Wabi-Sabi means living a simple natural
lifestyle; enjoying
nature and the beauty of things modest and humble.
Wabi-Sabi means getting rid of the unnecessary.
Simplicity is the core of things wabi-sabi.
A journal of one man's path toward spiritual enlightenment by physical
and mental purity, fasting, raw food diet, few words, natural living,
good works, right thinking, and exhilaration of the mind
by following the guidance of the Inner Voice.
Please,
see "Home" for more information
.......................
PETE'S JOURNAL, October 2002
......................
When walking through nature
Be sure to mind every step
Leaving only a very light
Footprint.
10-1-02
An old friend came by the other day to visit and brought me a magazine article
about Wabi-Sabi, written by Leonard Koren. The article is excerpts from
Mr. Koren's book, Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets and
Philosophers. A copy of Leonard Koren's book may be obtained
from: Stone Bridge Press, PO Box 8208, Berkeley, CA 94707, USA. ISBN 1-880656-12-4
The Culture of Simplicity
The sixteenth-century Japanese tea master and Zen monk, Sen no Rikyu,
refined the culture of Wabi-Sabi.
Wabi-Sabi is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete.
| It is a beauty of things modest and
humble. It is the beauty of things unconventional. Wabi-Sabi-deep, multi-dimensional, alusive- is the perfect antidote to the pervasively slick, saccharine, corporate style of beauty. |
 |
Get rid of the unnecessary. Wabi-Sabi means
treading lightly on the planet and knowing how to appreciate whatever
is encountered,
no
matter how
trifling,
whenever it is encountered. "Material poverty, spiritual richness" are
wabi-sabi bywords. In other words, wabe-sabi tells us to stop
our preoccupation with success---wealth, status, power and
luxury---and enjoy the unencumbered
life.
Obviously, leading the simple wabi-sabi life requires some effort, and will,
and also some tough decisions. Wabi-Sabi acknowledges that just as it is
important to know when to make choices, it is also important to know when
not to make choices: let things be. Even at the most austere level of material
existence, we still live in a world of things. Wabi-sabi is exactly about
the delicate balance between the pleasure we get from things and the pleasure
we get from freedom from things.
Mud, paper and bamboo have more intrinsic wabi-sabi qualities than do gold,
silver and diamonds.
"Greatness" exists in the inconspicuous and overlooked details.
Wabi-sabi represents the exact opposite of the Western ideal
of great beauty as something monumental, spectacular and enduring. Wabi-sabi
is
about
the
minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral: things
so subtle and evanescent they are invisible to vulgar eyes.
Like homeopathic medicine, the essence of wabe-sabi is apportioned in small
doses. As the dose decreases, the affect becomes more potent, more profound.
The closer things get to nonexistence, the more exquisite and evocative
they become. Consequently, to experience wabi-sabi means you have to slow
down, be patient and look very closely.
Things wabi-sabi are unpretentious, unstudied and inevitable
looking. They do not blare out, "I am important" or
demand to be the center of attention. They are understated
and unassuming
yet
not without
presence
or quiet authority. Things wabi-sabi easily coexist with the
rest of their environment.
Things wabi-sabi are appreciated only during direct contact and use;
they are never locked away in a museum. Things wabi-sabi have no
need for the
reassurance of status or the validation of market culture.
They have no need for documentation of provenance.
Things wabi-sabi can appear course and unrefined. They are
usually made from materials not far removed from their original
condition within, or
upon, the Earth and are rich in raw texture and rough tactile
sensation. Their craftsmanship may be impossible to discern.
Simplicity is at the core of things wabi-sabi. the essence
of wabi-sabi, as expressed in tea, is simplicity itself:
fetch water, gather wood, boil
the water, prepare tea, serve to others.
The simplicity of wabi-sabi is best described as the state
of grace arrived at by sober, modest, heartfelt intelligence.
The main strategy of the intelligence
is economy of means. Pare down to the essence, but don't
remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered, but
don't sterilize.(Things wabi-sabi
are emotionally warm, never cold.) Usually this implies a
limited palette of materials.
It also means keeping conspicuous features to a minimum.
But it doesn't mean removing the invisible connective
tissue that
somehow
binds
the elements
into a meaningful whole. It also doesn't mean in any
way diminishing something's "interestingness",
the quality that compels us to look at that something
over,
and over again.
The lifestyle of a seeker should be wabi-sabi: (elegant simplicity)
Japanese Tea Ceremony House
10-7-02
The past few days I have been reading a book called, Living
with the Himalayan Masters, by Swami Rama. In his book
the Swami tells how the 'Sadhus' live. A sadhu is a seeker of the
truth who is in service of the Lord; one who has chosen to devote
his life
to spiritual practices.
Chapter 1 p.37, "How We Live in Caves"
"In our cave monastery the tradition goes back four or five thousand
years, and is well remembered. We have records of who the
first masters were and how the tradition began."
"Those who are really committed to a life of austerity can live
conveniently in certain parts of the Himalayas, where there
are small caves to accommodate four or five people. There are no bathrooms,
kitchens, or other conveniences, and yet the monasteries function very
well."
"For light inside the cave there is a stick of incense called, dhoop,
which is made of herbs. When it burns it gives light, and
when it is extinguished it gives fragrance. It burns well and one can read
the scriptures in its soothing light."
" The cave is kept warm by the, bhooni, a fire which is never extinguished.
This fire is constantly supported by huge wooden logs,
and is regularly and vigilantly fed additional fuel. Sufficient fuelwood is
collected in the summer for winter use."
"In our cave we live comfortably on barley, potatoes,wheat, gram,
[chick-pea] and corn, which is grown up to 6,500 feet
in the mountain villages. There are several varieties of roots that look
and taste
like sweet potatoes... varieties of mushrooms...[and] nutritious
vegetables are also grown during the summer on the banks of nearby
streams." [They eat one meal a day.]
"Every village maintains a cottage industry which produces high
quality woolen blankets, carpets, and warm cloth."
"A narrow, perennial stream of water flows from
our mountain cave. During November and December, when
the water freezes, we simply melt snow. In other caves where I have lived...
fresh
water is not easily available. We would fetch water from a distance
of three
or four miles." [The sadhus bath every day before
sunup in the nearest glacier fed river.]
Sadhu Bathing
"It is important to make one's life
creative and helpful, but before doing so, one should make contact
with his own potentials
[inner voice] deep within, by disciplining himself and gaining
control over mind, speech, and action. If discipline such as that taught
in the
cave
monasteries is practices even for a few years, the flower
of life will bloom forever.
A person who has gained such self-mastery lives
in the world and yet remains above it, unaffected by worldly fetters
and problems."
The sadhus live in these caves because it requires little to maintain
themselves and the remoteness deters most visitors
who would interrupt their quiet lifestyle asking questions and favors.
In later
years
many of these sadhus go out among the people and
teach what they have learned
during their meditations.
These seekers live in a remote traditional retreat,
which requires a lot of maintenance, but allows
them to live a peaceful, quiet,
low profile,
natural lifestyle. In this primitive setting, even
though there are a lot of chores, they have plenty
to time to study and meditate.
10-15-02
The ordinary working person in the city wakes to
an alarm clock, groans, hits the snooze button
through six to ten cycles, stumbles
out bed,
late, stumbles on into the shower, takes care
of their morning ritual in the bathroom, dresses, rushes
downstairs and grabs
a cup of coffee
(To get them going.) and a piece of toast,
rushes out to their car, drives to work, cursing the traffic,
breathing heavy exhaust
fumes
all the way, never noticing a thing along the
way because they are already
mentally living through the days work that
lay ahead.
They get to their office, greet their fellow
workers, have another couple of cups of coffee
and a doughnut,
battle through paper
work and a multitude
of phone calls until lunch, then they rush
out to a little hole in the wall cafe that
serves a cheap
meal. (And maybe have a
couple of
drinks
to calm their nerves.) After lunch they continue
the same aggravating work until quitting time
at which time they go to the closest
bar and have a few drinks to relax.
They drive home a bit tipsy, have a couple
of more drinks, fix a TV dinner which they
eat in front of
the tube watching the
cops justifiably
kill
a dozen or so bad guys that deserved to die
and fall asleep until awakened by the loud
buzzing of
the TV, then they stumble
up and fall
in bed.
The next morning they start the same routine
again with the loud buzzing of the alarm.
This is a terrible scenario, but millions of
people do something similar every working day
of their lives.
They are trapped for
one reason
or another in a job that they hate and a life
that has very few rewards. They may grumble
and think
it's not right, but they
don't know what
else to do. Time goes on and unfortunately
they have very little time to enjoy their life
or the
beauty in nature that is all
around them.
This type of lifestyle is the "world view" that is promoted
by our society. This is the way, they
say, to get ahead, raise their family and enjoy a leisurely life in your "Golden
years." Planned
education, planned marriage, planned parenthood,
planned future, planned retirement, and
planned funeral.
Cherry Blossoms
10-20-02
The seeker living in their mountain retreat
lives a much simpler, healthier and a much
more rewarding
life. They may have few modern
conveniences
and bank their savings in their cookie jar,
but they do have the luxury of time to enjoy
their life
and the beauty of nature
around them.
And they have peace of mind while undertaking
the most important quest a
human being can make: to unite their conscious
mind with their Soul.
The seeker makes no effort to get
ahead because they have already reached
their
goal in accumulating
material
things.
They enjoy
making and
using the few things they need to
accomplish their daily tasks. The
seeker
enjoys every day of their life,
one day at a time, and they have
God's
most precious
gift
of all "FREEDOM" of body, mind and Soul.
An American Sadhu
COULD YOU SURVIVE WITHOUT MONEY?
MEET THE GUY WHO DOES.
In Utah, a modern-day caveman has lived
for the better part of a decade
on zero dollars a day.
People used to think he was crazy.
By
Christopher Ketcham;
Photograph by Mark Heithoff
DANIEL SUELO LIVES IN A CAVE. unlike the average American—wallowing in credit-card debt, clinging to a mortgage, terrified of the next downsizing at the office—he isn't worried about the economic crisis. That's because he figured out that the best way to stay solvent is to never be solvent in the first place. Nine years ago, in the autumn of 2000, Suelo decided to stop using money. He just quit it, like a bad drug habit.
His dwelling, hidden high in a canyon lined with waterfalls, is an hour by foot from the desert town of Moab, Utah, where people who know him are of two minds: He's either a latter-day prophet or an irredeemable hobo. Suelo's blog, which he maintains free at the Moab Public Library, suggests that he's both. "When I lived with money, I was always lacking," he writes. "Money represents lack. Money represents things in the past (debt) and things in the future (credit), but money never represents what is present."
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blog: http://www.whywork.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=
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Wabi-Sabi
