The Japanese have perfected the art of contemplative gardening as a lifestyle, and one of the most popular expressions is in the creation of rock gardens, also known as karesansui. These dry landscapes use sand, stone, rocks and air plants as core elements of their design.
The history of rock gardens in Japan goes as far back as the Heian period where the earliest gardens were copied from the Chinese Song dynasty, up till the Muromachi period in which the ’Temple of the perfumes of the West’ and its moss gardens were popular.
While a lot of contemplative gardening in Japanese rock gardens is tied to the worship of Buddha, the core purpose is meditation and focus which is a good way to help your thinking and nurture the ability to appreciate the beauty in all things – life, nature and people. The placement of rocks is an important element in a rock garden as said placement creates different moods for different people. For example, the popular Ryoan-ji – ‘Temple of Peaceful Dragons’ has fifteen strategically placed rocks that present different images from different angles for different people. Carefully raked white sand is also an element of rock gardens that simulate in most cases, ripples of water, islands or waterfalls. The art of raking is a concentration practice and is of great benefit to the creative process.
Gardening can be a contemplative task – the process of assembling your tools, removing weeds, digging holes for transplant, starting new life, walking through your garden daily, making notes of changes and growth in your plants, can be a reflective process that helps you meditate and take in the beauty that surround you.
Gardening has helped me focus my thinking pattern and think up new ways to solve problems while I take out a few weeds, add manure and tend to the plants. The seeming drudgery of these tasks helps me sharpen my concentration while still being able to notice when a butterfly settles on a pretty flower in my garden. There is something amazing about seeing life grow, just as you watch a baby grow month to month, that is just as wondrous knowing that it was your nurturing that made that plant grows. In Japanese rock gardens, major emphasis is laid on harmony, so instead of individual rocks, priority is placed on creating a harmonious rock composition. In other forms of gardening, this would be achieved by making sure that plants are combined with complementary plants that help with growth, enhance flavours and ward off pests. No plant is good alone, some examples of companion plants for tomatoes include basil, onions, peppers, carrots, chives and sage.
Meditation is a huge part of gardening, and you should always find time to explore the benefits. A good practice to have is to take 5- 10mins during your gardening or some other task to sit for a while and observe, notice the number of leaves on the plant beside you, wonder at how much work has gone into the creative process of the garden design, really see the flowers around you, think about how many fruits you’d like to have in your garden. Just notice.
‘Loba.
stopping to smell the roses
Greens and Sunshine 