| A Meditation Garden can have different meanings | | | | as privacy, enclosure, canopy, and exposure to |
| for different people. When you think of a | | | | the elements, amount of plantings, sounds, scents, |
| meditation garden, do you think of a Zen type | | | | color and proximity to your main house. |
| Japanese garden with raked gravel and an island | | | | As I ponder meditating outdoors, I am reminded |
| of stones? Do you envision a secluded, private | | | | of something said in the Tao Te Ching by Lao |
| retreat surrounded by lush tropical growth as in a | | | | Tzu: |
| rainforest? Or perhaps you see an area in a | | | | "Look, it cannot be seen - it is beyond form. |
| traditional yard that has been designated for the | | | | Listen, it cannot be heard - it is beyond sound. |
| purpose of meditating or just sitting in | | | | Grasp, it cannot be held - it is intangible." |
| contemplation with a bench or chair or | | | | In other words, ascribing a label to a garden as |
| comfortable mat. | | | | that of a "meditation garden" is misleading. The |
| Meditation gardens can take many different | | | | garden's potential meaning is so broad and so |
| forms, but their primary purpose is to provide a | | | | diverse that to label it as such only serves to limit |
| vehicle for mental, emotional and physical benefits. | | | | the imagination and to muffle one's capacity for |
| A place that can offer refuge from a hectic | | | | quiet listening. Therefore, that is why the use of |
| lifestyle, a sanctuary for soul rejuvenation, a spot | | | | the terms meditation, contemplation, tranquility, |
| conducive for actual meditation practice. Meditation | | | | serenity and prayer are all used interchangeably |
| itself can be sitting meditation or walking | | | | when used in the "description" or labeling of such a |
| meditation. | | | | garden. |
| A meditation "garden" can also be a place to do | | | | If we call our garden a garden for meditation, or |
| Yoga or Tai Chi. It may be a place where you | | | | a garden for serenity, are we defining its purpose |
| perform your ritual ceremonies of prayer and | | | | or the state of mind it is designed to evoke? It |
| contemplation. | | | | may look tranquil or serene in its appearance, but |
| Conversely, meditation gardens associated with | | | | the real power is the feeling in one's mind or |
| churches, temples and other places of worship | | | | thought and attitude while experiencing such a |
| are often called Prayer Gardens. Thus a Meditation | | | | garden. |
| Garden can take on myriad forms of expression | | | | In Zen Buddhism, if one was to acknowledge |
| depending on the desires of the user. The | | | | while meditating that they are in the meditating |
| process of creating or designing the space starts | | | | posture so that they will 'awaken', the mere act |
| with identification of the purpose of the space. | | | | of being in a posture of meditation is missing the |
| Of course, an otherwise simple garden that just | | | | point entirely. The visitor to a meditation garden |
| happens to have a bench strategically placed near | | | | will 'awaken' at the moment they lose conscious |
| a waterfall can also serve as your Meditation | | | | awareness that they are in a meditation garden. |
| Garden. Especially if you realize that it really does | | | | Their physical presence becomes secondary. |
| function as such and has the right "feeling". The | | | | On the surface, a tranquility garden, serenity |
| space, as designed, must be conducive for | | | | garden, or meditation garden is much like a Yoga |
| meditation, yet allow the spontaneity of the mind | | | | Mat. It is just a spongy mat I use to lay upon. |
| to ascend to its own levels, irrespective of the | | | | The mat itself does not perform Yoga nor |
| aesthetics of the space. | | | | provide me with a feeling of harmony and |
| To create these feelings, consider elements such | | | | balance. |