Zen and the art of temple garden maintenance

[Meitou]

Make some tea, pull up a chair and pass twenty minutes listening to Zen priests talking about temple gardens and how they relate to the whole enchilada.
One priest defines Zen Buddhism as simply 'Doing the right thing right'
Enjoy!
Gassho
Meitou
satwithyoualltoday/lah

https://vimeo.com/70643690

[aprapti]

thanks, Meitou. that was very nice.


coos
std

[Jundo]

That was just lovely .... (Ma space here) ....

We have a much simpler Japanese garden along the house here in Tsukuba, yet I still must bring in the professional gardener (and my 80 year old mother-in-law!) to give it some of the fine care it deserves to prune the trees and tend the delicate bushes.

This year, as Spring comes, I will try to offer a little more respect which it deserves.

Here it is today, looking a little worn and neglected during this cold winter. Time to clip and trim. That's the Zendo at the far back.



Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

Garden.jpg

[Meitou]

That was just lovely .... (Ma space here) ....

We have a much simpler Japanese garden along the house here in Tsukuba, yet I still must bring in the professional gardener (and my 80 year old mother-in-law!) to give it some of the fine care it deserves to prune the trees and tend the delicate bushes.

This year, as Spring comes, I will try to offer a little more respect which it deserves.

Here it is today, looking a little worn and neglected during this cold winter. Time to clip and trim. That's the Zendo at the far back.



Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4981[/ATTACH]

It's beautiful Jundo, I love those zafu like shrubs and that leaning tree in the foreground.
Gardening is wonderful samu practice, very focused and calming, and as physical exercise it can be as rigorous or gentle as you make it. It's a good time for reflection too.
I only have a tiny cortile, not much bigger than a balcony, but I really love looking after it, knowing the plants and seeing how the seasons transform them.
Gassho
Meitou
Satwithyoualltoday lah

[Kotei]

Thank you so much, Meitou, I enjoyed watching very much.
Interesting to see the different approaches next to each other.

Regarding your 'small' garden space, you might want to google about 'Tsuboniwa', if not done already.
Some are just the size of a tatami mat or two and still contain all of natures beauty, Japanese garden tranquility and such.
They amaze me again and again.

Before learning about Zen, I fell in love with Japanese gardens. Found myself sitting still in such a garden, thoughts loosing their grip. Not knowing about Zazen.
As time, money and garden space became available, I started creating my own reflection of such.
More and more, after years of 'garden-discipline', I am starting to understand, that me and the garden is nothing separate. I mean, I knew this intellectually, but that is somehow something completely different.
Imho, the only way of maintaining a quite large garden is to do it with a samu kind of mind.
The approach to do it just with discipline and pressure did not work at all ;-).

There is a non-tellable secret about Zen, and also about Japanese gardening.
No one can tell you. You have to experience and practice by yourself.
Maybe my garden (it somehow feels not ok to call it 'my') shaped my self more, than I did the other way round.

I like the video below.
It's about reflections on Japanese gardens from different artists and monks (not only temple gardens).
It's a bit too much on the aesthetic side, but worth watching the full hour, when you're into J-gardening :-).

'The sounds of the stream splash out the Buddha's sermon.
Don't say that the deepest meaning comes only from ones mouth.
Day and night 80.000 poems arise one ofter the other
and in fact, not a single word has ever been spoken.'
Musō Soseki 1275-1351 (priest and garden designer of Tenryū-ji)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWcmuk2tN7M

Thank you,
Gassho,
Kotei (old garden) sat/lah today

p.s.: Your garden is very beautiful, Jundo.

[Ryudo]

Thank you Meitou
Thank you Kotei

I learned a lot today.

Gassho
Ryudo
SatToday

[Meitou]

Kotei, thank you so much for this lovely post, I hadn't heard the term tsuboniwa before, I had a great time on Google looking at the most exquisite spaces, one garden was actually a window box which I was thrilled to see, it gave me so many ideas for how I could realistically create something in our garden which would be relatively safe from our four cats scratching about in it. I'd like to see your garden, have you posted any pictures of it?
I've started watching the film, I need to pick it up again later when I can give it the time it deserves, but from what I've seen so far, it's beautiful, just the kind of thing I love.
Thank you for posting.

Gassho
Meitou
satwithyoualltoday/lah/swept leaves

[Jinyo]

Thank you for this lovely thread - will be watching the longer film as well.
Your garden is beautiful Jundo.

My garden is very important to me - it was the only outside space I was able to venture into during the worst years of my illness. It remains my solace
and inspiration. Nature nurtures

Gassho

Jinyo

ST

[Kotei]

...
I'd like to see your garden, have you posted any pictures of it?
...

Unfortunately, I fail completely, catching in a picture what I feel about the garden.
I stopped taking pictures. (Of course there are exceptions :-). Always, something important is missing.
There are the realms of time, change, feelings, (pre-used)material, metaphors and direct experience, that I am not able to catch at all.
It's so much more experiencing, than just viewing.

Hmm, showing some more and ranting about my thoughts in a thread in the Art forum is something I am considering.
This being said, here is a rough overview of about 1/2 of the total space (waterfall, rocks, stream and more (maybe the interior of the building at the pond, that belongs to the garden) will have to wait until spring :-) ).

The one, who is already content with his garden, does not deserve it.
Karl Förster (German garden-designer and plant breeder)





Kotei-ji ;-)

[Washin]

Beautiful!

Thank you, Meitou.
Thank you, Kotei.

Gassho
Washin
st

[Jinyo]

Unfortunately, I fail completely, catching in a picture what I feel about the garden.
I stopped taking pictures. (Of course there are exceptions :-). Always, something important is missing.
There are the realms of time, change, feelings, (pre-used)material, metaphors and direct experience, that I am not able to catch at all.
It's so much more experiencing, than just viewing.

Hmm, showing some more and ranting about my thoughts in a thread in the Art forum is something I am considering.
This being said, here is a rough overview of about 1/2 of the total space (waterfall, rocks, stream and more (maybe the interior of the building at the pond, that belongs to the garden) will have to wait until spring :-) ).

The one, who is already content with his garden, does not deserve it.
Karl Förster (German garden-designer and plant breeder)





Kotei-ji ;-)

Wow - it's amazing - please post some more with your thoughts in the Art thread.

Gassho

Jinyo

ST

[Meitou]

Wow, it's beautiful (and huge!) Don't stop taking photos, often other people find something in them that you may not have seen.
Gassho
Meitou
Satwithyoualltoday lah

[Seishin]

Meitou

Finally got round to watching this fascinating and educational video. I started "building" an exterior zen garden/outdoor sitting area a while back but its not moved on that much. These clippings have shown me I need to maybe build a pergola type area for sitting and an extended zen garden around it. Much food for thought. I have many tree cuttings developing roots at the moment but am now thinking to extend this to hebe cuttings and the like to give some low level cover. Resiting to an area that gets east, south and west sun coverage also feels like a good way to go, so I might go back to the drawing board on this one. Thank you provoking so much thought and inspiration for my Jarden Zen Francais.

[Amelia]

Loved it, thank you!

Gassho, sat today, lah

[Meitou]

Meitou

Finally got round to watching this fascinating and educational video. I started "building" an exterior zen garden/outdoor sitting area a while back but its not moved on that much. These clippings have shown me I need to maybe build a pergola type area for sitting and an extended zen garden around it. Much food for thought. I have many tree cuttings developing roots at the moment but am now thinking to extend this to hebe cuttings and the like to give some low level cover. Resiting to an area that gets east, south and west sun coverage also feels like a good way to go, so I might go back to the drawing board on this one. Thank you provoking so much thought and inspiration for my Jarden Zen Francais.

Seishin I'm reading this lovely book at the moment, it mainly deals with larger gardens - I can't quite fit a waterfall into my 8,50m x 2,5m cortile, but even so, it's an inspiring read. https://www.shambhala.com/the-sound-...-blossoms.html
Gassho
Meitou
Satwithyoualltoday