One German professor, Herrigel, was one of the first Western disciples of a Zen master in Japan. He was learning archery. He was already a great archer in Germany, his arrow reaching to the exact middle of the target, the bull’s-eye. Herrigel went to Japan and remained there for three years with a master. He could not understand why the master was always saying, ”You missed” – and his arrow was always reaching exactly to the bull’s- eye. The master said, ”That is not the point, whether your arrow reaches the bull’s-eye or not. The point is that you should be spontaneous. Forget about the target. Remember that you should be spontaneous, you should not make an effort.” Three years passed, but the German professor, Herrigel, could not understand what this man was talking about. Every day he would try, and the master would say, ”No!” Finally he decided to go back: ”This is useless, wasting time!” He could not understand what this spontaneity is. He could not understand how you can be spontaneous when you are an archer. You have to take the bow in your hand, you have to aim, you have to be exact so that your arrow reaches to the point – how can you be without effort? Some effort is absolutely needed. And you will agree that he was not wrong. But Zen will not agree. The Zen master continued working, without getting bored or fed up that three years have passed and this man cannot relax. Herrigel told him after three years, ”Tomorrow I have to leave. I’m sorry that I could not understand. I still carry the idea that I am one hundred percent right, so how can you say that I don’t know archery at all?” So the next day, early in the morning, he went to see the master for the last time. The master was teaching somebody else, so he sat there on the bench and just looked. For the first time he was not concerned; he was going, he had dropped the idea of learning archery through Zen, so he was totally relaxed and was watching, just watching how the master took the bow in his hand and how he totally relaxed as if not concerned at all whether the arrow reaches to the target or not, with no tension and with no desire, being just playful and relaxed. He had been seeing the master for three years, but because he was full of desire he could not see that his archery was totally different: the value is not in the target, the value is in your gesture, in you. Are you relaxed? Are you total? Is your mind absolutely silent? A different orientation... because the archery is not important, the meditation is important. And a man of meditation, although he does not care about the target, simply reaches the target, with no mind, in utter clarity, in silence, relaxed. OSHO
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 13:35:58 +0000
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