"It was the Japanese who first embraced decay -- in the 15th century -- a few hundred years before the West, in the form of wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi emerged from tea ceremony traditions -- what began as aesthetic guidelines morphed slowly into philosophy. Under wabi-sabi, decay became a comprehensive aesthetic system and veritable state of mind.
Wabi-sabi is a kind of zen state that must be reached slowly over time, best translated as 'the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.' Metaphysically, wabi-sabi suggests that 'Things are either devolving toward, or evolving from, nothingness.' What does this mean? According Wabi-Sabi author Leonard Koren, 'wabi-sabi needs to maintain its mysterious and elusive -- hard to define -- qualities because ineffability is part of its specialness.' "
Everything Falls Apart One:


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When the question is sand in a bowl of boiled rice
The answer is a stick in the soft mud.

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Which is the hand, my hand or Buddha's hand?
Searching for it behind my back, I laugh wholeheartedly.
My entire body was indeed that hand.

The Gateless Gate by Ekai, called Mumon

On the fourth day of sesshin as we sat with our painful legs, aching backs, hopes and doubts about whether it was worth it, Suzuki Roshin began his talk by slowly saying, "The problem you are now experiencing (will go away, right? we were thinking) will ....... continue ........ for ...... the ...... rest ....... of ....... your ....... life."

Powell's Books - Essential Zen by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Tensho David Schneider