Class requirement 6

In one of the parables by Chuang Tzu as translated by Thomas Merton, there is an interesting one entitled ‘The Need to Win’. It goes like this:

“The Need to Win”

When an archer is shooting for nothing

He has all his skill.

If he shoots for a brass buckle

He is already nervous.

If he shoots for a prize of gold

He goes blind

Or sees two targets—

He is out of his mind!

His skill has not changed.  But the prize

Divides him.  He cares.

He thinks more of winning

Than of shooting—

And the need to win

 Drains him of power.  [xix. 4.]

In an example, this can be likened to stage fright when giving a speech, or entering a competition. One who is competing had practiced countless times in preparation to a particular event. But still, one still feels nervous. The negative ‘what ifs’ comes to mind. Everyone has felt what the archer felt at some point in our lives. It is implied in the parable that because of the desire of the archer to win, he became restless and nervous in aiming for his target. The eagerness to win has shrouded his focus on shooting itself. Instead his focus directed to the prize.

Winning is only one side of the coin. In winning, there is also a chance of losing. The anxiety that is brought about by desiring to achieve something is also triggered by the possibility of failure. The ability to achieve a goal is being blocked by fear of not doing well. One loses faith in his skill due to the pressure of his eagerness to achieve success and perfection. The archer failed to let go of his inhibitions.

We involve ourselves too much in the affairs of man and the world. We dwell too much in living in accordance with the standards that mere humans made. The Way of the Tao is not absorbed to the trivialities of man. It strives to follow what nature has. And nature must not be smeared with man’s interference, desire, emotions, and etc.

This emotional attachment to what we desire seems ironic. It seems that because of our emotional attachment to the outcome, it causes us to fail. In short, we care too much. It seems that the things that we want to reach are the very things that are dragging us down.

In other words, the cause of one’s failure to reach a goal is the fact that he gives more focus on his feeling of desire. The archer who shoots at nothing has the skill for his mind is detached to the weight of desiring to obtain a certain outcome. The archer’s focus was on the process of shooting itself. A person whose main concern dwells on what he desires he becomes pulled down and judgments become clouded. In Tao Te Ching 46, it speaks of great peril in letting our desire overcome our lives.

It seems here that when aiming at our target, we must clear our minds with eagerness to reach it. Instead the focus is simply doing what is required instead of over thinking the goal. As Taoists imply: Let go and follow the flow. One would think that doing the excess is better than having the possibility to achieve less. However, the efficiency in a task is really achieved when is not burdened with the desired outcome. Eventually, the purpose and goal will come smoothly.