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ZEN IN THE ART OF ARCHERY

By  EUGEN HERRI GEL

With an introduction by D.T. Suzuki

Translated by R.F.C. HULL

Ninth Priting, August 1968

The author of this illuminating little book on Zen doctrine is a professor of philosophy who taught at the University of Tokyo in the nineteen--thirties. At this time, he took a six years course of instruction in archery, with one of the great masters of this  “chivalrous art”. The Japanese understand archery not as a sport but as a religious ritual. It presupposes a spiritual attitude taught by Dhyana Buddhism, which in Japan is known as “Zen”. “Zen” is not speculation but immediate experience of a mystical character. The author’lessons in archery therefore were actually mystical exercices. He describes his training step by step, recollecting in detail all the resistances and inhibitions he had to overcome before he succeeded in penetrating in the spirit oa Zen doctrine. A doctrine as elusive as Zen is not so much explained as demonstrated in the process of training. The very fact that the teachings of the master are not theoretical but bound up with some thing as tangible as bow, arrow, and target, make it possible for the Western reader to get more than a glimpse of a fascinating realm of spititual life – perhaps the strangest tha Far East has to offer.

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