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Eugen Herrigel Biography

Eugen Herrigel (20 March 1884 – 18 April 1955) was a German philosopher who taught philosophy at Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai, Japan, from 1924 to 1929 and introduced Zen to large parts of Europe through his writings.

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Eugen Herrigel Quotes

He grows daily more capable of following any inspiration without technical effort, and also of letting inspiration come to him through meticulous observation.

Daily, Effort, Following, Inspiration, Letting, Meticulous

The man, the art, the work--it is all one.

Art, He Man, Man, Men

Far from wishing to awaken the artist in the pupil prematurely, the teacher considers it his first task to make him a skilled artisan with sovereign control of his craft.

Artist, Control, Craft, Prematurely, Teacher, Wish

Don't think of what you have to do, don't consider how to carry it out! The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise. It must be as if the bowstring suddenly cut through the thumb that held it. You mustn't open the right hand on purpose.

Archer, Carry, Cutting, Open, Purpose, Thinking

The shot will go smoothly only when it takes the archer himself by surprise.

Archer, Crafts, Surprise, Takes

Often nothing keeps the pupil on the move but his faith in his teacher, whose mastery is now beginning to dawn on him. . . . How far the pupil will go is not the concern of the teacher and master. Hardly has he shown him the right way when he must let him go on alone. There is only one thing more he can do to help him endure his loneliness: he turns him away from himself, from the Master, by exhorting him to go further than he himself has done, and to "climb on the shoulders of his teacher. "

Further, Loneliness, Move, Pupil, Teacher, Teaching

The right shot at the right moment does not come because you do not let go of yourself. You do not wait for fulfilment, but brace yourself for failure.

Come, Failure, Let, Letting Go, Right, Waiting

Zen Buddhism does not preach. Sermons remain words. It waits until people feel stifled and insecure, driven by a secret longing.

Buddhism, Driven, Insecure, People

By letting go of yourself, leaving yourself and everything yours behind so decisively that nothing more is left of you but a purposeless tension.

Leaving, Left, Letting, Letting Go, Nothing, Tension

The spider dances her web without knowing there are flies that will get caught in it. The fly, dancing nonchalantly on a sunbeam gets caught without knowing what lies in store. But through both of them "It" dances. So, too, the archer hits the target without having aimed-more I cannot say.

Archer, Having, Hits, Knowing, Lying, Web

The hand that guides the brush has already caught and executed what floated before the mind at the same moment the mind began to form it, and in the end the pupil no longer knows which of the two-mind or hand -was responsible for the work.

Executed, Hands, Mind, Moment, Responsible, Two

This means that the mind or spirit is present anywhere, because it is nowhere attached to any particular place. And it can remain present because, even when related to this or that object, it does not cling to it by reflection and thus lose its original mobility.

Cling, Mean, Mind, Reflection, Remain, Spirit

This, then, is what counts: a lightning reaction which has no further need of conscious observation. In this respect at least the pupil makes himself independent of all conscious purpose.

Independent, Lightning, Needs, Pupil, Reaction, Respect

Eugen Herrigel Biography

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