Zen Inspired Design from The Zen Mountain Monastery-12457

The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán (禪), which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."

I have just returned from an extraordinary 3 day retreat at the Zen Mountain Monastery  in Mt. Tremper New York.  While I thought I was going for an intensive photography program, I came away with a whole lot more.  My time there was communal and personal, intimate and expansive, profound and mundane, and I have a renewed appreciation of Zen Buddhism and the Monks and laypeople who practice this extraordinary non-theistic spiritual path.

 

Zen’s seven ruling principles are the guiding lights of design. Once you read them they make real sense for an authentic design plan for your home and for staging your space when you are ready to sell.

Asymmetry (Fukinsei): Stiff, formal symmetry, suggesting frozen finality and artificial perfection, can be fatal to the imagination. Asymmetry lets us be loose and spontaneous—more human than godlike. It means we can get by with one—or three—candlesticks, and all the china doesn’t have to match.

Simplicity (Kanos): Zen eschews gaudy, ornate, and over embellished in favor of sparse, fresh, and neat. It’s the triumph of craftsman style over the cluttered Victorian parlor.

Austerity (Koko): Zen asks us to reduce everything to “the pith of essence.” Don’t love it? Can’t find a use for it? Let it go.

Naturalness (Shizen): Zen is artless, without pretense or self-consciousness. It’s bare wood, unpolished stone, and flowers from the backyard.

Subtle Profundity (Yugen): Within Zen lies a deep reserve, a mysterious, shadowy darkness. The hint of soft moonlight thorugh a skylight would be yugen.

Freedom from Worldly Attachments (Datsuzoku): The Buddha taught us not to be bound to life, things, or rules. “It is not a strong bond, say the wise, that is made of iron, wood, or hemp,” he said. “Far greater an attachment than that is the longing for jewels and ornaments, children and wives.” It’s the simplicity movement, not keeping up with the Joneses.

Silence (Sejaku): Inwardly oriented, Zen embraces the quiet calm of dawn, dusk, late autumn, and early spring.

Interior Decorating - Home Staging

Joanna Cohlan

Fresh Eyes For Your Home - Westchester NY Interior Decorating and Home Staging

914-391-3697      

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