If it weren’t for the fact that only a month ago we used the ‘baby and the bathwater’ image, that would have been the title of this post too. Regardless, the show must go on. What we have here is a question that the worshippers of Yahweh have struggled with since the very beginning: When interacting with a false worldview or belief structure, how do you sort out the good from the bad?
When Moses delivered God’s people from Egypt, and he told them to wait at the base of Mt Sinai, they let a bit of the Egyptian way influence their worship of Yahweh (Ex 32:1-10).
When the Galatians heard the gospel and became Christian, some of them still wanted to keep circumcision, a part of their Jewish custom, as a necessary step for entrance into the Christian faith (Gal 5:1-12).
Both of these things were transgressions of the highest order. Read the passage in Exodus, read Paul’s strong language in Galatians, and you will see. So, it is with care and a light touch that this author will make some comments about what we can redeem from a Japanese and foundationally Buddhist philosophy known to many as ‘Wabi-Sabi’.
For the sake of clarity, we will be drawing on this article, which is very helpful and clear on the subject, and this one, which makes the Buddhist bedrock clear. Let’s begin, in Omar Itani’s own words, with a description of this philosophy.
Wabi-sabi is a concept that motions us to constantly search for the beauty in imperfection and accept the more natural cycle of life. It reminds us that all things, including us and life itself, are impermanent, incomplete, and imperfect. Perfection, then, is impossible and impermanence is the only way. Taken individually, wabi and sabi are two separate concepts:
Wabi is about recognizing beauty in humble simplicity. It invites us to open our heart and detach from the vanity of materialism so we can experience spiritual richness instead.
Sabi is concerned with the passage of time, the way all things grow, age, and decay, and how it manifests itself beautifully in objects. It suggests that beauty is hidden beneath the surface of what we actually see, even in what we initially perceive as broken.
Omar Itani, para. 3-5
What matters most is this: which question did you just ask? See if the following list of possible responses contains yours.
- “God has given revelation to many peoples, not just those living in the Fertile Crescent. We can only go so far in our relationship with God if we don’t look to the wisdom of other traditions.”
- “That’s weird, and it feels wrong. I will reject it because you mentioned Buddhism.”
- “There isn’t really any conflict necessarily between that and the Christian worldview. I mean, maybe they word things a little differently, and they’re obviously not thinking of the God of the Bible in their system, but I don’t think we need to reject it.”
- “An unhealthy materialism and an obsession with prolonging youth is all that western societies have left these days. Maybe it’s time we abandon that and start learning from Eastern wisdom.”
- “God has shown common grace to all the peoples of the earth, and clearly there is something here he has given them that has helped them in some fashion. I need to see where Buddhism has influenced it, so I can apply the light of the gospel to the inherent darkness, but I think we could learn something here.”
Perhaps we labour the point, but you should neither be too quick to accept and incorporate non-Christian frameworks, nor too hasty to throw them to the dogs and assume we can’t learn anything from other cultures. We should realise that light has spread far, but sin has corrupted all of creation, and there is only one powerful gospel that will come through to redeem or destroy all the things of the world.
So, in no particular order, let’s dive in and have a look at some of these ideas. Omar Itani, take it away.
‘Through acceptance, you find freedom; out of acceptance, you find growth.’
The Dewa Sanzan is a little-known mountain range in northern Japan. Since the 8th century, it has been the sacred pilgrimage site for the Yamabushi monks who partake in yearly rituals seeking rebirth and enlightenment for their mind, body, and soul. The core philosophy of their training can be summed up in one word, Uketamo, which means “I humbly accept with an open heart.”
You’re about to lose your job? Uketamo.The forecast suddenly changed to downpour rain and now you must cancel your outdoor event? Uketamo.
You had a very silly accident and now you’ve fractured your left leg and are due to be in a cast for the next month? Uketamo.
Omar Itani, para. 9-13
Any Christian who has ever sung ‘It is well with my soul’ and really meant it will probably feel some level of understanding here. Does this not sound a lot like the Christian doctrine of providence? Have we not learned from Job that whatever comes our way, we should say “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord”?
However, there is a crucial difference between this Wab-Sabi doctrine, and the Christian doctrine of providence. The difference is that in the former, the acceptance of reality is ultimately arbitrary, and the discipline of not getting into a fit over every little thing is essentially just good common sense. Pragmatically, it may save you a few grey hairs, and make you more tolerable to your loved ones, but there isn’t a reason behind it. ‘Through acceptance, you find freedom; out of acceptance, you find growth.’ The acceptance we see here is essentially acceptance of a blind and purposeless universe. It is a resignation to some kind of absurdity, but it is dressed up in elegant robes. The Christian doctrine is so robust because the Christian accepts providence as the faithful and good unravelling of God’s kind intention and kingly freedom in the world that he created. We receive a broken knee or a lost job with peace and confidence, because we know that in seeking first the kingdom of God, we will find that all our other daily needs were provided along the way. Providence can be trusted, because God can be trusted. He said all things work together for the good of his people, and all things includes all the highs and lows. For a Christian, accepting the twists and turns of life boils down to trusting that God is good and that he loves us. For the practitioner of Wabi Sabi, it may be a resignation into some kind of fatalism, or little more than a coping mechanism, and one that only takes you so far.
We should realise that light has spread far, but sin has corrupted all of creation, and there is only one powerful gospel that will come through to redeem or destroy all the things of the world.
2. All things in life, including you, are in an imperfect state of flux, so strive not for perfection, but for excellence instead. If everything in nature is always changing, then nothing can ever be absolutely complete. And since perfection is a state of completeness, then nothing can ever be perfect. Hence, the wabi-sabi philosophy teaches us that all things, including us and life itself, are impermanent, incomplete, and imperfect.
Omar Itani, para. 23-26
The problem, however, is that our flawed ways of thinking have now blurred our understanding of what perfection really is.
Open up a thesaurus and search for the antonyms for “perfect” and you’ll find the following words: Flawed, corrupt, inferior, poor, second-rate, inept, broken, wrong, bad… My goodness. All this negativity. No wonder we’ve become so obsessed with seeking perfection.
Here is the logic in the above quotation:
- Everything is always changing
- Things that are changing are not complete
- Perfection is a state of completeness
- Therefore, perfection cannot exist
The second and third premises are pretty close to being true, though they could use some reworking. The first premise, however, is false. It only takes into account the creation, not the creator. Because the philosophy and worldview behind this does not rest on the God of the Bible, there is no unchanging and perfect being at all, anywhere. This is how theology affects the way you live and think. Without a perfect God, there is no such thing as perfection, and no reason to strive for it or even consider it an appropriate goal. What would a Christian attitude bring to these same considerations?
- God is the example and essence of perfection
- We should strive to be more like God
- We should strive towards perfection
Before the enthusiastic reader starts poking holes in that very basic Christian reframing of that question, see the difference that acknowledging God makes to the way you approach the world and how to live in it. Also, two disclaimers in case you are wondering: (1) No, we shouldn’t strive to be like God in ‘essence’, meaning, we aren’t trying to stop being Creation and instead become The Creator; and (2) striving towards perfection should be thought of as synonymous to ‘being conformed to the image of God’s son’, and should be seen as a Spirit-enabled disciplined effort, not some kind of strict and heavy burden placed in a legalistic manner on the Christian to reach sinless perfection before the age of 35.
Just as there are two ways to fall off a horse, there are also two ways to misunderstand and misapply the desire for perfection. The wabi-sabi contentment with the hand that one is dealt would actually be a rather sorely needed antidote to a very sick ‘beauty culture’ that we have in major Western nations. Men and women both, but particularly young ladies, are often in our culture plagued by unhealthy depictions and expectations of beauty. This leads to all manner of terrible outcomes, from eating disorders and lack of self-confidence to self-harm and self-idolatry. Just as many young ladies have embraced strict and punishing diets or fashion choices for the sake of appealing to the ‘perfect’ body, many men of all ages have artificially stimulated muscle growth to attain to some impossible standard the ‘optimal’ male physique.
The catch here isn’t that there isn’t a perfect standard of beauty to adore and look up to. In fact, the presence of a counterfeit article is better proof for the existence of a genuine article than for no such thing to exist. No one counterfeits A4 paper, it is a common thing. Counterfeit iPhones exist because real iPhones exist. No one has picked up a cheap knock-off imitation iPhone and smugly concluded, “See, these are all fakes. That must mean that there is no such thing as a real iPhone, because all these ones are fake.” Ok, you get the point.
‘Jack’, the author for the other piece, also lays out three ‘Marks of Existence’ in Buddhist teaching that are seen in wabi-sabi thought:
“Roughly, [the marks of existence] describe how all things have impermanence (mujō 無常むじょう), suffering (ku 苦く), and emptiness, or absence of self (kū 空くう). Buddhism tells us wisdom comes from making peace with these marks, as they are intrinsic to our natures, and wabi-sabi can be seen as a way of practicing this peace and acceptance.”
Jack, para. 24
It is so important to keep in mind that you cannot simply borrow those concepts into your Christian worldview just because we use a similar word, the same word in a different context. What a Buddhist means when they talk about suffering is worlds away from what suffering means in a Christian worldview.
If you are still reading, well done and thank you. We’re going to try to tie up these loose strands now. Our initial question was to ask what is the appropriate manner or attitude for approaching false worldviews when we are trying to discern if there is something good in there to be salvaged. We hope you have asked yourself how you handle this, or how you would handle it if you faced such a scenario. This author embarked on this article not because he wanted to trash wabi-sabi and its Buddhist roots. In fact, the opposite is true. This author found wabi-sabi concepts to be very refreshing and mature when he first encountered them in prescribed novel in a Children’s Literature unit. It is our sincere conclusion that if one examines the ways that false systems like Buddhism have left rough edges on otherwise good ideas, that it is possible for the gospel to be applied to those situations and for it to rejuvenate and transform them.
To put legs on it, we have found the wabi-sabi appreciation for impermanence and the beauty of restored messes to be something that strikes a deep chord with the gospel. After all, every sinner saved by grace is a pot that has been smashed, but has been reconstructed and glorified like a kintsugi vessel. We can see that an appreciation for flaws makes room for the patience that must accompany any meaningful friendship or relationship. There is so much to be gained, so much that would help slow down the frantic pace of a society obsessed with planned redundancy and fads.
It is a fine line we walk, but it is also a fine line that we will have a hard time avoiding. We are sojourners in a foreign land, and we will all be faced with the challenge of being salt and light; the challenge of being in the world and not of it; the challenge of being the change, and not the one who is changed.
Distilled Orthopraxy 