Book notes |
||
| Zen and the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel | ||
|
"I must only warn you of one thing," said the master, as the professor prepares to return to Europe. "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. Perhaps you have hardly noticed it yet, but you will feel it very strongly when you meet your friends and acquaintances again in your own country: things will no longer harmonize as before. You will see with other eyes and measure with other measures. It has happened to me too, and it happens to all who are touched by the spirit of this art. |
I found this 1953 classic in the recyclilng pile in El Cerrito a year ago and finally got around to reading it. That a Zen master's arrow can not only hit the bullseye in the dark is amazing. That his second arrow splits the first, even more so. But beyond even that is the perseverance of a German philosophy professor who devotes six years of often baffling practice to master the ancient art of archery. |