Zen in the Art of Archery
$10.95
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$10.95
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Waking Lion Press
Zen in the Art of Archery
$10.95
Sale price
$10.95
Regular price
Ready to ship in 3 - 5 days
Zen in the Art of Archery, originally published in German, was first published in English in 1953, the first book to introduce Zen Buddhism to a Western audience. The translation was rather formal and scholarly, making for difficult reading about a subject that was already hard to understand. This new translation skillfully transmits the book's original meaning in a simpler, smoother style more accessible to modern readers, but with all of the author's fascinating experiences, explanations, and anecdotes intact.
In this illuminating account, the author recounts his six-year study of archery as a way to understand Zen. Under the guidance of one of Japan's great archery masters, he gradually overcomes his initial misconceptions and inhibitions and begins to feel his way toward new, true ways of seeing, acting, and living.
The author writes, "The art of archery is like a preparatory school for Zen, enabling beginners to understand, through their own experience, events that are not in themselves intelligible."
Mastering archery is not the key to achieving enlightenment, and this is not a practical guide to archery. Rather, it is a fascinating introduction to Zen principles and learning, an excellent and informative guide for anyone who wants to know more about the "Great Doctrine" practiced by the spiritual teachers of the Asian tradition.
Book Details
- Publisher:
- Waking Lion Press
- ISBN:
- 9781434105738
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Pages:
- 106
- Authors:
- Eugen Herrigel
- Published Date:
- 2025-01-01
- Language:
- English
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Is there a book on the craft of writing that you recommend to poets?
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. Though it's technically not a craft book, but rather a book on meditation and archery, I often say it's the best book on writing that I've ever read. Fundamentally, it's a study of what Elizabeth Bishop called the "self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration"—the flow state of being lost in the creative moment. Here's a quote from the book:
“The right art is purposeless, aimless! 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. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.”