Sublime

by the “art” of archery he does not mean the ability of the sportsman, which can be controlled, more or less, by bodily exercises, but an ability whose origin is to be sought in spiritual exercises and whose aim consists in hitting a spiritual goal, so that fundamentally the marksman aims at himself and may even succeed in hitting himself.

respected Tanchiu Koji Terayama, director of Hitsu Zendo. The English translation of his book’s title is Zen and the Art of Calligraphy (transl. by John Stevens; Penguin Group, 1983).

even after all the obvious levels of skill and craft (chi) have been mastered, the Yu still depends on the discovery of new challenges (the “complicated place” or “difficulties” in the above quotation), and on the development of new skills ... In other words, the mystical heights of the Yu are not attained by some superhuman quantum jump, but simpl

not to show those desirable things, so the people’s mind will not be

On ne s’en doute pas quand on va s’inscrire à un cours pour la première fois. On en attend d’être en meilleure santé, et plus calme. On en attend de gagner un peu de profondeur stratégique – ainsi les militaires appellent-ils la zone de recul possible en cas d’attaque aux frontières : l’Allemagne, qui est enclavée, en a très peu, la Russie au contr

You will stop fighting the ground to keep your body up and will learn to rely on your body’s structure to support itself.

Under such circumstances the problem of discipline became paramount. The Zen masters were forced to concern themselves not only with the way of liberation from convention, but also with the instilling of convention, of ordinary manners and morals, in raw youths. The mature Western student who discovers an interest in Zen as a philosophy or as a way

Before you start training, you must first understand that all of the training originates in your mind. You must have a clear idea of what you are doing, and your mind must be calm, centered, and balanced.

the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Be very very careful about this point. If you start to practice zazen, you will begin to appreciate your beginner’s mind. It is the secret of Zen practice.