Zen in the Art of Archery

by Eugen Herrigel

You are under an illusion ", said the Master after a while, " if you imagine that even a rough understanding of these dark connections would help you. These are processes which are beyond the reach of understanding. Do not forget that even in Nature there are correspondences which cannot be understood, and yet are so real that we have grown accustomed to them, just as if they could not be any different. I will give you an example which I have often puzzled over. The spider dances her web without knowing that there are flies who will get caught in it. The fly, dancing nonchalantly on a sunbeam, gets caught in the net without knowing what lies in store. But through both of them Ît ˜ dances, and inside and outside are united in this dance. So, too, the archer hits the target without having aimed˙more I cannot say. "