Zen in the Art of Archery

It's nearly 80 years since this book was first published in Germany. It's probably nearly 40 years that this copy has been languishing on a bookshelf in one place or another. Now I'm aiming to read all my books once at least, it's finally time for Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel.

There is some criticism of the book on Wikipedia (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_in_the_Art_of_Archery), but I decided to ho ahead and read it with an open mind.

The book is a story of one man's encounter with archery in Japan, his struggle with the philosophy and discipline and his eventual understanding. I think the book starts to hit its stride in chapters V and VI as at this point he is gaining some experience.

I very much enjoyed his descriptions of his early experience of meditation.

"The demand that the door of the senses be closed is not met by turning energetically away from the sensible world, but rather by a readiness to yield without resistance. In order that this actionless activity may be accomplished instinctively, the soul needs an inner hold, and it wins it by concentrating on breathing. This is performed consciously and with a conscientiousness that borders on the pedantic."

Eugen Herrigel, Chapter V, Zen in the Art of Archery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, ISBN 0-7100-7483-2, p52

"As though sprung from nowhere, moods, feelings, desires, worries and even thoughts incontinently rise up, in a meaningless jumble, and the more far-fetched and preposterous they are, and the less they have to do with that on which one has fixed one’s consciousness, the more tenaciously they hang on. It is as though they wanted to avenge themselves on consciousness for having, through concentration, touched upon realms it would otherwise never reach. The only successful way of rendering this disturbance inoperative is to keep on breathing qietly and unconcernedly, to enter into friendly relations with whatever appears on the scene, to acustom oneself to it, to look at it equably and at last grow weary of looking.

Eugen Herrigel, Chapter V, Zen in the Art of Archery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, ISBN 0-7100-7483-2, p53/54

He explains how ritual and meditation is important in all the Japanese arts. He gives an example of flower arranging, which his wife was studying.

"A flower master begins the lesson by cautiously untying the bast which holds together the flowers and sprays of blossom, and laying it to one side carefully rolled up. Then he inspects the sprays one by one, picks out the best after repeated examination, cautiously bends them into the form which exactly corresponds with the role they are to play, and finally places them together in an exquisite vase. The completed picture looks just as if the Master had guessed what Nature had glimpsed in dark dreams."

Eugen Herrigel, Chapter VI, Zen in the Art of Archery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, ISBN 0-7100-7483-2, p61

It is very much as if these arts are not skills in the way we would normally recognise them. Rather than being someone learning a skill, firstly a sense of no-self needs to be recognised before practice so that the self does not get in the way of what is natural.

Even after understanding this there was still a tendency to look for a shortcut or to 'fake' what was being asked of him. However his archery master was not fooled.

The author considered the possibility of giving up entirely, but decided to apply patience and perseverance. He was eventually rewarded.

"Only after a considerable time did more right shots occasionally come off, which the Master signalized by a deep bow. How it happened that they loosed themselves without my doing anything, how it came about that my tightly closed right hand suddenly flew back wide open, I could not explain and I cannot explain to-day."

Eugen Herrigel, Chapter VII, Zen in the Art of Archery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, ISBN 0-7100-7483-2, p74/75

The author progressed to shooting at targets. Again here there was much to learn. The author shows great perseverance. He doesn't understand, has many questions, but continues to follow instructions.

"You must act as if the goal were infinitely far off. For master archers it is a fact of common experience that a good archer can shoot further with a medium-strong bow than an unspiritual archer can with the strongest. It does not depend on the bow, but on the presence of mind, on the vitality and awareness with which you shoot."

Eugen Herrigel, Chapter VIII, Zen in the Art of Archery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, ISBN 0-7100-7483-2, p77

And even when successful he was cautioned to remain in equanimity.

"‘You know already that you should not grieve over bad shots; learn now not to rejoice over the good ones. You must free yourself from the buffetings of pleasure and pain, and learn to rise above them in easy equanimity, to rejoice as though not you but another had shot well. This, too, you must practise unceasingly—you cannot conceive how important it is.’"

Eugen Herrigel, Chapter VIII, Zen in the Art of Archery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, ISBN 0-7100-7483-2, p85

The author's perseverance brings understanding and success.

"‘I must only warn you of one thing. You have become a different person in the course of these years. For this is what the art of archery means: a profound and far-reaching contest of the archer with himself'"

Eugen Herrigel, Chapter IX, Zen in the Art of Archery, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, ISBN 0-7100-7483-2, p90

The book is quite short but very much carries the profound experience of learning an inner discipline rather than an external skill. For this reason, I would recommend it.