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Hi all, hopefully I'll have more luck with this film than the last one I posted.

I saw this film on one of the cable movie channels a few months ago. It looks like it may have been from the 70s-80s. It was a fantasy martial arts film that I think was based on Buddhist parables, though it was American-made and starred Americans, and rather bastardized the parables. The main character was a young wandering fighter named "Chord" or "Kord", I remember someone laughing about his name being like a musical chord. He was blond and shirtless (maybe he just wore a loincloth?). He was searching for a book that would teach him to be the ultimate fighter, and met many tests and mentors on the way. There were a lot of silent parts just looking at desert/rocky landscapes. His main mentor was a blind older man who played the flute. Chord/Kord had to prove his worth by fighting a bunch of monkey men, a desert warlord (who crucified Chord's short-lived girlfriend, yikes!), and a semi-invisible... cat man? I vaguely remember a guy in a dark monster suit with claws. Chord/Kord eventually found the book in a sort of Shangri-La where everyone dressed in goofy pastel purple robes. When he opened the book, there was just a mirror inside, and he laughed and returned to his flute-playing mentor to... continue the cycle, I guess? Anyway, I'd like to know what the film was called. Any help would be appreciated!

I'm fairly sure it's Circle of Iron.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078975/

Yes it is, thanks Shadow! Wow, I can't believe I didn't notice Christopher Lee and David Carradine among the cast.