Habit and Training

Trying to reach zen, from all that I have read, is an arduous process. It requires tireless practice, supreme dedication, and drive.

My latest read – Zen in the Art of Archery left an impression. The subject of the book, the author, is tirelessly working on finding zen in archery, and generally has to throw everything he knew about mastery away to unlock something greater.

While reading, it made me think of two things that are outlined in the book.

1) The main purpose of training is to get back to your own intuition.

This seems to be counter intuitive, but the goal is to get back to yourself. You ultimately have the secrets that work for you. No one else can engage you for your best work.Ultimately the goal of any practice is to reduce latency between you and the action so far that even the tool you use is an extension of your brain.

Ex. The legend of the blind swordsman, where a person, even with no sight, can feel the danger and knowing his faults, mitigate his weakness and concentrate on his strengths.

2) Ritual is important.

One of the things that the master stresses to the author is that you cannot cheat process. The author does once after years of failure(his version of failure was not hitting the target) and is almost expelled. The masters point is that he was thinking of the wrong thing. Mastering the ritual, the habit, will make the target inconsequential.

The ritual, the keys to unlock the best work, gets you where you need to be.

Ex. In the book, the master is blindfolded and hits a target in the dark twice, in the center, splitting the first arrow. His ritual and habits connected him with his weapon and art, and he felt his target. His consciousness led him where he needed to go.