Recently I started practicing a new sport, horseback archery.
It was revived by a very special person, Hungarian man named Layosh Kassai. He started as a bower, one who makes bows. Then he bacame an archer, to test the quality of the bows he makes himself. Then he learned the art of riding and became the best horseback archer in the world. To him belong the Guiness recoreds and the world championship titles. He wrote an incredible book describing his path named "Horseback Archery". I decided to share with you some of his thoughts because it's really amazing to what deep insights he reached by following his path towards the perfect action (yoga):
On his vision about horseback archery:
"horseback archery appears as martial art. Therefore it is simultaneously important to create the harmony of the body the mind and the soul... Archery is a possible path towards ourselves, towards our internal world. Horse riding is a possible path to develop our relationship with the external world. And the aim is melding these two paths in horseback archery."
On his 5th Guines record:
The present, the existence and the presence
My aim was to shoot 14 flying discs in 20 seconds from the back of a galloping horse.
The faultlessly shot arrows hit the flying targets in 19.85 seconds. More than 8000 spectators indicated the success with a stormy applause. But did I succeed? Because there is a difference a man of our age has to make between whether something be a success or something succeeded. For me something is a success only if it is a catharsis. If the catharsis fails, the success can be of any size but it did not succeed after all.
At my world record two years ago in an increased but cleared up state of mind, it has burned into my brain like a brand what would be the definition of the necessary optimal state for the top output. ENERGY-FULL and EASY. I felt a huge strength in myself which was permeated with calmness; like an intimate village’s quiet atmosphere by the noon-chime. So I knew what was needed to bring the maximum out of myself. But at the previous time I could not observe what happened in the critical moment. In the course of my present effort I managed to glance in more deeply behind the scenes.
The spectators had 19.85 seconds to meet a horseback archer. The horseback archer had 19.85 seconds to meet his ancestors. I have disappeared for 19.85 seconds. Where I have been, I don’t know, but I know that, by what I was replaced with is incomparably better than me.
The job of a sculptor is to carve off the surplus. A warrior does not do anything else than to polish his technique throughout a lifetime to get rid of any unnecessary movements and thoughts. The almighty sneaks in undetected into the so created realm of pure act.
The news will sound somehow like this: Kassai Lajos with a newer record output has got into the Guinness book of world records. But you can believe me, I was the only one, who was not present at that moment.
Horseback archery till death!
Friendly regards,
Kassai Lajos
Kaposmérő, December 5th, 2011"
YouTube video:
Yes, ego comes in the way of perfect action.