philosophy of woodworking #1: Some Principles of Zen Aesthetics
I have seen many posts on this site that describe a particular piece as “Zen” and while this word is not used in strict historical definition, I thought it might be interesting for some of you to share a bit about what I have learned about Buddhism and how one might be able to bring some Buddhist attitudes into the process of woodworking. So contrary to the title of this little post there isn’t really any such thing as Zen aesthetics. Zen refers to certain strains of practice within Buddhism and does not, as far as I can tell, have any style of design that is integrally linked to it. Excepting a general de-emphasis on iconography, Zen practitioners have mostly shown indifferenc...
