Eugen Herrigel "Zen in the Art of Archery

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that his experiences, his conquests and spiritual transformations, so long as they still remain " his ", must be conquered and transformed again and again until everything " his " is annihilated. Only in this way can he attain a basis for experiences which, as the "all−embracing Truth" rouse him to a life that is no longer his everyday, personal life. He lives, but what lives is no longer himself. From this standpoint we can understand why the Zen adept shuns all talk of himself and his progress. Not because he thinks it immodest to talk, but because he regards it as a betrayal of Zen. Even to make up his mind to say anything about Zen itself costs him grave heart−searchings. He has before him the warning example of one of the greatest Masters, who, on being asked what Zen was, maintained an unmoving silence, as though he had not heard the question. How then could any adept feel tempted to render an account of what he has thrown away and no longer misses? In these circumstances, I should be shirking my responsibilities if I confined myself to a string of paradoxes and took refuge behind a barrage of high−sounding words. For it was my intention to throw light on the nature of Zen as it affects one of the arts upon which it has set its stamp. This light is certainly not illumination in the sense fundamental to Zen, but at least shows that there must be something behind the impenetrable walls of mist, and which, like summer lightning, heralds the distant storm. So understood, the art of archery is rather like a preparatory school for Zen, for it enables the beginner to gain a clearer view, through the works of his own hands, of events which are not in themselves intelligible. Objectively speaking, it would be entirely possible to make one’s way to Zen from any one of the arts I have named. However, I think I can achieve my aim most effectively by describing the course which a pupil of the art of archery has to complete. To be more precise, I shall try to summarize the six−year course of instruction I received from one of the greatest Masters of this art during my stay in Japan. So it is my own experiences which authorize me in this undertaking. In order to make myself intelligible at all ˙ for even this preparatory school
holds riddles enough ˙ I have no alternative but to recollect in detail all the resistances I had to overcome, all the inhibitions I had to fight down, before I succeeded in penetrating into the spirit of the Great Doctrine. I speak about myself only because I see no other way of reaching the goal I have set before me. For the same reason I shall confine my account to essentials, so as to make them stand out more clearly. I consciously refrain from describing the setting in which the instruction took place, from conjuring up scenes that have fixed themselves in my memory, and above all from sketching a picture of the Master ˙ however tempting all this may be. Everything must hinge on the art of archery, which, I sometimes feel, is even more difficult to expound than to learn; and the exposition must be carried to the point where we begin to discern those far−off horizons behind which Zen lives and breathes.
Page 3: ZEN IN THE ART OF ARCHERY by EUGEN
Page 6 and 7: economy of expression, but because
Page 8 and 9: This sounds puzzling, no doubt. Wha
Page 10 and 11: mean accomplishing anything outward
Page 14 and 15: II Why I took up Zen, and for this
Page 16 and 17: I begged one of my colleagues, Sozo
Page 18 and 19: words he gripped my hands and slowl
Page 20 and 21: process seemed like a living thing
Page 22 and 23: IV To be able to draw the bow " spi
Page 24 and 25: achieved so far only became intelli
Page 26 and 27: not burst open like the skin of a r
Page 28 and 29: " You must collect yourselves on yo
Page 30 and 31: which can be heightened into the fe
Page 32 and 33: VI It is this mastery of form that
Page 34 and 35: the pupils and themselves it seems
Page 36 and 37: accomplish if he is to fulfil his v
Page 38 and 39: The Master must have felt what was
Page 40 and 41: " Once you have grown truly egoless
Page 42 and 43: VIII " Well, at least we’ve got o
Page 44 and 45: purposelessness at its highest, of
Page 46 and 47: The Master had evidently hit me, to
Page 48 and 49: IX More than five years went by, an
Page 50 and 51: curious! And when you have passed b
Page 52 and 53: to the art of archery. However that
Page 54 and 55: The reason, according to Takuan, is
Page 56 and 57: What is very much more difficult an
Page 58 and 59: Like the beginner the swordmaster i
Page 60: If he is irresistibly driven toward

Eugen Herrigel "Zen in the Art of Archery

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