Zen minimalism

Zen minimalism, originally derived from Japanese Zen Buddhism, can help satisfy your longing for quiet and simplicity in a complicated world. Use understated, refined furnishings and simple artwork, such as a single hanging scroll or a black-and-white drawing. Use neutral colors for your bed linens and window treatments.

If you want more embellishment, add a single punch of color, such as one throw pillow or a vase, or bring in bamboo window blinds or simple, neutral cloth drapes.

The Seven Principles of Zen

Use Zen’s seven ruling principles as guiding lights in your bedroom.

■ 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 everything doesn’t have to match.

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

■ Simplicity (Kanso): Zen eschews gaudy, ornate and overembellished in favor of sparse, fresh and neat.

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

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

■ Subtle Profundity (Yugen): Within Zen lies a deep reserve—a mysterious, shadowy darkness. The hint of soft moonlight through a skylight is an example of yugen.

■ Freedom from Worldly Attachments (Datsuzoku): The Buddha teaches 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 says. “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.

Reprinted with permission from The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty by Robyn Griggs Lawrence (Clarkson Potter, 2004).

Basics

-Keeping clutter at bay symbolizes purity and encourages meditation.

-Pale walls spread light throughout the room.

-Natural light is the most important adornment.

-Unadulterated natural elements honor nature.

-Adding a singular punch of color brings the room to life.

-Something simple and alive provides a subject for meditation and reminds us that we are a part of nature.