The understanding of 'wabi (taste for the simple and quiet) or sabi (quiet simplicity)' gradually changed, behavior, like breaking a beautiful stone lantern for being 'too perfect,' treasuring a tea bowl that was repaired after being cracked, became incomprehensible for the masses that it made locals to call 'chajin' (a man of tea) as 'henjin' (abnormal man) (it had a close resemblance to extreme Zen and excessive spiritualism and was a behavior far removed from the original sado).
「侘び・寂び」に対する理解も次第に変質し、美しい石灯籠を「完璧すぎる」とわざと打ち欠いたり、割れて接いだ茶碗を珍重するなど、大衆には理解し難い振る舞いもあって、庶民の間で「茶人」が「変人」の隠語となる事態も招いた（禅の極端化にも共通する過度の精神主義であるし、「粋な自分」を誇示する、本来の茶道とは外れた行為でもある）。