Zen in the Art of Archery is a short book written by Eugen Herrigel. I hadn't read it until this week, and was positively surprised. Thanks to Markus for suggesting the book.
Herrigel wrote a modest book, not making any bold claims, but in the modest approach Herrigel stated something which feels deep, beyond words. It is a paradox that this book tells about something that can't be described in words.
Some parts of the book, delving in mystical depths, do not really speak to me, but those parts in which Herrigel describes the practice of archery, the forgetting of the self, those are strong and straight words. And this made me wonder whether photography can work as a practice of Zen - something which I have been thinking once is a while during the last few years. The book The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life by John Daido Loori seems to suggest there are ways of seeing.
There are a lot of books with the word Zen in the title, most of the rubbish. But I remembered one which is worth reading, despite the misleading title, namely Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing.
Bradbury is one of my all-time favorite authors, and in this book he tells of writing something which is quite profound. However, Bradbury's book doesn't have anything to to with Zen. Or maybe it has...
(Posting title is from the poem Go and catch a falling star by John Donne.)
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Pine Coppices
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Glad to read that you enjoyed Herrigel's book. It is old, published 1948 already, and the whole setting at that time certainly offered more or less only small academic niches for a book about zen and archery.
Nowadays the word zen can be a mere sales factor, and it becomes difficult to distill the books worth reading out of the mass of similar titles. I followed your advice and got my hands on Mirei Shigemori's book about the Japanese garden, and even the small part I've read now shows wonderful breathing images, in my eyes in a striving unison of the garden creator and the viewer/photographer.
@Markus: The garden art of Shigemori was a revelation, but it took me a long time to go through that small book.
It was interesting to compare this book with Sam Abell's book Seeing Gardens, which is a bit grandiose, but then some of the photographs in Abell's book are so down-to-earth honest, in their quiet perfection, that one can forget the occasional shouting. And he also visits Japanese gardens...
I only know the small number of images from Japan in Abell's "The Life of a Photograph", and they are indeed perfect. And I do admire his sober articulation, both with images and also words. Really no frills.
@Markus: Yes, "The Life of a Photograph" is just about perfect. I return to it again and again.
Juha, I have been following your blog since Martina recommended you. Due to this blog, a good friend got an LX5 and loves. I love your pictures. You get a look from the light that is unique.
Zen in the Art of Archery was a huge help to my photography, years ago, I must revisit it. I also read the Bradbury book and have just reordered it. Which book of Shigemori's do you recommend?
@James: Thanks!
The book I was referring to is "Mirei Shigemori - Modernizing the Japanese Garden" (Stone Bridge Press, 2005), written by Christian Tschumi and photographs taken by Markuz Wernli Saito.
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