wabi sabi simple

Having been a fan of Richard's wabi-sabi world for some time, I decided to buy one of his books, Wabi Sabi Simple. It struck a chord in many a passage: he doesn't hang about, but gets straight into the job in hand. A couple of quotations from the early pages should suffice for now:

"Filling life with wabi sabi might be as simple as emptying it of clutter. Wabi sabi cannot be contained in anything square, boxy, or bright, nor can it ever be modular. Quality control kills it, and uniformity negates it. It has to be authentic, genuine, and natural. It perishes under refinement, and sameness wilts it. Acquiring large quantities of wabi sabi objects defeats the purpose, because central to their appeal is their uniqueness, their one-of-a-kind feel, and the way they make life less institutional, less grandiose, less highfalutin'. Having lots of wabi sabi is a contradiction." p.6.

"[Wabi sabi] describes a certain type of simplicity, not the simplicity of square apartment buildings, nor the unimaginative simplicity of mass media, mass transportation, or mass marketing. It is not about volume or size. Bigger is not better and faster is not fantastic. It is about travel at a human speed, eating natural food, and slowing down to be mindful. It is about respectful conversation, harmonious and peaceful dwellings, and modest behavior. It is ordered but not orderly, planned but not scheduled, simple but not simple-minded, and deliberate without being rigid." p.7.

mindfulness, or the lack thereof

Long time, no post...

Today I bought a small meditating Buddha figure. The idea was to place it in a prominent position on my desk at work, to remind me to practice mindfulness.

When I got to the office, I snipped the string attaching the price label to the figure. Unfortunately, due to thinking of something entirely unrelated whilst performing this operation, I also snipped my finger.

Mindfulness? Hah!

experience tells me...

...that swine flu is NOT wabi sabi.

quotes

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” - Hans Hofmann

"Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” - Will Rogers

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

thanks to mnmlist.com for these, and to Shojin for pointing me in mnmlist's direction.

a year passes - just sitting

It's my birthday today. From my 9 yr old I received a box of fruit jelly sweets and a bottle of organic beer. My wife & parents clubbed together to buy me a really top-notch buckwheat hull-filled zafu from Blue Banyan . So - no excuse now.

a disquieting thought

A beautiful September day. Sun blasting through the atmosphere. Walking back to the rail station after work - "Do long shadows have to do with wabi sabi?"



Answers here please...

quote

"Working Definition: Wabi Sabi is a way of life that appreciates natural beauty, values simplicity, and nurtures an authentic self. It acknowledges that nothing lasts, nothing’s finished, nothing’s perfect, including you, but affirms that contentment is possible when you accept genuine unvarnished existence, with clarity and grace." - Richard Powell, 2003 - see Richard's Wabi Sabi World.

quote

"Someone once sent me a bone-shaped dog tag that you could wear on a cord around your neck. Instead of a dog's name, it said, 'Sit. Stay. Heal.'
Pema Chodron, Taking the Leap:

back to normal

The rain has started again! And the washing was out.

sometimes it's hard to spot, but it's there if you look...

The rain stopped yesterday. Kids' programmes blare from the TV. My meditation space (a small spot in the spare bedroom) has been stacked up with junk ready to go to a charity shop.

Beam me up, Scotty.

However, I rediscovered a small pot I bought from the potter long ago & thought was lost. It was a "second" & cost 10p. It's about 2.5 " in diameter, & there's a small touch of wabi-sabi about it - and in the fact that it was mislaid for about 12 years.

photo from Rushup Edge road, High Peak

not about rain!

music for the wabi-sabi experience:
Utopian National Anthem - The Beatles (now playing)
4′33″ - John Cage
Hommage a Faure - Robert Helps
Music for Zen Meditation - Tony Scott, Shinichi Yuize and Hozan Yamamoto
Gnossiennes 1, 2 & 3 - Erik Satie

rain (again)

I'm constantly amazed by the transforming properties of rain. There are fewer people about. It looks colder. There's the soft (or not-so-soft) sound of the drops falling. And those reflections...