According to the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, gardens are not intended for idle walks. Contemplation, concentration, reflection – this is the main thing that should occupy us in the garden. A garden is a space for imagination, a window to another world, an eternal and beautiful world. Sad is the kingdom of order. When order is around us, order is in our soul. When we litter the space around us with disorder, we litter the entire universe …
Ode to Immobile Stone
Fifteen stones in front of my house … Fifteen stones of bizarre shapes and different sizes on pure white sand, arranged in random order, with islands of moss between them. Oh, HOW MUCH time I spent here, contemplating, thinking, learning about life and myself …
Stone lives much longer than man. Stone versus man is eternal. But in vain they think that the stone is inanimate. He is also alive, as if everything is alive in our world. Just his life is slow and invisible to the human eye. He lives slowly and thoughtfully. He lives wisely, without poisoning himself with man’s passions and sufferings. How much wisdom has a stone accumulated in its life! How much life force lurks in his motionless body! This comprehends only contemplating a rock garden.
The stones taught me silence. Stones taught me patience. Stones taught me calm. The stones taught me to contemplate.
The stones in the garden are arranged so that they cannot be seen all at the same time. no matter where you are located, it is still one stone that escapes your gaze. This creates the feeling that the garden is infinite, that it has no boundaries. Just as there are no limits to the universe.
Stones taught me the infinity of the universe. The stones taught me that I, like them, is also an island in the ocean of the universe. So, I am as eternal and infinite as it is.
I spent many hours of meditation in the rock garden. In peace and quiet, the contemplation of the stones soothed my mind. And the garden of stones was transformed and reincarnated before my eyes, then into an endless water surface with ice tops, now into a plain with protruding peaks of rocks, now into the sky with mountains of clouds … open it and enter it to become part of it. Focusing on the stationary, I felt the movement of higher rhythms, I heard the melodies of the Universe and contemplated the entire boundless Universe at once.
I learned the harmony of the Universe and the health of nature from stones, from gardens, from flowers, from all of nature. I saw how the nature around me gives me healing energy. And this energy is no less important than the one we get from food.
Food – one way to get ki our body. Vision, hearing, other feelings and sensations are another way of getting ki from space. One without the other is incomplete. If we eat healthy natural food, but our eyes and ears at this time suffer from disorder and cacophony, then even the best food under the influence of bad energy can deteriorate and not be so useful.
Garden art I think is very important. Garden – the Universe in miniature, where all forces and energies are in harmony. Be it a rock garden or a plant garden. If you have a garden, it brings you its strength and harmony. If you cook your food in the kitchen overlooking the garden, then your food will be much more useful.
Water, stones, trees, bushes, mosses, flowers, grasses – all this is not just the material from which the garden was created, these are particles of the Universe, in which, like a drop of water, the Universe is reflected. It is not by chance that the word “garden” once meant a space intended for the worship of gods.
Water and stones – the main thing that should be in the garden. Why the main thing? Because water and stones create harmony of yang and yin. Water – yin, stones – yang. Contemplate water and stones if you want to maintain the balance of yang and yin in your body. Getting in balance yang and yin with food, we must also get yang and yin in balance from the surrounding space with the help of our sensory organs and nervous system. The sand is also yin. Therefore, in the garden of stones water replaces the sand.