How A Simple Phrase Improved My Accuracy As A Horse Archer
Clichés Aren't Bad If They Help
"This Arrow Only"
This was phrase my fellow Horse Archers repeated to themselves as we trained in those early years.
It was our mantra, our reminder.
It was meaningful. It spoke to us on many levels.
We’re also a bunch of nerds, so:
Years later, I was fascinated to read about the the same concept being taught by Kyudo Master Kenzo Awa.
I’ve been rereading Zen In The Art Of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. 1
Herrigel was a German Philosophy professor who studied Kyudo as a way to understand Zen Buddhism while he taught at the University of Tokyo for six years in the 1920s.
Master Kenzo, one of the greatest archers of the twentieth century, spoke often of this concept:
"Don't think of what you have to do, don't consider how to carry it out! The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise."
Master Kenzo Awa
As soon as an archer tried to concentrate on the process of loosing the arrow, his presence, his ego, interfered with his ability to do so.
This Arrow Only (TAO) was also our subtle nod to the philosophy of Tao. In Chinese, Tao is often translated as "the Way,” as in, the The Way of achieving something.
This Arrow Only was the only way we would achieve the results we sought. It reminded us that Ego Is The Enemy, which is a common refrain among modern Stoics.2
As my fellow Horse Archers and I trained, we would spend hours in front of a target shooting handfuls of arrows.
Any thoughts, any emotional reaction we had to our previous shot would negatively impact the current shot. It didn't matter if it was positive or negative. It was a distraction.
If I felt pride at a bullseye and hoped to repeat the success, I failed. If I felt discouraged or any sense of shame at a missed shot, I would fail again.
Any thought of future arrows would ruin the current shot as well. It didn’t matter what thought entered my mind. Thinking about how many points I needed, whether
to reach a goal
to compete with myself in order to reach a personal best
to compete with the others, even in friendly ways.
It didn’t matter. Any of these would ruin the current shot.
My fellow Horse Archers and I spoke of this often, and we agreed.
It was our mindfulness, our absolute presence, which allowed each arrow hit home.
Even if the term 'Mindfulness' was becoming a fashionable cliché at the time (circa 2020), it didn't change the truth of the matter.
This Arrow was the Only one that could exist in our minds.
No wonder this concept of mindfulness, of presence, of removing all distraction and ego, is central to warrior philosophies across time and space.
“This Arrow Only” helped me, helped us all, find the true stillness in a Warrior’s heart. It bound us together, like the sinew holding feathers to the arrow.
In front of the target, bow in hand, we were all equal. And equally at the mercy of our distracted minds.
I’m still searching for my stillness as I train.
I write about life, leadership, and niche business through the lens of Historical Martial Arts.
Well fuck. While reading more Eugen Herrigel and Master Kenzo Awa, I have learned that Herrigel turned out to be a fucking Nazi during the Second World War. I have complicated feelings towards trusting or using anything written by fascists.
His book remains one of the best works on two subjects of great interest to me: Kyudo, and the Japanese approach to Zen Buddhism. Does the authors politics taint everything he has helped me learn about those subjects? Can I separate the good I have gained from reading his book from the absolute bastard he was?
I don’t know. Like I said, it’s complicated. I’ve struggled with the same ideas when it comes to “Turning The Mind Into An Ally” by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the leader of the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and a problematic leader at the centre of a culture of sexual abuse in that same tradition.
Really makes it hard to find male role models worth looking up to.
For now, I want to acknowledge the harm these men have caused while I search for an answer on whether I can justify crediting them for any good in my life. I also refuse to use affiliate links to their works. These books exist. You can probably find them in your local library. I cannot in good conscious make money from their sale. I hate all of this.
Ryan Holiday, perhaps the most prolific and publicly recognized modern Stoic, has faced similar issues in his writing. Many of the ‘Great People’ he uses as examples in his early work are absolute bastards. How can take positive lessons from history from these people? It’s complicated. And I don’t have the answers.