The Horsehair Vṅla Sutta (SN 56:45)
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('â', How trained these Licchavi boys are, how well-trained these Licchavi boys are, in that from a distance they can shoot arrows through a tiny keyhole without missing, one right after the other!â" "What do you think, ṅnanda? Which is harder to do, harder to master—to shoot arrows through a tiny keyhole without missing, one right after the other, or to take a horsehair split into seven strands and pierce tip with a tip?"1 "This, lord, is harder to do, harder to master—to take a horsehair split into seven strands and pierce tip with a tip." "And they, ṅnanda, pierce what is even harder to pierce, those who pierce, as it has come to be, that ),
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('â', This is stressâ; who pierce, as it has come to be, that ),
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('â', This is the origination of stressâ ⦠),
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('â', This is the cessation of stressâ ⦠),
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('â', This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.â "Therefore, ṅnanda, your duty is the contemplation, ),
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('â', This is stress ⦠This is the origination of stress ⦠This is the cessation of stress.â Your duty is the contemplation, ),
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('â', This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.â" Note 1. The Commentary tries to convert this feat into an archery trick, in which one fastens a strand of horsehair on an eggplant and another strand on the tip of an arrow, and then backs off to shoot the hair on the eggplant with the hair fastened on the arrow. This, however, sounds more like one of the impossible feats of marksmanship that Mark Twain once chided James Fennimore Cooper for including in his Deerslayer books. Even assuming that the hair on the arrow could withstand the force of the air pushing it back and actually stick straight ahead to pierce the other hair, the speed and force of the arrow would demolish any evidence that it had actually done so. Thus it seems more likely that the Buddha is describing a more delicate feat bearing more resemblance to the delicacy required in penetrating the four noble truths. - --> - - - -