 | | |
13. Of appearance and essence
Many homes in Japan have their own gardens.
Or rather, many extend out into a garden, their windows open wide on water, greenery and stone,
as human dwellings merge with the home of the gods.
A Japanese garden is much more than a creation designed to illustrate its owner's social rank or to complement a building.
For its visible landscape conceals another, invisible design that reaches out and profoundly transforms the visitor.
The garden continues to expand in the viewer's imagination, inspiring a true spiritual experience.
But the imagination, and meditation, cannot tolerate haste or distraction.
And if there is one central truth to all Japanese gardens, it is that you must absorb them slowly, taking your time as you explore the hundreds of different landscapes.
Stop.
And allow the garden's harmony to calm your inner turbulence.
It takes patience to discover a Japanese garden.
For it is not merely a juxtaposition of stones, water and plants.
Its intimate arrangement fuses living and lifeless, fleeting and eternal, appearance and essence.
Every element in a Japanese garden is much more than an object.
A stone becomes a sacred mountain.
A tranquil pond is a mirror of the celestial garden.
The new flowers on a shrub are life itself, surviving the winter.
We can only touch the surface of such an ancient, refined and subtle skill as Japanese gardening here, and try to avoid the hazards inherent in such generalizations.
Nonetheless, whether or not we are aware of its symbolism, the garden exists.
It does not care whether we know how to read its message.
And the garden invites us to savour it with both our souls and our eyes.
|
|
