Analysis Of Eugen Hirrigel's Zen In The Art Of Archery

“In order to innovate, you must play with fire”, Tony award winning director, Julie Taymor, often expresses. To make something new and create, one must be willing to play with the unknown. To do what is dangerous and expose himself or herself truthfully for the sake of play. As an actor, there must always be this curiosity to play with fire and do what is unexpected not only to the audience member, but the actor as well. This risk is the most difficult challenge to any artist for they must harness courage within themselves to go into the unknown and reap the benefits of their adventure.
This idea of risk is expressed similarly in Eugen Hirrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery and Stephen Nachmanovich’s FreePlay. Though each author experienced …show more content…
An actor must be willing to go beyond themselves and find within themselves many of the same notions. I have now gained a heightened sensitivity to that around me and what it truly means to be “creative”. These texts, as well as my own experiences in class, are what I base my artist statement upon. To be a vessel for creativity to move, letting my body inform my mind, and learning in a way which does not have a time-marked goal is what I strive for. Eugen Hirrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery tells of Hirrigel’s journey to study Zen by through traditional archery lessons by a Japanese master archer. His story is one which is common to those learning in a different capacity than one may be used to. In his journey, Hirrigel moves outside that which was comfortable to him and “plays with fire”. Because of this risk and the challenges he faced along the …show more content…
Once his body was loosened through means previously described, the mind became the issue in his path to Zen. Taming his mind was like he had his body through breath, except instead of giving up tension, “Withdrawing from all attachments whatsoever and becoming utterly egoless”. Once the two tensions were given up, the body and mind are allowed to sync up and can perform without resistance. This also creates what is described as “right presence of the mind” by Hirrigel. Described as a place where the spirit is not attached to any one place but rather everywhere. Once in this state, he was able to learn and simply allow his being to perform rather than the disconnect of the two where there was constant interference. The actions become, “automatic” and do not depend on his mind making the work happen or his body either. Both become responsible in achieving the task at