Zen Gardening

About Zen Gardening
Zen gardens were built long ago to help Zen monks in their quest for enlightenment. The placement of natural elements such as sand and stones to represent mountains and water allows the person meditating to forget the physical self while contemplating the meaning of the universe.

Traditional Japanese gardens use all natural materials and have an emphasis on harmonious spatial beauty. Zen gardens often incorporate straight lines, swirls, stones, wood, and other non-living components to help in meditation. The gardens can also incorporate water if a water fountain or pond is desired.
The underlying philosophy of Japanese gardens is a combination of Shintoism, which reveres nature, Buddhism, which reveres life, and Zen, which seeks to perceive the fundamental reality in all things and abide by the laws of nature.

Zen gardens are used in meditation. In the west, they are considered tools for concentration and relaxation. They calm the nerves and aid the imagination.
Zen gardening uses a variety of techniques and media to produce a certain effect. Water, plants and stones are placed together to work in harmony.

Rock Zen Gardening
Rock Zen Gardening is the art of using stones to create gardens. Usually, gravel is poured out over the garden area and large stones are added. The gardener, using a rake, maps out designs in the gravel first by raking back and forth along the length of the garden and then by producing swirls that dance around the stones and around each other. The stones are meant to represent mountains and the swirls are meant to represent water. Any kind and color of stones and gravel can be used, but the stones are usually dark and the gravel us usually white.

Creating a Rock Zen Garden
It is easy to create your own rock Zen garden in your own yard, garden, or inside your home.