| After Buddha's death his students decided that to | | | | thoroughly. |
| continue the Buddha's work they must gather the | | | | First within and around the Zen monasteries then |
| teachings and sayings of Buddha into a body of text, | | | | among the people, practitioners sought to create and |
| which body became called the Pali Canon. | | | | express the fundamental harmonies and truths of Zen |
| This was the first branch of Buddhism, but soon a | | | | in the small plots they possessed. Accustomed to |
| division occurred about which scriptures in what order | | | | relating to beautiful landscapes as distant scenes, this |
| were important and how they belonged in the teaching | | | | is what they attempted to create within their own |
| of Buddhism, and from this split several branches | | | | small spaces - beautiful, yet more importantly - truthful |
| emerged. | | | | scenes in which there is a balance and harmony and |
| Soon after, another rift occurred - groups of students | | | | interior reality within the relationships created by |
| and teachers who believed that 'The Way' was to | | | | placement of the various elements. |
| meditate - to do as Buddha practiced and not to rely | | | | The practice of creating gardens became a teaching - |
| on what he said, separated from the other branches | | | | the attempt to sift through all the illusionary impressions |
| of Buddhism. | | | | and arrive at a clear vision of a truth, expressed, for |
| Meditation, or Dhyana, became the focus of this | | | | example, in a grouping of stones or stones and a body |
| branch. This school spread to and was inculcated into | | | | of water or the arrangement of plants, the goal |
| China and Chinese philosophy where it became known | | | | always being to achieve and express understanding or |
| as the Ch'an sect. This spread to Korea, then Japan, | | | | some level of enlightenment through the objective or |
| (in Japanese Ch'an is pronounced Zen) where it was | | | | 'true' relationships created within the garden. |
| embraced, took root and began to have and continues | | | | Through the influence of Buddhism, Zen practitioners |
| to have a tremendous impact on Japanese thought | | | | mastered the art of creating gardens designed to |
| and all aspects of Japanese life and within many other | | | | evoke particular emotions in very small spaces using |
| cultures as well. | | | | only what was necessary to do so. - They sought to |
| The basic belief and practice of Zen is that the truths | | | | cut through the illusory and arrive at the kernel, the |
| Buddha discovered were already within him but buried | | | | essence. That is the practice of Zen gardening. |
| beneath confusion and illusion. He remained in a state | | | | Adapted to the West, however, and taken up by such |
| of meditation, determined to see and understand or die. | | | | as you and me, the options are greater. We can take |
| Thus followed his Enlightenment and soon to follow | | | | the fundamental principles, and must if we wish to |
| was the beginning of Buddhism. | | | | create truly successful Zen gardens, miniature gardens, |
| Masters of Zen, then, apply techniques for revealing | | | | container gardens or miniature landscapes, but we re |
| the hidden truths in students through meditation, choice | | | | not restricted to only those mountain or river valley |
| of location for a lesson, a sudden sound or act some | | | | scenes, or indeed, to any particular sort of scene at all. |
| other stimuli that jars the student from his illusions and | | | | It may be a mistake for a Westerner to attempt to |
| gives him a Satori, or glimpse of truth. | | | | emulate the Japanese aesthetic, as our sense of |
| In so far as Zen gardens are concerned, the effects | | | | beauty is of a different kind, however it would be |
| of this teaching in Japan, where Zen Buddhism grew | | | | more a mistake to eschew the techniques, the |
| and for which it became the focus of Zen, can only be | | | | philosophy and the mastery of the Zen Garden |
| explained with some understanding of the geography | | | | creations in the expression of our aesthetic in these |
| of Japan. | | | | miniature landscapes. |
| The center of Japan is dominated by a huge, steep | | | | So, whether making a Zen garden with rocks and |
| and forbidding mountain range and it became the | | | | sand, or a miniature landscape or a miniature Zen |
| custom, the aesthetic and 'mind-set' of the Japanese | | | | garden with rocks, plants, etc., our goal should be to |
| people to regard mountain landscape scenes, which | | | | create a scene which evokes particular emotions - the |
| they could not help but do, as scenes or paintings, not | | | | sense of harmony, peace, serenity, etc. by the creation |
| as experiential. Thus many of the paintings of the time | | | | of real, objective, not arbitrary, relationships between |
| were like those of China depicting misty mountain tops | | | | the elements we chose to use. This is not only the |
| shrouded in a mystical atmosphere. | | | | practice of Zen gardening, it is in fact, the goal of any |
| Because of the huge mountain range that runs through | | | | attempt to create a beautiful landscape or garden. This |
| the center of Japan creating small river valleys and | | | | is the concept of unity - the harmonious, (real, not |
| coastal plains, about eighty percent of the population of | | | | arbitrary) relation of each part to each and of each to |
| Japan lives in about three percent of the land. | | | | the whole - the essence of the Zen garden and the |
| Populated areas are crowded and when changes in | | | | ultimate aim of any landscape design. |
| thinking or customs within the government, the military | | | | Recommended reading: The Art of the Zen Garden |
| and the religious leaders occur, as happened with the | | | | by A.K. |
| importation of Zen Buddhism, they spread quickly, and | | | | |