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Zen in the Art of Archery (Vintage Spiritual Classics) (Paperback)
by Eugen Herrigel, Daisetz T. Suzuki
| Category:
Archery, Zen, Sports, Philosophy |
| Market price: ¥ 128.00
MSL price:
¥ 118.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Using archery as a metaphor, this brilliant book is a tale about a man's spiritual journey driven by intention and personal integration. |
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Author: Eugen Herrigel, Daisetz T. Suzuki
Publisher: Vintage
Pub. in: January, 1999
ISBN: 0375705090
Pages: 96
Measurements: 8.0 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00364
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0375705090
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- Awards & Credential -
A Classic Treatise on Zen living. |
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- MSL Picks -
In the 1930's, Eugen Herrigel moved to Japan to teach philosophy. In an attempt to gain a more profound understanding of Japanese culture, Professor Herrigel and his wife began the study of archery with a Master Zen teacher. After six years of hard work, Herrigal obtained the title of Master.
This book is his attempt to explain to a Western audience his journey from a novice to a Zen Master. Herrigel's writing style is spare and even elegant. He avoided the temptation to frame a cliché story of German "novice" being initiated into the mysteries of Zen by a wise, Zen Master.
In this little volume, Herrigel talks about how Zen is not solely a contemplative discipline, but the core of a "way of doing"- a way of living in the world, a way of practicing an art (in this case, archery), and an integral way of combining life in the world with spiritual practice. Herrigel, upon arriving in Japan, undertakes the study of Kyudo- Japanese Archery- under a master, who explains to him both the practical and spiritual principles of his archery style. The book takes one through Herrigel's practice, his insights, and finally his tests for mastership.
It's an interesting look at how Zen principles can be applied to any activity. If you've never been exposed to any Zen philosophy before, you will probably struggle with much of the seemingly nonsensical statements you'll encounter. But if you have a basic understanding going into the book, you should be able to get the value that the author intended.
A good book, if a bit thin (a bit over 100 pages) and Herrigel's romanticism and use of western terms might put off some readers, but overall a quality presentation of one westerner's experience with Kyudo.
Target readers:
Archery, Zen, Eastern philosophy and self help lovers as well as piano students.
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Eugen Herrigel (1884-1955), a German professor who taught philosophy at the University of Tokyo, penetrated deeply and personally into the theory and practice of Zen Buddhism. In endeavoring to become a Zen mystic, he experienced the rigorous discipline of training with a Zen Master for six years.
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So many books have been written about the meditation side of Zen and the everyday, chop wood/carry water side of Zen. But few books have approached Zen the way that most Japanese actually do - through ritualized arts of discipline and beauty - and perhaps that is why Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery is still popular so long after it first publication in 1953. Herrigel, a German philosophy professor, spent six years studying archery and flower-arranging in Japan, practicing every day, and struggling with foreign notions such as "eyes that hear and ears that see." In a short, pithy narrative, he brings the heart of Zen to perfect clarity - intuition, imitation, practice, practice, practice, then, boom, wondrous spontaneity fusing self and art, mind, body, and spirit. Herrigel writes with an attention to subtle profundity and relates it with a simple artistry that itself carries the signature of Zen.
(From quoting Bran Bruva)
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| View all 8 comments |
A reader (MSL quote), Canada
<2006-12-31 00:00>
There is the Zen of no mind in which you eat when hungry, rest when tired, and stop when finished. There is also the Zen known through the ritualized arts of discipline and beauty such as archery, swordsmanship, brush-and- ink, the tea ceremony, or flower arranging. This book is Herrigel's story of striking the target bull's-eye blindfolded. |
Robert Diefendorf (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I have played the piano for thirty-five years and taught it for over twenty. I have written a book on teaching piano that is in the Lincoln Center Library for Performing Arts. The ideas and examples in this book, along with my mentor, helped me achieve breakthroughs in music when many other methods failed. In a way, I owe much of my teaching success to this book.
The book's beauty lies in a westerner's desperate attempts to make logical sense of concepts that are irrational and experiential. For example, the master told the author to let go of the string but also to not let go... Let the spirit "It" pull the string from the hand. Gradually releasing it, the string should leave the hand as though passing through butter.
I can attest to this idea's power. In piano, achieving pleasant tone is a contradictory skill. On the one hand, you have to play with enough force to project tone, on the other hand, you have to attack the key gently to create a rounded sound. The solution I found is called the "controlled drop," where you must let the arm drop but catch it. Like letting go of a bowstring, letting go of my arm to make pleasant sound at the piano is a joint effort between conscious and unconscious will.
Illustrating the sometimes difficult ideas are great anecdotes and quotes in the book. Like when the author challenged the master to shoot blindfolded, thinking it would be a rhetorical request. Instead, the master did just that, hitting the bullseye and splitting the first arrow with a second. And like when the master said, when you make a good shot, do not celebrate, bow and thank the spirit It. You are not responsible.
Perhaps the quotes and stories in this book anger some students of kyudo because they are kind of movie cliches by now, but at the time, it was new. And more important than the sensational stories are the concepts and conundrums present in an entertaining, short memoir.
I have read it many times and will go back again. Perhaps it is not exactly what Zen masters are teaching nowadays, but it has the solid feel of strong, cogent ideas. And the reader works struggles to understand the ideas along with author in what seems like real time.
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Tollak (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
This inspiring account of Eugen Herrigel's encounter with Zen through the art of Zen archery is such a rare example of beauty and wisdom expressed in a truly humble, poetic manner. I've read lots of Zen literature and while there may be some inconsistencies with orthodox views on Zen philosophy and practice, beauty and truth are beauty and truth no matter what package they come wrapped in. If you insist on only accepting enlighten- ment when it conforms to your preconceptions or your intellectual prejudices then you've already circumvented the process before it's begun.
The fact that this book has had such an immense impact on so many lives, including my own, for so many years speaks volumes about the profound truths that it encompasses in it's modest dimensions. Thank you professor Herrigel wherever you are in the ethers for this extraordinary gift. |
Andrew Kushner (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I grew up with my father very active in Zen archery, and have been practicing meditation myself for about one year now. (Readers familiar with the Zen arts understand that this is a pitiful drop in the bucket; in his account, Herrigel spends that long learning to hold the bow.) Zen Buddhism is, by definition, a problematic subject to describe in words or in print. Herrigel seemed cognizant of the irreconcilability of the language of philosophy with the reality of Zen, but he did his best nonetheless. It also suffers from its status as one of the first Western works in its field. Some of the language is dated and anachronistic: e.g., "The Great Doctrine". These small criticisms aside, I would overwhelmingly recommend this book anyone with the slightest interest, not only in religion or philosophy, but in athletics or the arts. However, those coming from a background in Western religion or philosophy, no matter how sophisticated, may not know what to do with this book. In fact, such knowledge may impede the reader (p. 48):
"He [Herrigel's sensei]...tried to work through a Japanese introduction to philosophy in order to find out how he could help me from a side I already knew. But in the end he had laid the book down with a cross face, remarking that he could now understand that a person who interested himself in such things would naturally find the art of archery uncommonly difficult to learn."
Zen and the Art of Archery is not intended as a comprehensive overview of the Zen tradition. It is probably not the place to start for those that are completely unfamiliar with Zen, kyudo, Buddhism or Japanese culture. (I'm at a loss to recommend any one definitive work, but the works of D.T. Suzuki and Huston Smith come to mind.) What it is, is a fantastically written account of one man's historic experience as one of the first Westerners to study the Japanese art of archery. In proper Zen style, it is succinct; I read it in one hour-long sitting. It is packed with all manner of brilliant insights. My copy is virtually illegible from dog-earing, underlining, and note-taking. If you have some contextual knowledge of the afore- mentioned subjects, read this book immediately. If you don't, I might suggest that you hold off; it might strike you as so much "mystical mumbo-jumbo", as it did to my father (who subsequently dedicated his book - One Arrow, One Life - to Herrigel). |
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