Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Zen in the Art of Archery

Top positive review

Thought provoking

Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2023

Read carefully. An older writing that requires attention to fully comprehend.
Archery is used only to describe the attainment of Zen. I was able to gain plenty of insight and improve my acting and improvisation performance.

One person found this helpful

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Jeff Lacy

I retain some of this

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2023

Spiritual teaching and understanding that requires long, patient, rigorous learning. Now the Zen of trumpet playing. Repeating exercises, expanding range, performing the ritual to play correctly, mastering the craft, the art. Playing with a quiet mind, worrying no longer on the how, but letting go the intellect and playing from the heart, the soul, the mysterious muscle memory, performing without worry, without the critical voice interfering, finding the center in oneself.

3 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Nick

Book Has A Few Defects

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2023

Verified Purchase

The spine of the book is misaligned. So, it's still readable, but you can barely see the title when it's sitting on the bookshelf. Book also had some water damage on the bottom and a line going across the front cover. I'm still going to read it, but I'm not too happy with the condition, seeing as it was supposed to be brand new.

One person found this helpful

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MsP

boring - ideas and intent do not come across at all.

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2013

Verified Purchase

pretty boring. just terrible stories about his experiences learning archery with some 'great master' and all the 'Zen' moments -- which amount to pretty much nothing. I suppose since Zen was so new to the USA at the time the book was written, it became a big hit. A lot of acting teachers use the book, but it really is very boring to read. I much prefer Zen in the Martial Arts - more dynamic storytelling, more useful applications of the ideas, etc. I do not recommend Zen in the Art of Archery.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Good read

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2017

Verified Purchase

Pretty good read . Gets a little hippy dippy at times and seems like the paragraph formatting could be improved but in did enjoy reading

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Craig Schneiderwind

Meh

Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2016

Verified Purchase

Pretty much repeats the same thing over and over, but sorta interesting. Switches at the end to swordsmanship for some reason. If your Really into archery it's almost worth reading

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Jason Burton

Two Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

Very difficult to read at times. I know it was translated but so many run ons. Ugh.

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Tmbrlnd45

Lacking

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

A lot smaller than I thought from a book. A quick read, maybe 100 pages, should have looked more at the details :)

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Gary S

Zen in the Art of Archery

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

Clear as mud. I felt as if I was reading a work written for the edification of the author. Pretentious

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barefeetzen

A worthy book, but misrepresents both Zen Buddhism & Kyudo.

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2001

Before I begin, I would like to mention that I have been a student of Zen Buddhism for some years and have also been a kyudo practitioner for some time. Thus, I think I can speak a little from both sides.

I shall first state that this book is truly an inspirational account of Mr.Herrigel's own personal, spiritual journey and should be recognized as a good read. It is also a good starting point for a Western beginner of Zen Buddhism as it gives him/her a glimpse from a Westerner's perspective.

Having said that, Zen in the Art of Archery has some fundamental problems and errors that misrepresents both Zen Buddhism and kyudo.It might surprise some readers to learn that it has been severely criticized by modern teachers and practitioners of kyudo.

To start with, as stated in the book, Herrigel has only one intention of learning kyudo-to become a Zen mystic. Thus his heart is not in kyudo at all. Just as one should do zazen for the sake of zazen one should also do kyudo for the sake of kyudo. Herrigel came to study kyudo with his cup half-full.

Next, one must also know that Awa, Herrigel's teacher himself has never been a Zen practitioner and has never done a formal Zen training at all, which is all-important for someone who wishes to understand Zen. Awa, while a fantastic archer, has also been regarded as highly unorthodox in his teaching and views and one should thus not equate his teachings to be the norm of kyudo and Zen.

Another glaring problem is that Mr. Herrigel himself does not understand Japanese and relies on an interpreter, Mr. Komachiya. Mr. Komachiya has himself wrote that he has taken liberty in explaining some of Awa's words to Herrigel.

One of the most important part of the book, the Target in the Dark, highlights this problem. The careful reader will realize that in the entire episode, Herrigel is trying to understand Awa without an interpreter at all. One can easily speculate the misinterpretations that might have taken place. Another famous incident is where Awa supposedly says, "It Shoots". Scholars of both Japanese and German have speculated that what Awa meant was that "It just happened." Meaning that he was lucky. For those looking for a more detailed criticism, one should read Yamada Shoji's excellent essay, The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery.

My contention in this review is not to debase Zen's relationship with Kyudo. Indeed Kyudo is heavily influenced by Zen and one can absorb traces of Zen in the practice of Kyudo. But one should also try to read this book with an open eye and should not treat this book as a reliable, definitive account of both Zen and Kyudo.

135 people found this helpful

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Austin Drummer

Interesting Book if you Aren't Interested in Zen

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2021

The book is an interesting look at the author's ideas about mysticism and his biased and essentialist application of those ideas to Japanese Zen and archery. It's a good read, but should not be taken as in any way about Zen. If you do read it, also get Yamada Shoji's important book Shots in the Dark, which presents an outstanding critique of Herrigel's work.

One person found this helpful

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kirtida gautam

cultural appropriation

Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2017

Books with Master and Pupil theme always work for me. I can hear all the variations of this myth and enjoy them. Again and again.
Yet, this book didn't work for me.
I failed to see a genuine learning in the voice of the author. It was almost caricaturish. Lately I have also become very sensitive to cultural appropriation, and I no longer enjoy reading books on Yog that are written by someone who can't read Sanskrit, or a book on Zen by someone who doesn't understand Japanese language.
Essence or what the author calls "It" in this book, is in roots.
Let the people from a culture tell their stories.
Let root be watered, and not fruits.
Please for heaven's sake, stop going to India, China, or Japan, learn a craft (or about a culture), and come back to Western countries to share the 'knowledge.'
If people born and raised in western countries truly want to bridge the cultural gape, they should create platform for indigenous people to tell the stories of their art and culture.

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