1. What is wabi-sabi and why is it difficult to define?

Wabi-sabi is an aesthetic that emphasizes the uncontrollable and ephemeral nature of existence. Its aesthetic is particularly tied to tea ceremonies and the emphasis on being in the present moment and remembering that everything has an ending. It’s so difficult to define because a lot of its beauty is in the inconspicuous details of life, and the feelings brought about by situations that we can’t easily define. An easy, slick definition would take away from its core and diminish it.

2. How is wabi-sabi different from modernism? How is it the same?

Wabi-sabi focuses on the individual, the imperfect, and the present moment. Modernism tries to imbue everything with a sense of immortality. Modernism attempts to say everything will last forever and be forever in control by humanity through technology, while wabi-sabi emphasizes how little control we have, and how nothing we ever do will produce anything that is perfect and complete. They are similar in that they are both aesthetic movements that go against their cultures’ previous dominant aesthetics. Modernism was bucking against Victorianism and classicism, while wabi-sabi is a departure from the polished and ornate pre-16^th century Chinese aesthetic.

3. What is the metaphysical basis of wabi-sabi? What are its spiritual values?

Wabi-sabi sees the universe as a constant state of evolving from and devolving to nothingness. Everything is seen in its relation to nothingness, and everything comes from nothingness and goes back to it eventually. The spiritual values emphasize this view in that it holds that everything is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. The part of the spiritual values that particularly speak to me are finding the beauty in the little details of life one wouldn’t expect, and understanding “that beauty is a dynamic event that occurs between you and something else.” (Koren 51). Our culture emphasizes beauty as an objective thing that can be measured and captured, but it’s so much more complex than that. Experiencing a beautiful moment is something wholly unique to the individual, and it’s impossible to completely convey that feeling afterwards through language. There have been so many moments in my life where I’m just overwhelmed with the beauty of a mundane situation and can’t recapture it afterwards. The thing that interests me the most with films and filmmaking are the moments that try to recapture that feeling.

4. What is the wabi-sabi state of mind? What are its moral precepts?

Wabi-sabi accepts that everything will inevitably die and crumble away. There is nothing we can do to stop the changing of the seasons or the inevitability of death, we can just accept the beauty we experience now with a sense of bitter-sweetness. Appreciation of the forces of nature and the cosmic order are also part of the wabi-sabi state of mind. The moral precepts emphasize getting away from material possessions without trying to completely live without them, and doing away with hierarchies based on material possessions and wealth. The material nature of something only matters when it being used in the context of wabi-sabi, and after and before that moment its value has no meaning.

5. What are the material qualities of wabi-sabi?

The material qualities of wabi-sabi involve simplicity, roughness, intimacy, irregularities, nature, and unpretentiousness. As far as I can tell, the simplicity of wabi-sabi is the most important part of the material aesthetic, it involves a delicate balance of not simplifying it to the point of removing its poetry and beauty. My favorite line in this portion of the book is something Koren includes as a parenthetical, “(Things wabi-sabi are emotionally warm, never cold.)” This is quite the contrast to the modernist minimalism most of us know as sterile, clean, and cold in its simplicity.