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Seeking That Which Was Lost THE BOOK OFYALUN
雅伦The frame volume of the series: one book, meant for his children, that became six.
S Y Kelake BSc (Hons) · Shīfù Yǎlún Kelake
There was a time when I intended to write one book.
I called it, in my mind, The Book of Yalun. It would contain everything I had learned, everything I wished to pass on — to my children most of all, but also to whoever else might need it.
Life had other plans.
I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The experience changed everything, as it changes everything — not because death became suddenly real, for I had always understood it intellectually, but because time became suddenly finite in a way it never quite feels when you are healthy. I could not wait to finish something large. I needed to begin giving away what I had, in whatever form it could take.
So the one book became many. I began writing and sharing in smaller units: essays, reflections, notes.
I have learned not to take life for granted. And I have learned that what we wish to give must be given now — not when conditions are perfect, not when the book is finished, but now.
The thread, and the Lights
The kingdom of heaven is within you.Jesus Christ, Luke 17:21
As above, so below; as within, so without.The Emerald Tablet, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.The Buddha
Know thyself.Inscribed at the Temple of Apollo, Delphi
There is a thread running through the greatest teachings humanity has ever produced. It does not matter whether those teachings came wrapped in the robes of a Nazarene carpenter, the papyrus scrolls of an Egyptian master-builder, the quiet meditations of a prince beneath a bodhi tree, or the cryptic tablets attributed to a Hermetic sage. The message, stripped of doctrine and ceremony, is always the same: come back to the centre. Regulate yourself. Be upright. Be level. Know who you are.
This series is about finding it again.
What was lost is not gone. It was simply buried — waiting, patiently, beneath the accumulated weight of everything we became in order to survive.
The books can be read in any order. Each stands alone. But together, they form a single map of the territory — a map drawn not from a library but from a life.
Six volumes in one
The Book of Yalun collects six volumes of the Seeking That Which Was Lost series. Each stands alone. Together they form a single map, drawn from a life.
The Peaceful Warrior
Mastering the Art of Fighting Without Fighting
Drawn from thirty years of martial arts practice: the story of a life in the Wu Kwan, and the self-regulation it slowly builds.
The Sacred Fire
The Middle Way
The Upright
On standing when everything pulls you down. A study of integrity, resilience, and the vertical axis of the self.
The Level
On Finding Centre When Life Pulls You to the Edges
The discipline of centredness, examined with forensic precision.
Invisible Threads
The subtle force of words. Drawing on forensic psychology, NLP and ancient wisdom: the final and most personal volume.
Be blood, my friend
The reflection on Bruce Lee's words was first written into The Book of Yalun. It returns, in full, in The Flow. Read the whole poem
A transmission, then a conversation
From the foreword to The Flow: The Book of Yalun was a transmission. This is something different. This is a conversation.
About this edition
- Title
- The Book of Yalun · 雅伦
- Author
- S Y Kelake BSc (Hons) · Shīfù Yǎlún Kelake
- Series
- Seeking That Which Was Lost, the frame volume
- Contents
- Six volumes in sequence: The Peaceful Warrior, The Sacred Fire, The Middle Way, The Upright, The Level and Invisible Threads
- Edition
- First published 2025, ebook