Sublime

3. Li shih wu ai,e “between principle and thing no obstruction,” which is to say that there is no incompatibility between nirvana and samsara, void and form. The attainment of the one does not involve the annihilation of the other. 4. Shih shih wu ai,f “between thing and thing no obstruction,” which is to say that each “thing-event” involves every

Wabi sabi embodies the Zen nihilist cosmic view and seeks beauty in the imperfections found as all things, in a constant state of flux, evolve from nothing and devolve back to nothing.

So the terms wabi and sabi both find their roots in the nihilist Zen cosmic view, and between them convey the interplay between youth and old age, beauty and ugliness, life and death—the rhythms of nature.

Because tathata is the true state of a Buddha and of all beings whatsoever, it is also referred to as our true or original nature, and thus our “Buddha nature.” One of the cardinal doctrines of the Mahayana is that all beings are endowed with Buddha nature, and so have the possibility of becoming Buddhas. Because of the identity of Buddha nature

in the dharma realized, taught, and reflected on by the Tathagata, there is nothing true and nothing false.

Within this perpetual movement nature leaves arbitrary tracks for us to contemplate, and it is these random flaws and irregularities that offer a model for the modest and humble wabi sabi expression of beauty.

Nagarjuna’s method is simply to show that all things are without “self-nature” (svabhava) or independent reality since they exist only in relation to other things.