Boyer/Impermanence 1 Impermanence in Life and Art: The Expression of Mujō in Japanese Aesthetics Ronald L. Boyer Graduate Theological Union May 26, 2020 HRHS-8454-1: Tpcs Buddhist Tradtns of Japan (Spring 2020) Instructor: Taigen Dan Leighton This two-part study can be generally understood as: (1) an attempt to frame a theoretical and interpretive construct (lens) that (2) can be used to examine the foundational Buddhist principle of impermanence (Jap. mujō) as expressed in the nuanced, subtle, and interdependent aesthetic principles or “moods” of wabi-sabi and mono no aware creatively embodied in the Tendai Buddhist poetics of Hōshi Saigyō. The theoretical discussion will address three distinct but interdependent areas of challenge: (1) the challenges of properly contextualizing Japanese aesthetics, for the purposes of this paper, within the field of post-modern aesthetics; (2) the influence of Tendai Buddhist non-dualism in Japanese art, including the important theme of impermanence (mujō); and (3) establishing the meanings of wabi-sabi and mono no aware as distinct but overlapping categories of Japanese aesthetics. The praxis will discuss examples of mujō in Saigyō’s poems to illustrate the Buddhist principle of impermanence and its artistic- aesthetic expression in Japanese literary art. The current brief essay will limit discussion to section 3 above, as well as the last part of section 2, mujō or impermanence, as a theoretical construct framing the interpretative structure for analyzing evidence of mujō and Japanese aesthetic features in Saigyō’s poetry.