Customer Reviews

Living Wabi Sabi: The True Beauty of Your Life

5 star:		(11)
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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Taro Gold's beautiful book is a visual delight with a profound message. Each page is washed in a tint of color; some pages have powerful quotes written on beautiful backgrounds. But the message is not sweet or simple.

Living a Wabi-Sabi life means accepting your faults as well as your strengths, accepting that you will never be perfect and still keeping yourself open to being a work in progress. It means living a joy unrelated to your income. It means sweeping your life free of blame for others, and living instead with the responsibility of choosing your own happiness or misery.

You can read the book in a single sitting, but don't. Read a few pages at a time, and see how the concept flows into your life. Don't be surprised if you begin to look at your life differently. One of the characters, Obaa-san, says, "No matter how it may seem at the time, the core of your suffering is not your inconsiderate partner, your demanding boss, your insufficient bank balance. . .The root of your suffering is found internally, in the limitations you place on yourself."

This beautiful, small book holds a profound truth that can transform your life. Read it, then live it. You will be changed in wonderful ways.

Perfection exists only in the imagination. As long as we equate joy with perfection in even a small way, we will never know contentment. ~Taro Gold

In our drive towards perfection, we often seek for impossible dreams that lead to unending conflict of the soul. Taro Gold's "Living Wabi Sabi" is filled with ways we can escape this cycle of disappointment. Quotes are interspersed with personal recollections of his grandmother's teachings. Art mingles with quotes and the pages are of a high quality and shaded with natural earth tones. Not only will this book last a long time, it is perfect to give as a gift.

Taro's thoughts are beautiful gifts filled with wisdom and the secrets of Wabi Sabi living. While life is filled with uncertainties, at least we can ponder how we will deal with uncertainty itself.

Through humorous recollections about cooking or Taro's experience with electricity we learn deep spiritual truths. He discusses the birth of stars, how joy is the ultimate goal in life and how his grandmother taught him to develop inner character so he could contribute goodness to the world. He also discusses interesting facts about Walt Disney and how he was fired from his first job for "lack of imagination." There are a few other humorous examples of how life seemed to take a wrong turn, all while leading the participants right to the height of their success.

There are seven main chapters:

Living Wabi Sabi
Like Sugar from the Sun
The Wisdom of Imperfection
Growing Up, Growing Down
Awakening to the Universe Within
A Field of Possibilities
The True Beauty of Your Life

If you have been reading all the books by Taro Gold, you may be interested in reading more about Taro Gold and in this book, you can enjoy reading a bit about Taro's family history. This is a very personal book and I found it to be the most healing and comforting of all the books by Taro Gold. There are life-changing principles in Taro's book that can be incorporated into any spiritual tradition or lifestyle.

Also highly recommended:

What Is Love? A Simple Buddhist Guide to Romantic Happiness
Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A book of Eastern Wisdom
The Tao of Mom: The Wisdom of Mothers from East to West

~The Rebecca Review

This beautiful book is filled with some of the most life-changing wisdom I've ever found. I have read and re-read it a few times since receiving it as a gift last month. Every time I read this book I find deeper meaning and greater inspiration. There are so many levels to Wabi Sabi, I love it! Much more practical and life-changing than other concepts. I have never felt as good about myself, my life or the future as I have since I read this book.

The publisher deserves credit for putting together an attractive little book. The short quotes sprinkled through out are pithy and to the point, while the decorative illustrations are pretty. Those illustrations, however are the flowery type you find in Asian poetry books and have little to do with Wabi Sabi. Gold's exposition on the subject is simplistic to the point of being juvenile. Wabi Sabi is a complex topic and requires more depth. While new to the subject, I have already found two better books. Lennox Tierney includes photographs of items which actually illustrate the principles of Wabi Sabi in Wabi Sabi A New Look at Japanese Design. Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren Porvides a better foundation for understanding than Gold's book.

For those already aware of Buddhist or New Age principles, this book might serve as a pleasant reinforcement. If you seek a deeper truth, you'll be disappointed by the cooing stories of the author's grandmother. The ideas, like accepting what is and living in the moment, are sound in my experience, but the presentation strikes me as infantile. A luxurious use of ink and space make for an attractive book, suitable for a coffee table or waiting room.

I'm a long time fan of "Wabi Sabi for artists and designers" and a new fan of "the Wabi Sabi House" so I thought this would be along the same lines.

Actually it seems to be a new age self-help book full of self obsessed California psycho-babble. If you are a lost soul needing support and guidance this may be a great book for you. If you are a designer or architect looking for guidance in bringing more authenticity, grit, and poetry to your creative process then pass this one by.

This book really focuses on the true meaning of a happy life, and how simple it can be once we decide to cut out all of the excess stuff society tends to throw in our view. Taro Gold's style of writing is easy to follow and digest, reminding us that what is essential to the soul is all that really matters.
It stays on our coffee table to remind us to take time to reflect, especially after experiencing a tough day, etc.

I started reading this book yesterday and couldn't put it down, so I finished it in one sitting.

What a great book--the reading just flowed and in a different format; and I loved the illustrations and layout.

There is a great lesson given with this book--that one can be down-and-out, but somehow you can rise above any obstacle, with the right mindframe.

I am so grateful to have found this book!

I have given this book to more than 10 friends. It is the most subtle yet profoundly moving book of wisdom I have ever encountered. Since reading Living Wabi Sabi, I feel more relaxed, more optimistic, and more happy then I have ever felt in my life. I can finally face the imperfections in my life and the challenges and hardships with confidence and composure. I read from this book every week, sometimes a bit every single day.

This is the best book I've read about Wabi Sabi, and I refer to it often. It covers the history of Wabi Sabi in Japanese culture, its evolution, and explains the fundamental principles of Wabi Sabi for a happier, less stressed life. I keep this book on my nightstand and re-read a bit from it each night. The easy explanations and positive, inspirational thoughts are always encouraging. I also enjoy Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Book of Eastern Wisdom (Large Second Volume) and the fantastic What Is Love? A Simple Guide to Romantic Happiness by the same author.