Saturday 10 September 2011

 

"Beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness .
Wabi-sabi is ambivalent about separating beauty
from non-beauty or ugliness. The beauty of
Wabi-Sabi is, in one respect, the condition
of coming to terms with what you consider ugly.
Wabi-Sabi suggests that beauty is a dynamic
event that occurs between you and something else.
Beauty can spontaneously occur at any moment
given the proper circumstances, context, or
point of view. Beauty is thus an altered state
of consciousness an extraordinary state of
beauty and grace."
The Wabi-Sabi state of mind is often communicated
through poetry, because poetry lends itself to
emotional expression and strong, reverbating images
that seem "larger" than the small verbal frame
that holds them(thus evoking the larger universe).
Wabi- Sabi was brought to its apotheosis by
Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591 )who used this oft-repeated
poem by Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241) to describe
the mood of Wabi-Sabi."

All around, no flowers in bloom
Nor maple leaves in glare,
A solitary fisherman's hut alone
On the twilight shore
Of this autumn eve.

Thoughts from Leonard Koren's book Wabi-Sabi

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