There are different grades of mastery, and only when you have made the last grade will you be sure of not missing the goal.

Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel | Goodreads Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel | Goodreads

The instructor’s business is not to show the way itself, but to enable the pupil to get the feel of this way to the goal by adapting it to his individual peculiarities. You had to suffer shipwreck through your own efforts before you were ready to seize the lifebelt he threw you. Depending on your level, hitting the target may not be an essential component of moving up a grade, in a discipline where form is more important. You can feel his frustration every time he hits a wall, how much effort that he puts into breaking past these walls, his satisfaction upon finally getting it, his confusion over what his master is asking of him, and the underlying struggle of wrapping his head around detachment.

Nel libro ci viene raccontata l'esperienza come se avesse effetti stravolgenti sull'esistenza umana. Bow and arrow are only a pretext for something that could just as well happen without them, only the way to a goal, not the goal itself, only helps for the last decisive leap. If you release with your fingers or your shoulder, you cannot find the perfect shot as you have not let go of yourself. Un piccolo promemoria per scoprire come un lungo apprendistato, di un occidentale presso un maestro d'arco giapponese, possa permettere di cogliere quell'elemento che è capace di regalare la pace e il distacco da sé.

Zen in the Art of Archery: Eugen Herrigel, R. F. C. Hull

By breathing, you bind and combine; by holding your breath, you make everything right; and in breathing out, you loosen and complete by overcoming all limitations. The story goes something like this: Eugen Herrigel, a German teaching and living in Japan, set out to understand the meaning of Zen.ABSTRACT This paper discusses the impact of East Asian philosophical ideas on the origins and development of martial arts. Or maybe if I read a little more p Ci deve pure essere, supponevo, un rapporto tra bersaglio e punta della freccia, e così un modo di mirare che renda possibile far centro.

Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel, R. Hull

Caso vuole che abbia poi incontrato nuovamente lo stesso amico e riconoscendo il volume nella sua biblioteca gli abbia chiesto di nuovo un parere.The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. But that's the nature of cultural history I guess, the dream of having been a butterfly dreaming that one was human more important than what may not have been. For purposeful and violent people the rip of the thread becomes final, and they are left in the awful center between heaven and earth. A short and simple book about how Zen masters practice archery, and a memoir of the author's archery training in Japan.