Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel is a classic on Japanese Zen Buddhism and it has been a bestseller for nearly 60 years. Concepts in the book have become fundamental ideas of how Westerners view Zen Buddhism. One example is the idea that a student studies simple tasks year after year at the feet of a master, before being allowed to do more important tasks. The book contains accurate instructions about learning and control, for learning any kind of sport or physical activity. For example, a central idea in the book is that through years of practice, a physical activity becomes effortless, as if the body executes complex and difficult movements without conscious control from the mind. From the book:

“The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull’s-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art.”

Download the pdf ebook here (60 pages):

Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel

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