Connection Of Zen Buddhism and Physical Activities
The Connection between Zen Buddhism and Physical Activities: An Old Western Idea in a New Eastern Wrapper
"You're trying too hard! Don't think so much. Just relax and let it happen." Every athlete has heard comments like these from their coach at one time or another. I know that I heard it from my baseball coach almost every game, especially when I came up to bat during pressure situations. I would stride to the plate, my shoulders tensing, running the scouting report for the pitcher and my last couple of at bats through my head. I would chop a few practice swings and get into my stance, dig into the box, wound up like a spring. But I could never get the bat around fast enough ...
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cultural experiences. Thus, the Zen enlightenment discussed by Herrigel is the same thing my batting coach taught me, but in the book it is described in spiritual, rather than physical terms.
Like with Herrigel, when he was first learning the ceremonial use of his bow, my coach had me put together a particular ritual that I would use before each at bat. I would do the same number of practice swings, the same number of steps to the plate, the same number of shifts in my feet to get well planted. I practiced the pattern over and over before I even took one pitch with it, making sure I could reproduce it without thinking. Although I did not think about it at the time, I was even breathing the same for each at bat, letting out a long breath as I took my stance, ready to breath in with the swing. The goal with the pre-batting ritual was to not have to think about it at all, to be able to do it subconsciously. My focus was on the pattern of the movement, rather than on the ...
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not to get frustrated, to not count every missed ball as a failure. At this point, Herrigel's Master could have been my coach when he said, "Don't think of what you have to do, don't consider how to carry it out!" That is exactly the sort of thing my coach would say whenever I missed the ball.
My coach did not say "You do not wait for fulfillment, but brace yourself for failure." But he did say, "Hang back, you're jumping too soon. Let the pitch come to you." I think these are the same idea, but told in two different fashions. Although my coach would never say, "What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will," my coach did often say, "You're trying too hard." ...
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Connection Of Zen Buddhism and Physical Activities. (2015, October 14). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Connection-Of-Zen-Buddhism-Physical-Activities/105080
"Connection Of Zen Buddhism and Physical Activities." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 14 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Connection-Of-Zen-Buddhism-Physical-Activities/105080>
"Connection Of Zen Buddhism and Physical Activities." Essayworld.com. October 14, 2015. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Connection-Of-Zen-Buddhism-Physical-Activities/105080.
"Connection Of Zen Buddhism and Physical Activities." Essayworld.com. October 14, 2015. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Connection-Of-Zen-Buddhism-Physical-Activities/105080.
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