Reflections on Spring

Surrounded by green trees, the fragrance of green leaves and the smell of moss come face to face. Squatting in the dim light, bathed in the faint reflection of the paper door, whether meditating or looking at the courtyard scenery outside the window, that kind of mood is really unspeakable.

Raindrops drip from the eaves or treetops, splash on the base of stone lanterns, wet the moss on the stones, and penetrate into the soil. The process is like being there.

Whether listening to insects or enjoying birds, it is the best place to go; It is not only suitable for moonlit nights, but also the best choice for chewing different customs of the four seasons.

The above text is a description of a space. What space can you imagine after reading it?

It is estimated that no one will think of the word "toilet". However, the above words really describe the toilet. Toilets in Japan. Ancient toilets in Japan. The text is taken from Ode to Death.

This ancient toilet is so beautifully described that I really want to go to Japan to experience it.

Going to the toilet is a very personal matter, which is slightly indecent, but it is something we have to face every day. According to the above description, the toilets in ancient Japan provided a little leisure time for this inevitable physiological phenomenon, so that there would be no feeling of wasting time when doing this instinctive thing, and tried to create a sense of beauty in that conical place. I deeply admire this pursuit of the ancient Japanese.

To create such a style of toilet experience, the focus of the book Ode to the Shadow is "light".

We all know that in photography, light is the soul. Without the contrast between light and shade, it is impossible to form meaningful visual effects. In Japanese classical aesthetics, instead of pursuing lightness, it pursues the contrast between light and shade in photography, and even deliberately creates a shadow effect.

The original meaning of falling into English is lush foliage and shady trees cover the sun. In Japan, shadow has become a pursuit of beauty with national characteristics, which can make people taste a Zen in that darkness and silence. Falling shadow style can be said to be the essence of Japanese classical aesthetics. This is why Japanese tea ceremony and flower path have their own unique styles, which always give people a simple feeling.

I like the classical aesthetics of Japanese life. Just some photos of the courtyard are enough to sweep away this dusty day. In Shunmyo Masuno's words, that halo is an energy point, where we become focused and calm.

I recently read five books on Japanese aesthetics of life, such as Soaking in the Spring Breeze and Light as a Swallow. The book I am reading, Zen and the Minimalist Art of Living, was written by Shunmyo Masuno, who is a Buddhist monk and a landscape designer of the Buddhist temple. He described "Jane" and "Zen" in extremely popular and easy-to-understand language, as if having tea and chatting with an obedient elder from afar, which made us understand the true meaning of life and inspired us to pursue, interpret and show a Zen lifestyle.

By combining it with Ode to Death, we can better understand how the Zen culture created in Japan is interpreted. Through objects, objects and space, it abandons the heaviness and returns to lightness at the level of human mind, allowing us to enter an atmosphere and channel and taste the relationship between me and myself, the world and everything in silence.

Shunmyo Masuno said:

"Zen, minimalism, is not to resist material and life, but to treat material and desire rationally, rationally and rationally and live a balanced life."

"The realm of Zen is wisdom. Wisdom is the essence of things and wisdom is the ability to choose. "

Combining what he said with my own experience, I have this understanding of the relationship between minimalism and Zen:

Jane is not simple, but the essence after filtering. The essence must be formed through selection. Choice is trade-off. The choice is to face the real needs of the heart, and ultimately what is left is in line with the inner needs, nourishing and safe. This process of pursuing, becoming and presenting simplicity is Zen.

Zen is a kind of ability and an extension of choice. In the process of this choice, we are more and more aware of what is the most important. This "importance" has risen to pay attention to our own hearts, how to nourish our hearts and get real freedom. Therefore, Zen will not lie. If you can't reach that state, you can't show Zen; If you reach that state, you don't need to deliberately embody Zen everywhere.

Shunmyo Masuno's works are enough to illustrate his realm. From these designed courtyard photos, we can see that a tree, a stone and a pinch of moss, their number, position, angle and shape constitute a whole, and this whole is produced by a series of "choices". How did he make his choice? He said:

"I usually put a few stones in the garden and observe their expressions, read their hearts and listen to their voices."

This is the process of choice. This is the true meaning of wisdom. Through wisdom and wisdom, an art and an exchange and extension of beauty have been formed. If there is anything in the world that I still love, it is because I have seen the extension of beauty. It makes me more confident in life, more willing to stay at this moment and feel this eternal energy.

Minimalism, which some people may understand as having nothing, creates a state of nothing. There is not only one pursuit of words, methods and realms. We need to see many kinds, and then find out which one we like best and feel most comfortable. For me, I prefer Shunmyo Masuno's explanation of minimalism. He said:

"In order to create an empty space, we must put some items on it. If it is really empty, all we see is a vast land. Only by putting some items can we feel that "this is an empty space". This embodies "yes = no" and "nothing = yes". This is minimalism. "

His words are the same as the realm created by our ink painting. In fact, it is "blank space."

Blanking is not all white, so it can't be a picture. Blanking must have pictures in some places and not in others, so as to form a "stay" action. Existence must be from scratch, otherwise it does not constitute existence; Nothing must be presented by something, otherwise it does not constitute nothing. This is an unchangeable law. When we carry out secular space, objects and events in this way, we get a kind of representation effect that meets the deep needs of the soul, which in turn nourishes the soul.

Being = nothing, nothing = being, which is a deep aesthetic feeling produced by correspondence, mutual assistance, complementarity and attachment. This is one of the forms of beauty pursued by human beings. Although entering the era of science and technology, fewer and fewer people have this pursuit, but it will not be annihilated, this is our innate pursuit, no matter what, there will always be flames. We think that biological reproduction is a flame that human beings can continue, but it is not. Flame is the pursuit and love of beauty. It can help us find our way home and take us home.

I was immersed in it and deeply moved by the extension of this beauty.