Zen Garden - Japanese Rock Garden

Many of us know the name Zen Garden and have some idea of ​​how it might look, but do you know what the meaning of a Zen Garden?

Zen Garden photo source: Conferodezso

Unlike a traditional garden with flowers and water, the Japanese rock garden or "dry landscape" garden, often called a zen garden, creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and uses gravel or sand that is raked to represent ripples in water.

Source: cmemag - A nice example of how a Zen Garden might look like.

When the word garden is mentioned, the first thing often think of is green scenery, which includes plants, trees, a pond, grass, several types of flowers in all kinds of colours.

Japanese Rock Garden or Zen gardens however, are created with little plant material, and have neither pond nor river. This garden has only rock, gravel, sand, and perhaps a few pieces of moss. The dry garden dates back to the Muromachi period, the 14th century.

Its physical form represents Zen Buddhist philosophy, spiritual refinement, and enlightenment. The meaning of a Zen garden was originally created as an aid to meditation and to teach the basic principles of the religion.

Quick facts:

• Other names for a Zen Garden is: Japanese Rock Garden and Dry Landscape Garden.
• The first Zen Garden (dry landscape garden) was an ink landscape painting from the 9th centuries.
• Japanese Rock Garden was originally inspired by Chinese poetry.
• The first Zen Garden was created in the 14th century by the Zen monk and garden maker Muso Soseki.
• The most famous example of the Zen Garden is at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto, Japan.
• Ryoan-ji or "Temple of the peaceful dragon" was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994.
• Even though the garden might have been designed over five hundred years ago, it still attract many thousands of new visitors every year from around the world.

Ryoan-ji - Zen Garden at the "Temple of the peaceful dragon" (video)

Ancient story about Zen

Student - "How do I enter the way of zen?"

Teacher - "Can you hear the flow of the instant stream?"

Student - He sits quiet for a while to listen, and he hears the stream down in the walley on the other side of the hill. "Yes" he says quietly.

Teacher - "Enter from there" the teacher instrukts the student.

Student - "And if I have not been able to hear the stream?"

Teacher - "Then I would have told you to enter from there"


Read about: Lao Tzu - The father of Taoism



This is the visitors response after visitting the Japanese rock garden at the Tree Wheels Temple in London, UK..

“ It is very hard to explain why this Zen garden affects you. Suddenly you feel a great peace and feel completely happy just to be sitting there… All your mind wants to do is to be there and take in tiny details like the shapes of the rocks and little patches of purple in the dark green of the moss.”

Three Wheels Temple in London, UK

Related links & source:

• How to build a Zen Garden (video)
• Three Wheels Temple (official site)
• Nidaros Cathedral in Norway