Zen in the Art of Archery

Author: Eugene Herrigel

Buy it: Amazon

Entertainment Rating: 6/10

Value Rating: 8/10

Read If: You wish to master the art of doing.

Do Not Read If: You are too impatient to make it through a book that is not particularly exciting.

This book, written in the 1950’s was the first mainstream exposure to Zen for a lot of Americans. It spawned other works, such as Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, screenwriting, juggling, pick-up-sticks. Whatever you can think of, there is a book that has Zen in the front of it. But it all makes sense, because Zen is not about what you are doing, it is about how you are doing it. It is the principle of no-mind--Of allowing your body, brain, and spirit to unify and tap unconsciously into the moment allowing action to follow the wisdom contained when the over-thinking brain gets out of the way. As an amateur archer myself, I found the archery analogy to fit me well. But I encourage you, if archery doesn’t resonate, then pick up another book on Zen. It will certainly guide you just as well as this book did for me.

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