Sublime

The real art of the artist lies in the immediacy of perception – the way an artist loves the very texture of reality.

Basho wrote his haiku in the simplest type of Japanese speech, naturally avoiding literary and “highbrow” language, so creating a style which made it possible for ordinary people to be poets. Bankei, his contemporary, did just the same thing for Zen,

Teishin,

In the Japanese art of this period we see the emergence of wabi, sabi, aware, and yugen—qualities that have become synonymous with the Zen aesthetic. Wabi is a sense of loneliness or solitude. Sabi is the suchness of ordinary objects, the basic, unmistakable uniqueness of a thing in and of itself. Aware is a feeling of nostalgia, a longing for the

Art, in all its forms, is an ikigai that can bring happiness and purpose to our days. Enjoying or creating beauty is free, and something all human beings have access to.

of Cosmic Change,—the

—Alan Watts, The Way of Zen

not-knowing, how not-knowing is the most intimate way, or did I just dream that?

Although one can get a feeling of wabi sabi from naturally occurring phenomena, it is usually the act of framing by an artist that brings the poignancy to the attention of others.