Shared by Sue Anawalt
Wabi Sabi is a Japanese concept considered to have arisen out of Zen Buddhism and is most often associated with the Japanese Tea Ceremony. It is pertinent here to insert a famous zen saying regarding my expertise on wabi sabi. “He who does not say knows.” and “He who says does not know.” With that disclaimer I will go on to declare that the spiritual values of wabi sabi are considered to come from what nature has to teach us.
The three main lessons are: All is impermanent. Even the hardest materials wear down and fade away. All things will have imperfections. Upon close observation even the most perfect things will have flaws and over time these will increase. Look at some of the ancient classical art pieces. Finally, all things are in a constant state of evolving and dissolving, including the universe. In one reading I did on Wabi Sabi by Leonard Koren he points out that, “We might mistake the newborn baby boy—small, wrinkled, bent, a little grotesque looking, for a very old man on the brink of death.” p.45.
Wabi Sabi was an aesthetic reaction to the 16th century ostentatious Chinese art of very fine porcelain and objects made of gold and precious jewels. As the Japanese tea ceremony evolved, the tea utensils became more crude and in line with Japan’s native folk craft. Materials would be earthen, dark, perhaps, misshaped. These things are never, or should never, be locked away in a museum.
From the limited research I have done, I can see there is quite a resistance to defining the term wabi sabi. Consequently, I won’t attempt to do so. However, where wabi sabi exists is in: tea gardens, bonsai, poetry (haiku and tanka) ceramics, and flower arrangement. One might be forgiven for saying that wabi sabi is evocative of a feeling.
Hakone Zendo 