September 1st, 2009 
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Amazon.com Review
So many books have been written about the meditation side of Zen and the everyday, chop wood/carry water side of Zen. But few books have approached Zen the way that most Japanese actually do–through ritualized arts of discipline and beauty–and perhaps that is why Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery is still popular so long after it first publication in 1953. Herrigel, a philosophy professor, spent six years studying archery and flower-arranging in Japan, practicing every day, and struggling with foreign notions such as “eyes that hear and ears that see.” In a short, pithy narrative, he brings the heart of Zen to perfect clarity–intuition, imitation, practice, practice, practice, then, boom, wondrous spontaneity fusing self and art, mind, body, and spirit. Herrigel writes with an attention to subtle profundity and relates it with a simple artistry that itself carries the signature of Zen. –Brian Bruya
–This text refers to an out (more…)
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book; not supposed to teach you how to release an arrow!
I have just re-read Zen and the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel.
I was a philosophy student in my undergraduate days, and my primary focus was on Zen, so I had…
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Book for all Artists
This is the famous little book that Minor White advised his pupils to read. It’s an account by German professor Eugen Herrigel of several years of archery lessons with a Japanese…
1.0 out of 5 stars
This is not a book on kyudo.
This is not a book on kyudo. As Earl Hartman says in another review, Herrigel did have little contact with kyudo in Japan (3-4 years).
5.0 out of 5 stars
Zen in practice
For me this book is first and foremost about Zen. Students of Japanese archery can come to it to take their craft to another level but for me the archery is just a mantle for the…
4.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful insight…
there’s an old adage in the acting world..’don’t give a performance, let the performance give you’..so what does that have to do with this book?
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic
This book had a real influence on my early spiritual development. I read it when I was a teenager; the impression I was left with was one of discipline, self-mastery, and the…
4.0 out of 5 stars
“Zen”
A relaxing read, but not always easy to follow. It is very similar to the process of understanding what Zen is.
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Introduction
Although Herrigel’s work is not the most brilliant writing his message still stands. This is a very brief work and easy to read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Truly Great Work
I think that this is one of the seminal Zen texts for Western students. It is very readable, interesting, and has been in continuous print for some 60 years.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally
I have been waiting for years to have this superb book to be transferred to CD. There is no difference between this and the cd version they are exact except maybe a better sound…