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The Zen garden at the Ryoan-ji

A Zen garden, a Japanese type of Karesansui 枯山水 rock garden, is an enclosed shallow sandbox containing sand, gravel, rocks, and occasionally grass or other natural elements. They are used by Japanese Zen monks in meditation.

Ryoan-ji Temple

The rock garden was added to provide a place for the monks to meditate and is often said to have a calming effect.

Layout

There have been many attempts to explain the Zen garden's layout. Some of these are:

• The gravel represents ocean and the rocks represent the islands of Japan
• The rocks represent a mother tiger with her cubs, swimming to a dragon
• The rocks form part of the kanji for heart or mind

See Ryōan-ji for a mathematical analysis of a rock garden.

A recent suggestion by researchers Gert van Tonder of Kyoto University and Michael J. Lyons of ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Labs is that the rocks form the subliminal image of a tree. This image cannot be consciously perceived when looking at them; the researchers claim the subconscious mind is able to see a subtle association between the rocks. They believe this is responsible for the calming effect of the garden.

Maintenance as a discipline

The raking of the gravels is an experience closely associated with Zen philosophy, being the principal reason for having such a garden. This is illustrated in the "executive Zen garden" kits sold, similar to that shown above, in which one does not expect to make and keep a perfect garden as a static object, but rather to experience the processes of design and maintenance. When the raking is done in a full scale garden, one can only tread where one has not yet raked, and so this cannot be done thoughtlessly, yet to do it well (and to gain the most from it) requires the no mind state of mind, and the koan intrinsic in this conflict goes to the core of Zen.

Adaptations to landscape design

The concepts of Zen garden design have been adapted to the creation of a more naturalistic planted landscape. This can be seen in the image below, a small zen garden that is a part of the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Not seen in this view are several large boulders to the left at the shore of the pebble bed enclosed by the bordering shrubs.

Criticisms

The concept of the Zen garden is considered a myth by many prominent Japanese gardeners and Buddhism experts as well as others. They claim it is a late 20th century western creation which has nothing to do with the tradition of Japanese gardening. The karesansui or "dry garden" aesthetic is by no means unique to the gardens found adjacent to Zen temples. Dry gardens can be found outside homes, restaurants, and inns. Likewise, the gardens around Zen temples come in many different styles, and dry gardens are just one of them.

The term "zen garden" (in any language) in Loraine Kuck's 1935 English language book, One Hundred Kyoto Gardens. The first Japanese language use of the term didn't appear in print until 1958. This may imply that some postwar Japanese scholars may have simply followed the Western lead, endorsing the fashionable “Zen garden” concept because it was already championed by foreigners.

Wybe Kuitert’s Themes, Scenes & Taste in the History of Japanese Garden Art published in 1988 makes a profound argument against the correlation between Zen and the karesansui: "Kuck mixes her own (20th century) historically-determined Zen garden interpretation with an old garden of a completely different cultural setting. This makes her interpretation invalid. ... (the mediaeval garden) found its place in Zen temples and warrior residences because it enhanced a cultural ambiance. That its appreciation was one of religious emotion, rather than one of ‘form’ is questionable."

Kuitert also addresses the zen garden from a Buddhist perspective: "(in Dogen’s view) the best garden representing the Sermon of Buddha would be nothing. At least it would certainly not be an aesthetically-pleasing garden that would only distract from a real search for Enlightenment." Kuitert exposes more criticism by translating the comments of a Muromachi-era monk at Toh-ji: “People practicing Zen should not construct gardens. In a sutra it says that the Bodhisattva Makatsu, who wanted to meditate, first totally abandoned the this-worldly life of making business and gaining profit, as well as growing vegetables..."

The claim that Zen monks use gardens for meditation is contrary to the fact that Zen monks in Japan nearly always meditate indoors, facing either a wall (Soto Zen) or the center of the room (Rinzai Zen), not facing a landscape. Photos of Japanese monks meditating on dry gardens are, therefore, likely staged events.

More criticisms of the "Zen garden" may be found in the Journal of Japanese Gardening.

Caveat to the Reader

The critical remarks above assume an overly literal interpretation of the term Zen garden. The term refers to the fact that this style of garden developed in Rinzai Zen temples with some of the most historically important designers, such as Muso Soseki and Soami, being monks or engaging in the practice of Zen. Furthermore the style of traditional Zen gardens developed during a period of Japanese history when cultural practices associated with Zen Buddhism, such as calligraphy and landscape painting, were exerting an increasing influence in Japanese arts. This influence spread more widely in Japanese culture, which is why this style of gardening, which did in fact originate in Zen temples, can be found in homes, businesses, and restaurants.

There are of course a variety of opinions on the value of these gardens with regards to Buddhist practice, however it is incorrect to deny that their development is closely associated with Rinzai Zen temples, most particularly the large temples complexes of Kyoto.

External links

• Neuroscience unlocks secrets of Zen garden (Requires subscription)
• Neuroscience unlocks secrets of Zen garden (Mirror)
• Buddhist Garden and Sacred Space
• Zen garden images and meaning
• Photo Gallery of Japanese Zen Gardens
• Criticisms of the term "Zen Garden"
• Stanford University article on the history and meaning of some Japanese gardens

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "zen garden".