Karesansui is the 500-year-old landscape artform in which the eternal is represented by a group of rocks surrounded by carefully raked sand. The literal translation of the Japanese word is “Dry-Mountain-Water,” and it’s an infinitely more elegant concept than the label which we barbarians have bestowed upon it: the Zen Garden.
you are now aware of the essence of nothingness
Karesansui was developed by Buddhist monks who apparently had nothing better to do, and delighted in the idea of a garden without plants that would baffle idiots for centuries. The explanation for the arrangement of rocks and simulated waves ranges from islands in the sea to a mother tiger and her cubs, swimming to a sleeping dragon. Of course, it’s the underlying simplicity of what is unseen and unsaid that makes these things accurate representations of the cosmic balance. If you don’t get it, you need to sit facing a rock wall and meditate in unbroken silence for 9 years.
all your chair are belong to me
I have been exploring a similar art form here in my little pile of concrete in the jungle. Though my meager front yard would lend itself well to karesansui due to the fact that nothing grows in it, the hassle of cleaning up the constant drizzle of candy wrappers and bag juice remains continuously dropped by passers by would nullify any cosmic balance it could generate. Instead, I keep my operation inside. It all revolves around Athena, my cat.
TiJ 