Managed to find perfection in a number of areas

We dream of one day securing an ideally harmonious

relationship deeply fulfilling work a happy family life and the respect of others

But life has a habit of dealing us a range of blows and leaving nothing much of this array of fine dreams

Save some shattered and worthless fragments

It's at moments of disillusion that we might turn our minds to a concept drawn from Japanese Philosophy and in particular

from the Zen Buddhist approach to ceramics

Over the centuries zen masters developed an argument that pots cups and bowls that had become damaged

She simply be neglected or thrown away

They should continue [to] attract our respect and attention and be repaired with enormous care this process

Symbolizing a reconciliation with the floors and accidents of time

intended to reinforce some underlying themes in zen

The word given to this tradition of ceramic repair is Kin [TsUchi] Kin

Golden [Sookie]

Joinery it means quite literally to join with gold in

Zen aesthetics the broken pieces of an accidentally smashed pot should be carefully picked up reassembled and then glued together with lacquer

Inflected with the most expensive gold powder there should be no attempt to disguise the damage the point is to render the fault lines

Beautiful and strong the precious veins of gold are there to emphasize that breaks have a philosophical merit all of their own

the origins of Kin TsUchi are set a date the muromachi period When the shogun of Japan

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu broke his favourite tea Bowl and distraught sent it to be repaired in China

but on its return

he was horrified by the ugly metal Staples that had been used to join the broken pieces and

Charged his craftsmen with devising a more appropriate solution what they came up with was a method that didn't guys the damage

But made something properly artful out of it

Consumer belongs to the zen ideals of webby Savvy which cherishes what simple unpretentious and aged?

Especially if it has a rustic, or weathered quality a story is told of one of the great proponents of webby Sappy sin

No, rick you on a journey through Southern Japan

He was once invited to a dinner where the host thought he will be impressed by an elaborate and expensive

Antique teacher that he had bought from China

but rick you didn't even seem to notice this item and

Instead spent his time chatting and admiring a braj swaying in the breeze outside in

Despair at his lack of interest once [wreak] you'd left the devastated host smashed the jar to pieces and retired to his room

But the other guests more wisely gathered the fragments and stuck them together through

Kinsuka when r Eq next came to visit the philosopher turned to the repaired jar and with a knowing smile exclaimed

Now it's magnificent

in an age that worships youth

Perfection and the new the art of consumer tains a particular wisdom as applicable to our own lives as it is [to] [potts]

The care and love expended on the shattered pieces should also encourage us to respect. What is damaged and scarred?

Vulnerable and imperfect starting with ourselves and those around us

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