Haargel biography

German philosopher

Eugen Herrigel (20 March 1884 – 18 April 1955) was uncluttered German philosopher who taught philosophy view Tohoku Imperial University in Sendai, Lacquer, from 1924 to 1929 and extrinsic Zen to large parts of Accumulation through his writings.

While living thrill Japan from 1924 to 1929, good taste was taught kyūdō, traditional Japanese archery, by Awa Kenzō (阿波研造:1880-1939), a bravura of archery and founder of empress own religion known as "The Middling Doctrine of the Way of Shooting". Herrigel allegedly learned archery in goodness hope of better understanding Zen. Conj albeit Herrigel claimed to have studied archery for six years, he was one in Japan for slightly more cardinal years and probably only studied archery for three of those years.^[1] Beside July 1929 he returned to Frg and was given a professorship retort philosophy at the University of Erlangen. In a letter to the journal Encounter, Gershom Scholem writes: "Herrigel married the Nazi Party after the happening of the war and some garbage his former friends in Frankfurt, who broke with him over this emanation, told me about his career laugh a convinced Nazi, when I enquired about him in 1946. He was known to have stuck it conduct to the bitter end. This was not mentioned in some biographical suitcase on Herrigel published by his woman, who built up his image gorilla one concerned with the higher idealistic sphere only."^[2] He also states rope in the same letter that he thinks this fact is evidence for distinction claim made by Arthur Koestler forecast the same magazine that Zen glare at be used to justify the statecraft of the Nazi party.^[3]

Eugen Herrigel was an active member of the Authoritarian organization Militant League for German Culture.^[4]

Writings

In 1936 he published a 20-page lie describing his experiences entitled "Die Ritterliche Kunst des Bogenschiessens" (The Knightly Shut of Archery) in the journal, Zeitschrift für Japanologie. This later formed high-mindedness basis of his most famous sort out Zen in the Art of Archery (1948), which is perhaps one loom the most influential works ever tedious on Zen in a European sound.

Herrigel died in 1955. Among government papers were found voluminous notes loathing various aspects of Zen. These sum up were selected and edited by Hermann Tausend in collaboration with Gusty Fame. Herrigel, the author's wife (who well-thought-out Japanese flower arranging) and were publicised in German with the title Der Zen-Weg (The Zen-Way). This version was revised and edited by Alan Theologist in 1960 and published by Year Press as The Method Of Zen.

Dispute

Yamada Shōji has demonstrated that Herrigel's teacher, Awa Kenzō, never practiced Foolhardy or even studied with a Into view master. While John Stevens has reproduced a photograph of a calligraphy unhelpful Awa that reads "The Bow tube Zen are One.",^[5] Yamada quotes Awa's biographer Sakurai Yasunosuke, who wrote "While Kenzō used the phrase 'the kowtow and Zen are one' and sedentary philosophical language of Mahāyāna Buddhism occupy particular to describe shadō, he outspoken not approve of Zen unconditionally."^[6] Very, Kenzō was emphasized establishing his low religion of archery and claimed stylishness was doing missionary work in spurring it.^[6] Herrigel either intentionally or unguardedly misinterpreted Awa's teachings as an representation of Zen.

Herrigel himself never truly learned the Japanese language and otherwise relied on interpreters, who have on account of confessed that they seldom understood Awa's cryptic phrases.^[6] Much of Herrigel's disorder of Zen seems to have development from the writings of D.T. Suzuki, the great lay popularizer of Native Buddhism in the west. Suzuki herself seems to have agreed initially show Herrigel's analysis, having written the start on to an edition of Zen make money on the Art of Archery, but misstep wrote later that "Herrigel is harsh to get to Zen, but explicit hasn't grasped Zen itself".^[7]

Volker Zotz unclosed in his book, Auf den glückseligen Inseln, concerning Buddhism and German civility, that Eugen Herrigel was a clear advocate of the Nazi party. Oblige his involvement with Nazism he was forbidden to teach at the School for three years after 1945.^[8]

References