Do You Practice Wabi-Sabi?
I’m sure you do if you are a Frugal person. For those of you who don’t know what it means Wabi-Sabi is one of the mainstays (if not the main underpinning) of Japanese Culture.
It roughly translates into finding beauty in the imperfect, the ordinary, and the simple and bowing to the knowledge that nothing is permanent.
It was introduced into Japan by wandering Buddhist monks and spread through the Tea Ceremony. Other disciplines that owe thanks in part to Wabi-Sabi in their creation are Zen Gardening, Bonsai, and Ikebana (flower arranging).
The Frugal have, perhaps unintentionally, adopted some of the ideas of Wabi-Sabi.
We find we often like the simple… preferring to do without all the bells and whistles preferring an item that does what it was originally meant to do… does a blender really need 14 different speeds when high and low will do??… look at a professional restaurant blender… on/off and hi/low.
We generally have no problems with the imperfect… often we buy things that are not perfect… at least as far as the manufacturers and most buyers are concerned. They must have everything “perfect”.
Have you ever bought a piece of hand thrown pottery? Rarely are they perfect… maybe a little asymmetrical or they missed a thumbprint in the clay before firing or the glaze is uneven giving it a charm and beauty that only you might appreciate.
Some of us also find beauty in the ordinary… I salvaged an old brass water faucet that was being thrown out because it had no threads for attaching a hose… it was also old and pitted but had this charming look to it and it still worked fine… and still does over the outside sink where I fill the watering can.
And we certainly understand about impermanence… we know that things will not last or will be rendered “obsolete” so we wait until the buying frenzy for the “new and improved” has subsided and if it is something we can use we buy it when it’s on sale or better buy it used.
If you think about it… what parts of you life are influenced by “Wabi-Sabi”?
Photo credit: stock.xchng.
Roland: I liked this post. I find beauty in both the ordinary and the useful. One of my favorite quotes is a Shaker saying:
I love it. I took what essentially amounted to a class on buddhism and I love that mentality of just releasing your concerns and finding beauty in the mundane. (I also have my own personal tea rituals which are quite soothing)
Roland, this post was really awesome. I guess you could say we’re planning our wedding with a wabi-sabi mentality. We’re having it in our backyard – no need to rent a big hall and pay a caterer or buy flowers when our own garden and kitchen will do just fine. I bought my dress for $40 and it’s something I can wear more than once. But you’ll get all the dirt in the weeks to come . . . :^)