Category: Culture

Everything cultural that interests me: music, reading, science, arts in general, news, photography…

The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery [en]

Many people interested in Japan or the martial arts have certainly read Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. Fewer are those who have equally read Yamada’s very interesting article titled The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery (Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2001, 28/1-2).

Before reading Yamada’s article, I had always taken Herrigel’s account pretty much at face value. When you consider the impact of Herrigel’s book on our understanding and interpretation of martial arts, what Yamada puts forth will definitely make one think.

Eugen Herrigel’s “Zen in the Art of Archery” has been widely read as a study of Japanese culture. By reconsidering and reorganizing Herrigel’s text and related materials, however, this paper clarifies the mythical nature of “Zen in the Art of Archery” and the process by which this myth has been generated. This paper first gives a brief history of Japanese archery and places the period at which Herrigel studied Japanese archery within that time frame. Next, it summarizes the life of Herrigel’s teacher, Awa Kenzo. At the time Herrigel began learning the skill, Awa was just beginning to formulate his own unique ideas based on personal spiritual experiences. Awa himself had no experience in Zen nor did he unconditionally approve of Zen. By contrast, Herrigel came to Japan in search of Zen and chose Japanese archery as a method through which to approach it. The paper goes on to critically analyze two important spiritual episodes in “Zen and the Art of Archery.” What becomes clear through this analysis is the serious language barrier existing between Awa and Herrigel. The testimony of the interpreter, as well as other evidence, supports the fact that the complex spiritual episodes related in the book occurred either when there was no interpreter present, or were misinterpreted by Herrigel via the interpreter’s intentionally liberal translations. Added to this phenomenon of misunderstanding, whether only coincidental or born out of mistaken interpretation, was the personal desire of Herrigel to pursue things Zen. Out of the above circumstances was born the myth of “Zen in the Art of Archery.”

Yamada Shoji, The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery (Abstract)

Photos of Switzerland [en]

As it’s too hot to sleep, here are some aerial pictures of Switzerland. If it stays this hot, I’m going to sleep on my balcony. 31.5°C says the thermometer. And look at what time it is.

First, the index for Switzerland. Zoom into my little canton, Vaud.

Start by visiting Lausanne. More than 300 photos available if you click on the map. This is the old town.

I live in this area, but unfortunately there are no pictures of my neighbourhood. There’s one of the World Trade Center, where part of the Orange offices are, however. My neighbourhood doesn’t look anything like those tall buildings you can see, by the way. Have a look at Prilly if you want a better idea of what it could look like—I live on the border between Lausanne and Prilly.

Le Mont is where I grew up. Again, unfortunately, no photographs of my father’s house. Check out the university: my building is the one alongside the motorway in the last picture. Hop off to Bussigny. The building I work in is the bottom one in the photo-before-last.

Traduction de iStockphoto.com [en]

Le site iStockphoto.com cherche des personnes intéressées à  le traduire en français. Envoyer un e-mail à  Bitter pour en discuter si vous êtes intéressé!

Identity Confusion in Blogland? [en]

Nithia sums it up: Gary Turner seems to be saying that Mike Sanders is in fact Mike Golby. Funny that I just mentioned Kaycee in my previous post—though IMHO, there is much less to worry about here.

If you feel concerned by alcoholism or co-dependance, you’ll probably find Mike Golby’s last posts very readable.

Harry Potter in Marathi! [en]

The first book of the Harry Potter series has been translated into Marathi.

I’m really keeping an eye open for a Hindi translation. I promise I’ll buy it and try to read it if it is published in Hindi. Reading a book you know and like in a foreign language you are learning is a great way to improve your skills: it makes you read a lot, and it’s not as discouraging as reading an unknown text: you know the story already, so you’re not reaching for the dictionary at every line.

[via The Leaky Cauldron]

Lausanne [en]

Lausanne est un petit village que l’on traverse en voiture en 20 minutes quand la circulation est fluide, et en 1h30 aux heures de pointe. Les gens dans le bus ne se parlent pas et regardent dans le vague. Les vendeuses à  la caisse de la Migros remercient cinq fois les clients entre le moment où elles donnent le prix total des courses et celui où le client est en possession du précieux ticket de caisse.

La Migros, on ne l’évite pas, en Suisse. Elle fait partie intégrante de la culture.

Lausanne, c’est aussi la Cathédrale, les rues du centre-ville désertes le dimanche, et peut-être de la neige en hiver si on a de la chance.

On aime ou on n’aime pas. L’assurance maladie obligatoire, l’assurance chômage, les flics à  tous les coins de rues, mais plutôt sympas, les feux rouges que personne ne grille, et les trottoirs propres. La vie chère, mais les salaires souvent élevés en conséquence. Quatre semaine de vacances par an pour les moins chanceux.

L’accent du coin, les panosses avec lesquelles on se réjouit de poutzer l’appart le samedi, nonante et septante, les voisins à  qui on dit poliment bonjour dans l’escalier pendant des années sans parler de rien d’autre… Les gens que l’on dit froids, parce que l’on n’adresse pas la parole aux inconnus, mais qui une fois amis aiment à  passer des heures au bistrot à  parler de tout et de rien, mais aussi des choses qui comptent.

Je pourrais en parler longtemps, de ma ville. Comme toute personne qui aime “sa” ville, j’en viens cependant toujours à  penser qu’il faut la visiter pour s’en rendre compte. C’est l’expérience sythétique de la ville qui compte – pas les petits morceaux en lesquels on peut la décomposer.

Avortement [en]

Visiblement, je ne suis pas la seule que ça énerve!

Initiative “mère et enfant”: une volonté de choquer.

[…] il faut avouer que la brochure distribuée la semaine dernière dans plus de trois millions de ménages suisses par les auteurs de l’initiative se situe à  un niveau de subjectivité rarement atteint.

Alain Pichard, mai 2002

Non-Religious Buddhism (Batchelor, closing words) [en]

How to create an authentic community, which provides a sound basis for the emergence of a culture while optimizing individual freedom, may be the single most important question facing those practicing the dharma today.

One of the strengths of religious Buddhism is its ability to respond unambiguously to this question through continued establishment of hierarchic institutions which have weathered centuries of turmoil and change. While such institutions may provide excellent settings for sustained training in meditation and refection, it is questionable whether they alone can provide a sufficient basis for the creation of a contemporary culture of awakening. The democratic and agnostic imperatives of the secular world demand not another Buddhist Church, but an individuated community, where creative imagination and social engagement are valued as highly as philosophic reflection and meditative attainment.

An agnostic Buddhist vision of a culture of awakening will inevitably challenge many of the time-honored roles of religious Buddhism. No longer will it see the role of Buddhism as providing pseudoscientific authority on subjects such as cosmology, biology, and consciousness as it did in prescientific Asian cultures. Nor will it see its role as offering consolating assurances of a better afterlife by living in accord with the worldview of karma and rebirth. Rather than the pessimistic Indian doctrine of temporal degeneration, it will emphasize the freedom and responsibility to create a more awakened and compassionate society on this earth. Instead of authoritarian, monolithic institutions, it could imagine a decentralized tapestry of small-scale, autonomous communities of awakening. Instead of a mystical religious movement ruled by autocratic leaders, it would foresee a deep agnostic, secular culture founded on friendships and governed by collaboration.

Stephen Batchelor, in Buddhism Without Beliefs, pp. 114-115 [end of book]

[emphasis mine]

Freedom (Batchelor) [en]

Instead of creatively realizing their freedoms, many choose the unreflective conformism dictated by television, indulgence in mass-consumerism, or numbing their feelings of alienation and anguish with drugs. In theory, freedom may be held in high regard; in practice it is experienced as a dizzying loss of meaning and direction.

Part of the appeal of any religious orthodoxy lies in its preserving a secure, structured, and purposeful vision of life, which stands in stark opposition to the insecurity, disorder, and aimlessness of contemporary society. In offering such a refuge, traditional forms of Buddhism provide a solid basis for the ethical, meditative, and philosophical values conducive to awakening. Yet they tend to be wary of participating in a translation of this liberating vision into a culture of awakening that addresses the specific anguish of the contemporary world. Preservation of the known and tested is preferable to the agony of imagination, where we are forced to risk that hazardous leap into the dark.

Stephen Batchelor, in Buddhism Without Beliefs, p. 110

[emphasis mine]