Zen in the Art of Archery - Eugen Herrigel [0]
IN THE ART
OF ARCHERY
EUGEN HERRIGEL
Translated from the German by R. F. C. HULL
First Published 1953
PREFACE
In 1936 a lecture which I had delivered to the German-Japanese Society in Berlin appeared in the magazine Nippon under the title “The Chivalrous Art of Archery”. I had given this lecture with the utmost reserve, for I had intended to show the close connection which exists between this art and Zen. And since this connection eludes precise description and real definition, I was fully conscious of the provisional nature of my attempt.
In spite of everything, my remarks aroused great interest. They were translated into Japanese in 1937, into Dutch in 1938, and in 1939 I received news—so far unconfirmed—that an Indian translation was being planned. In 1940 a much improved Japanese translation appeared together with an eyewitness account by Prof. Sozo Komachiya.
When Curt Weller, who published The Great Liberation, D. T. Suzuki's important book on Zen, and who is also bringing out a carefully planned series of Buddhist writings, asked me whether I agreed to a reprint of my lecture, I willingly gave my consent. But, in the conviction of having made further spiritual progress during the past ten years—and this means ten years of continual practice—and of being able to say rather better than before, with greater understanding and realization, what this “mystical” art is about, I have resolved to set down my experiences in new form. Unforgettable memories and notes which I made at the time in connection with the archery lessons, stood me in good stead. And so I can well say that there is no word in this exposition which the Master would not have spoken, no image or comparison which he would not have used.
I have also tried to keep my language as simple as possible. Not only because Zen teaches and advocates the greatest economy of expression, but because I have found that what I can not say quite simply and without recourse to mystic jargon has not become sufficiently clear and concrete even to myself. To write a book on the essence of Zen itself is one of my plans for the near future.
EUGEN HERRIGEL
I
At first sight it must seem intolerably degrading for Zen — however the reader may understand this word — to be associated with anything so mundane as archery. Even if he were willing to make a big concession, and to find archery distinguished as an “art”, he would scarcely feel inclined to look behind this art for anything more than a decidedly sporting form of prowess. He therefore expects to be told something about the amazing feats of Japanese trick-artists, who have the advantage of being able to rely on a time-honoured and unbroken tradition in the use of bow and arrow. For in the Far East it is only a few generations since the old means of combat were replaced by modern weapons, and familiarity in the handling of them by no means fell into disuse, but went on propagating itself, and has since been cultivated in ever widening circles. Might one not expect, therefore, a description of the special ways in which archery is pursued today as a national sport in Japan?
Nothing could be more mistaken than this expectation. By archery in the traditional sense, which he esteems as an art and honours as a national heritage, the Japanese does not understand a sport but, strange as this may sound at first, a religious ritual. And consequently, by the “art” of archery he does not mean the ability of the sportsman, which can be controlled, more or less, by bodily exercises, but an ability whose origin is to be sought in spiritual exercises and whose aim consists in hitting a spiritual goal, so that fundamentally the marksman aims at himself and may even succeed in hitting himself.
This sounds puzzling, no doubt. What, the reader will say, are we to believe that archery, once practised for the contest of life and death, has not survived even as a sport, but has been degraded to a spiritual exercise? Of what use, then, are the bow and arrow and target? Does not this deny the manly old art and