Wabi-Sabi

Emptiness vs. Nothingness

All…phenomena are intrinsically void and yet this Mind with which they are identical is no mere nothingness.

-Huang Po, “Zen Teaching of Huang Po”

A History of Obfuscation

• the “zen of things”

• dharma transmission—from mind to mind

• “wabi-sabi” as ineffability: to explain is to diminish

• reason is subordinate to perception in matters of art

Defining the Indefinable

• “wabi”—“abandonment, misery in nature”• “sabi”—“chill, lean, withered”• an evolution toward a more “positive” and

“aesthetic” value• the hermit’s life as an opportunity for spiritual

enlighenment• the ten-thousand things either are devolving

toward or evolving from nothingness (emptiness)

“Wabi-Sabi”

• Observation of nature– All things are impermanent– All things are imperfect– All things are incomplete

• Greatness exists in the inconspicuous and overlooked details

• Beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness

• Acceptance of the inevitable

• Appreciation of the cosmic order

“Wabi-Sabi”

• Get rid of all that is unnecessary• Focus on the intrinsic and ignore material

hierarchy• Material Qualities

– the suggestion or natural process– irregular– intimate– unpretentious– earthy, murky and simple

Modernism

• A reaction against classicism

• Abstract and lacking intimacy

• Mass-produced and modular

• Control of nature

• A confidence in techne and machinery

• Minimalist and geometric

• Artificial materials

Modern Wabi-Sabi

Modern Wabi-Sabi?

Can Mars be Earthly?

Gardening Zenwise

Kare-sansui—withered landscapes

• “setting-off and framing”

• “familiar paths and vegetation are replaced by a stark rectangle of flat racked gravel, grouped or single stones, and space”

• “a sudden, almost deathly stillness”

• “soothing and shocking”

• A questioning of reality: “In a garden we may open our minds in the face of nature, stilling our preconceptions and opening up the possibility of viewing ourselves and usual ways of thinking from an entirely different perspective.”

• An aid to meditation: “Zen gardens serve as perfect backdrops to empty ourselves of our own frivolous clutter, our clung-to experiences and passionately-held views”

Raku: Drinking Tea as Art and Meditation

Drawing

with Zen Mind

Mountain

yhpargotohp nez

Wabi Sabi…

or Not?

Modernism: Antithesis or Collaborator?

Modern wabi-sabior Wabi-sabi modern?