Mono no aware 物のあわれ

Another weekend has gone by - disappeared in a cloud of hiking, biking, and shopping. Now that it's over, and tomorrow is Monday, I realize too late that I didn't fully appreciate it. I lacked （もののあわれ） mono-no-aware.

Mono-no-aware can be translated as a "sensitivity to things", to appreciate every thing in its present moment, feeling the pathos of the brevity of existence. The term was applied to an artistic movement during the Tokugawa shogunate (the Edo period), but captures the essence of the Japanese outlook or culture. To appreciate what is, while it is; to savour the last vestiges of beauty in the autumn flower, the last living moment of life.

Again, mono-no-aware is very much a concept that, even before the term was coined (supposedly by Motoori Norinaga), was part of the way of the Buddha, and especially in Zen Buddhism. Appreciate the people and the time that is now, and understand that it will be gone.

We all too often live in the future, weighed down by our pasts. Where, then, is our present?

Mindful Cooking, Mindful Eating

I've blogged in the past about the joy of cooking. No, not the book - rather, the simple, relaxing, calming feeling that cooking can bring. Don't mistake me - I'm not much of a cook. I still remember that when I first came to Japan, it was the first time that I wasn't eating frozen dinners or something my mother had cooked. I decided to do something with chicken and my first foray into the supermarket resulted in me staring at lots of packaged raw meat, and having to stop some poor Japanese woman working at the supermarket and ask her which was chicken! She kindly pointed out the chicken, then went further, showing me which part of the chicken each package contained.

I've come a long way since then as I am now semi-literate and can read the packages. No, seriously, I get a very real, simple satisfaction from cooking and spent many of our remaining holidays cooking stews, soups and curries. It takes focus. You have to peel the vegetables, slice the carrots, chop the onion, crush the garlic and grind the ginger...sounds rather violent, but allows the mind to be consumed with a simple process. The key is mindfulness - pay close attention to the food, to the process, and savour the time it takes to prepare the dish. Don't wish you were doing something else...

The follow up to mindful cooking, which is good for the soul, is mindful eating. This is something I will have to be more careful about putting into practice since I've got an extra three kilos to lose! Mindful eating - pay attention to your food, and only to the food. Enjoy it, savour it, appreciate it. Do not eat while watching TV, standing at the kitchen counter, or net surfing. I'm guilty of the latter, and eat much more than I should without even noticing, and certainly not appreciating.

Food is a wonderful thing, so perhaps one of my New Year's goals is to eat mindfully.

A Little Bit of Zen

I enjoy being. Simply being. Not doing anything and not having to do anything is sometimes essential to our makeup. A few days ago, I took some time off to just "be".

I'm not eloquent enough to convey clearly what I mean, but I suppose just savoring the moment, the thing you are doing, or the thing you simply are.

While surfing Digg, I found this "article" that also isn't too eloquent but it is clear and it is inspirational. It doesn't call itself Zen, but many aspects are rather Zen-esque.

Read the article here:

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/06/39-ways-to-live-and-not-merely-exist.html

If you have a Digg account, give it a Digg, too!