Wabi Sabi

There is a tradition in the Far East and centered in Japan that honors the sacred nature of the natural order in its imperfection and incompleteness. It is called in Japanese wabi sabi. One definition of this aesthetic is the "beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete ... a beauty of things modest and humble ... a beauty of things unconventional" (L. Koren). But it is more than a definition or even an aesthetic, it is also a way of life connected to the art of living in a Zen way. Its roots are in traditional Taoism which honors the natural order as a sacred path. Its contemporary expression is in the teaching of Zen Buddhism. Here is a quote epitomzing that way of being which moves the aesthetic from the outside to the inside of our own being.

Instead of just grumbling about one's dire straits, detesting one's poverty, or even struggling to free oneself of this want, to conversely take such extremes of material hardship and to not be constricted by the material side, transforming it all the more into a new-found realm of spiritual freedom, to not get caught up in worldly values, but to enjoy a tranquility beyond the everyday world, this is the life of the true devotee to wabi -- Haga Koshiro