Assuming that his talent can survive the increasing strain,
there is one scarcely avoidable danger that lies ahead of the
pupil on his road to mastery. Not the danger of wasting himself
in idle self−gratification ̇ for the East has no aptitude for this
cult of the ego ̇but rather the danger of getting stuck in his
achievement, which is confirmed by his success and magnified
by his renown: in other words, of behaving as if the artistic
existence were a form of life that bore witness to its own
validity.
– Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery
Image above:
First Archery of the New Year (Yumi hajime) by Torii Kiyonaga (1787)
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