One of my perceived drawbacks to staying with friends and relatives is that I
sometimes have to watch their choice of TV programmes rather than staying within
the rut of my own favourite viewing! However, as so often happens, visiting
someone else's "lifestyle rut" (walking a mile in their moccasins?) can be very
enlightening.

So it was that, despite being fairly aversive to travelogues, I came to watch
[and persevere watching through a few "When on earth is he going to get on with
it and get to the point?" moments!] BBC TV's "In Search of Wabi Sabi" with
Marcel Theroux last night. My impatience with the mundane [but nonetheless
fascinating] life and ultra-disciplined, ultra-courteous culture of modern
Japan, soon rebounded on me as we were suddenly plunged headlong into deepest
mystical "Zen".

For anyone interested to know more about the mystical transcendent beauty that
is "Wabi-Sabi" - a beauty that transcends the pressures of perfection and the
corruption of death and decay - I have appended below some notes dug up on the
internet today.

"Wabi-Sabi" in Cambridge?
-------------------------------
Marcel made the point that you don't have to be Japanese, or travel to Japan, or
live the austere life of a Buddhit monk to experience "Wabi-Sabi".

In fact you can experience it in Cambridge this evening at our monthly Dances of
Univeral Peace gathering - more info here:
http://www.lovehealth.org/dances/index.htm

"Wabi-Sabi" Quotes
--------------------
"Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered
on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and
sabi. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect,
impermanent, and incomplete" [according to "Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers,
Poets and Philosophers"
http://www.Amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0981484603/pigdiseaseinfo0c]
It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three marks of
existence, specifically impermanence. Note also that the Japanese word for rust,
? is also pronounced sabi (the borrowed Chinese character is different, but the
word itself is of assumed common etymology), and there is an obvious semantic
connection between these concepts. Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic
include asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy, and suggest a
natural process."
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi]

WHAT IS WABI-SABI?
[http://nobleharbor.com/tea/chado/WhatIsWabi-Sabi.htm]
"The Japanese view of life embraced a simple aesthetic that grew stronger as
inessentials were eliminated and trimmed away.
Pared down to its barest essence, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding
beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle
of growth, decay, and death. It's simple, slow, and uncluttered-and it reveres
authenticity above all. Wabi-sabi is flea markets, not warehouse stores; aged
wood, not Pergo; rice paper, not glass. It celebrates cracks and crevices and
all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. It reminds
us that we are all but transient beings on this planet-that our bodies as well
as the material world around us are in the process of returning to the dust from
which we came. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace liver spots, rust, and
frayed edges, and the march of time they represent.
Wabi-sabi is underplayed and modest, the kind of quiet, undeclared beauty that
waits patiently to be discovered. It's a fragmentary glimpse: the branch
representing the entire tree, shoji screens filtering the sun, the moon 90
percent obscured behind a ribbon of cloud. It's a richly mellow beauty that's
striking but not obvious, that you can imagine having around you for a long,
long time-Katherine Hepburn versus Marilyn Monroe. For the Japanese, it's the
difference between kirei-merely "pretty"-and omoshiroi, the interestingness that
kicks something into the realm of beautiful. (Omoshiroi literally means "white
faced," but its meanings range from fascinating to fantastic.) It's the peace
found in a moss garden, the musty smell of geraniums, the astringent taste of
powdered green tea. My favorite Japanese phrase for describing wabi-sabi is
"natsukashii furusato," or an old memory of my hometown."

BBC programme info: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00j8bkc