Zen gardening

Dear Diary,

As a follower of the Buddha's teachings, I have an interest in all things Buddhist.  I follow the Secular Buddhist path which means I don't believe in religious Buddhism.  I've studied all the major schools of Buddhism and found Zen to be of great interest. At one time, for a number of years, I practiced Zen.  I have moved on since then but I still use some of the practices I learned in that time.

A concise definition of Zen is "a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasising the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or the study of scriptures" (taken from the Google Dictionary).

Zen gardens are well-known in the West.  The strategic placement of rocks, gravel, trees, statues and the like is a meditation practice for the Zen Buddhist.  the placement of objects and raking of the gravel has symbolic meaning.  The quiet and focused work in the garden is meditation. The garden's simplicity is meant to bring the practitioner into a state of contemplation.  Each garden is different according to the inspiration of it's creator and maintainer.  

                                    

Zen gardens can be of any size, including in containers.

Here is my Zen garden.

I enjoy raking the sand and placing the ornaments in the garden.  While I do it I focus on what I'm doing and allow myself to be in the moment. This is very relaxing. Once I've finished my work in the garden, I allow myself to sit, relax and meditate.

Hans

PS: Mein Vati finally cranked up the sewing machine again.  Once he found a pattern which was my size, he began to sew shirts for me.  I'm wearing one; the fabric is up-cycled from one of his shirts.  It's seersucker and very lightweight - perfect for our up-coming summer weather.