeting David, I met hisdog, Thunder, a Burmese MountainDog. Thunder thrust through the frontdoor in a big loving kind of way, withwide eyes and wagging tail. While Ihugged and said hello to Thunder face-to-face, Sharon’s much smaller dog, amutt named Jake, came scurrying fromthe kitchen. Suddenly, the two dogsraced out the door to play.

After the dogs exited, Davidwalked in carrying his guitar in onehand and long bamboo flute in theother. His thinning hair was long andslipped across his face as he laid hisinstruments on the sofa beside me.After a quick handshake and deep eyecontact, David walked over to the pianoand began to play a tune, while singinga few lines. As David played and sang,band drummer and percussionist, LeslieDaniel, entered and began a soft warmup. As though on cue, Sharon picked upher violin and began tweaking it intotune. The musical evening had begun.

I sat in a soft chair and preppedmy Canon digital video camera torecord the evening’s jam session as itswung into motion. For the next coupleof hours, David sang a series of songsaccompanied by his guitar or flute inter-ludes. As the group rhythmicallyswayed back and forth, it is obviousthese musicians are in sync. The music,the motions, the lyrics—flowed togetherlike a stream of water.

After the jam session was over,everyone expressed pleasure about theevening’s effort, especially the waytheir “closings” were working. After abrief break to say good-bye to the oth-ers, David and I walked outside to sitand talk. It was a little before midnight,and the cool Ventura air had lost muchof its humidity. In the time that fol-lowed, I found Carradine to be a verycomplex individual. I recorded his com-ments for this article, and am happy tonote that they are like him -- they rep-resent the broad range of interests.

Miracles“I believe miracles do happen.

Even though I don’t understand themechanism of a miracle. I feel angelsare more like a metaphor, and feel thesame about Genesis.”

Writing AndComposing Songs

“When writing a song, I don’t feelmy education really enters into it. I feelthat the words and concepts that areexpressed in my songs come from some-where other than my intelligence.”

“In the old days when I playedguitar in public, I worried about gettingit right. Eventually, I arrived at a placewhere I don’t worry any more and justhave fun. I figured I would be prettygood at playing guitar by the time I wasin a rocking chair on my front porch.Now I am good at playing guitar and Iam not in a rocking chair. And, that’spretty good too.”

“I find that music is so abstract that it helps lead

you into a philosophical place through your hands.

By using your hands to create music, you put it out

there instead of doing it all in here.”

continued on page 11

Wellness Bound™ Magazine©2004 All Rights Reserved.

“As far as I am concerned, the lawof harmonics is a real thing. Humansdid not invent music; we just use some-thing that already existed. The diatonicscale is something we did not invent; wejust discovered it was there.”

“When it comes to music, I got anidea about 40 years ago. I realized thatby continually learning how to play theguitar better, I was basically examiningthe fabric of the universe through myfingertips.”

“I find that music is so abstractthat it helps lead you into a philosophi-cal place through your hands. By usingyour hands to create music, you put itout there instead of doing it all in here.”(Pointing to his chest.)

Making his ownbamboo flute

“I either grow bamboo, or find itduring my travels, for making my ownflutes. I just look at a stand of livingbamboo and get a feeling as to whichone will make a good flute. When I wasdoing the Kung Fu series, I plantedsome bamboo behind the lot at WarnerBrothers. It didn’t take long to turninto a bamboo forest. To make a flute, Ifirst immerse the weighted bamboo in astream of clean running water. It usual-ly takes about six months the cure thebamboo this way. What happens is theminerals in the water get absorbed andreplace the soft cells inside the flute. Ithen take a long red-hot poker and ramit up through the center of the bambooto take out the sections and clear theinside. You have to do this quickly oryou can crack the bamboo. I then use asimilar process to make the holes thatbring it into tune. To do this, I use a sil-ver concert flute as a template. I thenpolish, sand, and lacquer the flute. I likewhen the bamboo has a natural organiclook to it. Some people sand the bamboodown so it is completely smooth, but I

like to leave the surface natural.” In some of my movies, I used my

bamboo flute as a weapon. In fact, oneof my flutes got smashed during a fightscene. That was good flute. It had aflute on one end and a shakuhachi onthe other. That’s how I make ashakuhachi work, and this one workedwell. I guess you can say it was strongmusically but weak martially.”

Relationships“Even though acting makes up a

big part of my life, relationships are ofgreater importance.”

“The reason I believe my lifefocuses on relationships is I am just nothappy when I don’t have a woman inmy life.”

“In relationships, I really try to betotally truthful. But I seem to have anobsession about telling everything.Maybe I should keep a few secrets. But,then what’s the point of being in a rela-tionship? So, it is the ultimate test of arelationship if it can handle utter forth-rightness.”

“Affection means a lot to me. Idon’t know why, but affection is almostmore important to me than anythingelse. For some reason, I really like tocuddle.”

“Right now I live with four chil-dren and their beautiful mother, Annie.Each day I share with them is filledwith many loving moments…momentswhen there is this loving being reachingout to me. This wonderful woman,which feels to me like the coolest part ofmy life.”

“When I look at the children, Ifind myself attached to the idea thatthese are children who have yet to expe-rience life. And, these children, as wellas all children in this world, need to feelsafe. I hope that my children have theopportunity to experience life like Ihave.”

Despair“I was in a state of deep despair

when I came across a book called InSearch of the Miraculous by P. D.Ouspensky. At the time, I was well over30 years old. Each day I would open thebook, only to read words relating toexactly what I was going through. In away, the book was miraculous. One ofthe things Ouspensky writes about is ifyou really want to change, you have toliquefy yourself. And one very effectiveway of liquefying yourself is to be in astate of total despair -- a state where

continued from pg. 9A Conversation With David Carradine

continued on page 12

Photo Courtesy of Marc Mangano

Wellness Bound™ Magazine©2004 All Rights Reserved.

everything is falling apart. I was in sucha place when I found Ouspensky’s book.Because of its transformative impact onmy life, I often tell people it is one of myfavorite books.”

Food and Diet“Because of traveling, my food

intake is always changing. But I keepcertain principles in my head. And eventhough I don’t always follow them everymoment of every day—they are stillthere and have an effect on me. Left tomy own devices, I basically would liveoff of fruit and nuts and an occasionalhome cooked meal.”

“Right now I am living at homewith four kids and their mother, and Isit and have dinner with them everychance I get. The kids like to eat chick-en, spaghetti, rice, broccoli, and greens.So Annie and I join them.”

“However, every morning I start

the day the same way. I start with aglass of hot water with a lemonsqueezed into it, followed by a fruitsalad seasoned with curry. I like curry.Afterwards, I allow myself to have a cupof coffee. This is my way of achievingbalance.”

“These are my own rules. And,certainly, my nutritionist would ques-tion the coffee. But, this is my way ofbeing in balance. For instance, I take alot of Chinese herbs instead of vitamins.There was a period when I took a lot ofvitamins, but I have given that up now.Now I eat a lot of herbs and broccoli. At67 years old, I have learned how to takecare of myself and maintain an innerbalance.”

Water and theEnvironment

“Water is now becoming a majorissue. I think something has to be doneabout the fact that some people don’thave enough water. I think about half

the world is water deprived, whichsounds weird because this is a waterplanet. And yet, water is a scarcity.”

“When you go to the market tobuy a pint of water for two dollars, youcan almost buy a gallon of gasoline forthe same price. And gasoline has to bepulled up out of the earth, and thenrefined, and transported to variousmarkets. I mean, gasoline is a rareresource. And yet, depending on whereyou buy your bottled water, you can payup to four times more than gasoline.”

“What I find really strange is thatNew York City has good tap water, yetpeople go out and buy expensive bottledwater. This reminds me of a program Irecently read about. It is a program toeducate immigrants from Central andSouth America that is safe to drink thetap water in America. Some of thesefinancially strapped families are buyingbottled water because of their historywith unsafe water in their former coun-try.”

“There is also the example of theelite who simply won’t drink any citywater anywhere, which is more like afashion statement.”

“In the past ten months, I havebeen all over the world. In the pastmonth alone I visited eighteen cities ineight different time zones. Wherever Iwent, I saw people drinking bottledwater. It just seems like everybody’s gotit backwards and skewed away fromwhat makes common sense. Whichmakes me think sometimes that com-mon sense may not be that common.”

David’s dog,Thunder

“I have never seen Thunderunhappy in the eight years I’ve ownedhim. I have never seen him be anythingbut enjoying the moment. And, he’salways ready for the next moment. Ifyou take him for a ride in the car, hethinks that’s the greatest thing. If he isreturning home, that’s the greatest

continued from pg. 11A Conversation With David Carradine

“Thunder loves andtrusts everybody hemeets, including allother dogs. He’s justopen to relating toeverything in themoment. Because ofthis, I feel Thunderlives in the Tao muchmore than I do.”

Photo Courtesy of Marc Mangano

Wellness Bound™ Magazine©2004 All Rights Reserved.

thing. He thinks the veterinarian is agreat person. He thinks a shot is somekind of weird petting. Thunder lovesand trusts everybody he meets, includ-ing all other dogs. He’s just open torelating to everything in the moment.Because of this, I feel Thunder lives inthe Tao much more than I do.”

“I’ve had dogs most of my life.There was a period when I had a lot ofcats. I kept horses for twenty-six years.But, when it comes to Thunder, he is thedog I always dreamed of. He’s aBurmese Mountain Dog, and it took mea little while to find a breeder and havehim flown to me. I was waiting at theairport when he arrived as a littlepuppy. On the way home he just curledup in my lap. That’s when I knew hewas that special dog in my life.”

The HumanExperiment

“If there is any point to thehuman experiment it is this concept ofjustice, fairness, and compassion.”

“I like the idea that there aremany people who care whether or notthe spotted owl becomes extinct. Thisaspect of humanity is a rare thing in theuniverse.”

“This concept of ‘justice’ seems tobe something we’ve invented. I meanthis is a dog-eat-dog world. Everythingconsumes something else in order tostay alive, but we have developed thisidea that there should be fairness. Notonly does the wolf eat the innocentlamb, but black holes eat innocentgalaxies. And yet, with all of our foibles,and with all of our viciousness, andthese belief systems where people wantto blow themselves up, and the wars,and the cheating and the lying that goeson in Congress — the fact remains thatwe have this one little thing that isunique in the universe — this idea of‘justice’, which is a totally imaginaryconcept. Humanity has thought it upand we try to do it as best we can.”

“There are certain individuals;

certain institutions; certain countries;certain philosophies, and certain wholemovements that actually try to makethings better for other people and otherspecies. Some even worry about vegeta-bles! All this is kind of remarkable. Itseems to me that this sense of justice isa very important part of our humanity.Birds sing, ants build buildings, ele-phants dance — but only humans havethis attitude about caring for justice. Imean, otherwise, why would you carethat people half way around the worlddon’t have enough water? Why shouldyou? My dog, Thunder doesn’t care,and, he’s a nice guy!” (Carradine petsThunder and laughs.)

“Maybe this sense of justice is agood enough reason to hope our speciesdoesn’t become extinct. Maybe weshould try to keep things running in thehope that it will get better.”

“But if people begin to run out ofwater, that could stop everything cold.It’s easy to say, ‘Well, I’m not going torun of water. What do I care?’ But,maybe I will.”

“Maybe the brilliant little twistthat’s going to save humanity is in themind of somebody who is running out ofwater right now. In my mind, that alonemakes it worth the effort to help thosewho have less than we do.”

For more information about David Carradine or theband Soul Dogs, please visit www.davidcarradine.orgor www.souldogs.com.

William E. Marks is the author of the The Holy Orderof Water. He has traveled the globe researching infor-mation about water and its mystical and healing prop-erties, as has studied many Eastern philosophies.William is also a noted speaker relative to evolution;present crisis, and answers for the earth’s future. Inthe late 70s, William lived outdoors while riding horse-back across America on his “Ride For Nature” project.He may be contacted at williamemarks@aol.com.

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Wellness Bound™ Magazine©2004 All Rights Reserved.