In the January 2020 edition of Lion's Roar, a Buddhist journal, there is an article that caught my attention right away (even though I originally bought the magazine off the newstand because of feature articles on Thich Nhat Hanh). At first glance, the article seems to be about design concerns. It discusses the concept of wabi-sabi, first articulated by Murata Shuko, a fifteenth century Zen monk. He was reacting against the obsession of Japanese elites of his time with absolutely perfect symmetrical tea pottery. It was fashionable but it was also very expensive. Instead, Murata Shuko advocated for the use of second hand tea services that were often old, chipped or cracked. The words "wabi" and "sabi" were originally two terms. "Wabi" referred to poverty, even forelorness while "sabi" referred to leanness. In time the two terms came together and evoked a kind of rustic aesthetic freed from the goal of perfection, the idea of changelessness, and undue expense. Sandra Hannebohm comments in the Lion's Roar article ("Perfectly Imperfect," Lion's Roar, January 2020, p. 32) that originally wabi sabi "was a defiant response to elite materialism. Drawing on Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, and Daoism, wabi-sabi is a path towards freedom from the prison of perfection." As appropriated now in the West, wabi-sabi seems to refer mainly to style and interior design. I get that! My living room--in fact, my entire house--is an example of forced wabi-sabi. Since I never had enough funds for new and fashionable furniture, I got gently used and aesthetically pleasing items at antique marts, used and thrift stores, garage sales and even by the road awaiting the dumpster. If you look at the picture I am placing in this blog, you will see that my coffee table is a beaten up trunk. In 1966 when my dad gave it to me and stenciled my name on it before I departed for Peace Corps service in Brazil, it was already an old beat up thing. But I think it is beautiful because it reminds me of my dad, of great international travel and it serves as an excellent coffee table where I don't ever have to worry about coasters under glasses or hot coffee cups to maintain the sheen. As I reflected on the concept of wabi-sabi I realized that it is a deeply spiritual way of looking at life and death. There is impermanence in everything. People and things end up looking worn and sometimes broken. That is just the way of life and, for humans, no amount of Clinique products can stave off that reality. At the end of her article on wabi-sabi, Hannebohm quotes writer Elizabeth Farrelly in another Lion's Roar essay as saying "Wrinkles are earned. Why throw them away?" Hannebohm concludes that these biological signs of imperfection and change "signify a process of growth and death that makes this life worth living" (p. 33). Wabi-sabi is a spiritual way of thinking about life and death themselves.
1 Comment
5/8/2021 05:10:21 am
Attaining perfection is a common but elusive malady. I think this preoccupation is part of human nature but for some of us it has become an art form and the root of much personal grief. In Japan, when china is broken, artisans reassemble and fill the cracks with gold paste to remind themselves that life itself is full of impermanence and that is a precious insight. Would that we attain this attitude and practice in our response to daily living! Thank You so much for addressing this concept in your post.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
March 2023
AuthorDan Hoffman is an Indianapolis USA based spiritual director, supervisor of spiritual directors, and workshop/retreat leader. This occasional blog discusses things he is thinking about and wants to share. Comments are always welcome. |