Vegetarian Era
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My
favorite sport is archery. In my childhood, I began constructing my bow
and arrows in the countryside in front of my parents' house. I believe
that I must have been an archer in past lives since I feel unhappy without
a bow, and I react in a strange way when I see archers in films. I stopped
shooting for many years because my business profession occupied so much
of my time. Later, I began to practice again after reading books about
Japanese Zen and Buddhist monks for whom archery was the "Kyudo" or "the
path of the bow". I learned to use their techniques and to shoot in the
same way: "When you and the world are one, when the target is you and
you are the target, then you release the bowstring by thinking and not
thinking at the same time." Those who are familiar with Zen know what
it means "to see with the ears and to hear with the eyes." I made very
important progress, for sure.
Then I became Master's
disciple several years ago and everything changed. The first big change
was the nutrition: as I didn't eat meat anymore, I feared the loss of
my muscular strength and physical resistance. My best friends believed
that I needed meat to match records, for without it, I would be trembling
and lack stamina. More serious was the fact that, in the meanwhile, I
was obliged to stay in the hospital for a long time. I didn't understand
why I became so sick, but soon I realized that Master had sent me this
"examination" to clean all the karma I had collected during the recent
years. When I was released from the hospital, I tried to participate in
the sports competitions as I had done previously. My first results were
not bad, just "acceptable". I found that I had to modify my food intake
according to the vegetarian diet.
On Sunday, I participated
in a compound bow-shooting competition, shooting 42 targets with 84 arrows.
The competition was held in the woods of Ottenburg. The weather was cool
but sunny with no wind. I had adapted my previous shooting technique to
one of meditating and shooting at the same time: before shooting, I closed
my eyes and recited the Holy Names, then I opened my eyes, looked at the
target, and tried mentally to put a golden aura around the target. I didn't
succeed in creating this mental image each time, but I tried my best.
Slowly but surely, my scores went up; sometimes I succeeded in placing
two arrows right in the middle of the target.
At the half of the competition,
I was in a position to match the Belgian record if I maintained the same
trend. I continued to use the same technique: close eyes, open eyes, and
project a golden aura around each target. I didn't know if it was an illusion
or not, but I didn't care.
At the end of the competition,
I had already shot 82 arrows out of 84 without being exhausted or having
muscular pains. At target number 41, I tied the Belgian record for compound
bow-shooting in the men's aged 50 and over division. On the last target,
number 42, I completely missed my last two arrows: too much nervousness
and stress. But this was no longer important to me. I had succeeded in
tying the Belgian record, proving that vegetarians can compete successfully
in sporting endeavors.
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