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"Learning without practice is weak. Practice without learning is blind."
I posted this quote back in 2013 that I first heard it during a Richard McKinney lecture at the Philadelphia Buddhist Association. When I asked him, Richard attributed it to Shin’ichi Hisamatsu, who died in 1980 and was associated with the modern Rinzai Zen movement. Richard shared with me that he first heard this quote in Kyoto at Hanazono University, the only Rinzai Zen-based university. He also told me that the quote actually may harken to a previous source, perhaps from Chinese Chan masters from which Japanese Zen found inspiration.
Richard McKinney (1934 - 2018) was Senior Docent at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology for the Asian galleries. He was a past-president and founding member of the Philadelphia Buddhist Association, a non-sectarian Buddhist educational organization established 1986. Richard served on the Board of Trustees, taught a monthly meditation class, and held a monthly discussion group on meditation.
If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see Blueberry on a Wood Block (2013) or a bunch of my paintings of blueberries.
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