The Japanese stone garden ...

[Michael Grove]

 [IS] an ART FORM recognised around the globe. These meditative gardens

 provide tranquil settings, where visitors can shed the burdens and

 stresses of modern existence, satisfy an age-old yearning for solitude

 and repose, and experience the restorative power of art and nature. 

 For this reason, the value of the Japanese stone garden today is arguably

 even greater than when many of them were created.   

 Japanese Stone Gardens provides a comprehensive introduction to the

 powerful mystique and dynamism of the Japanese stone garden—from

 their earliest use as props in animistic rituals, to their appropriation by

 ZEN monks and priests to create settings conducive to contemplation and

 finally to their contemporary uses and meaning. With insightful text and

 abundant imagery, this book reveals the hidden order of stone gardens

 and in the process heightens the enthusiast's appreciation of them.

  Fifteen gardens are featured in this book: some well known, such as the

 famous Ryoan-ji Dragon Peace Temple garden of Kyoto, others less so,

 among them gardens spread through the south of Honshu Island and the

 southern islands of Shikoku and Kyushu and in faraway Okinawa.

   Just as the Japanese Tea Ceremony and the Ikebana

   flower arrangement make frugality a virtue, creating

   with the simplest of means a world of stillness and

   beauty, so the rock garden creates an [IDEA]L landscape,  

   a garden for THE MIND.

                                                        

                       Donald Riche - Foreword, JAPANESE STONE GARDENS 




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[Michael Grove]

   "ZEN teaches that our approach to today determines our whole

    approach to life. The Japanese call this attitude Ichi-nichi issho :

   'Each day is a lifetime.' We arise in the morning newly born. As we

    pass through the day, we age and gain experience. When we tire at

   day's end, we 'die' and take our rest. That one arc serves as a

   miniature of our entire life."

                                                                                 ZEN 24/7

   To LIVE happily we must live UNSEEN

[Michael Grove]

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