I have always enjoyed the so called "Zen gardens" very much, they are however quite a lot of work to maintain...
Basically you take a stretch of flat sand or gravel and blindly throw 3 or 5 or 7 rocks into it, depending on how much space you have. Better less than more.
Supposedly, the way they fall should represent the universe the way you experiance it.
Also you can use existing or new bushes on the place where the stone landed, of course they have to be perfectly maintained and trimmed.
Next you grab a stick or rake and make circle like patterns around the stones as if they were stones thrown into water, creating circular waves, about 2 times bigger than the stone itself. You can also make 8 like patterns around 2 or more rocks/garden items close to each other.
Next you rake the rest of the garden in a straight way, but neatly around those circles.
If you use sand, it will take more raking, if you use gravel you can leave it in the rain and it will look great for quite some time
Of course, the stretch doesn't have to be square, you can also rake around the edges and do the filling in in a different direction.
If you like you can experiment with it here :
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Fun thing to do.
In Zen, a Zen garden is used for meditation as something to concentrate on until you accept it fully as the representation of the whole universe. To do this of course you have to accept it on a higher plane than just normal human rationalism. One can also meditate on riddles that can't be solved, like " what does the sound of a clapping hand sound like " ( that's right, a hand, not hands ).
If you don't want to do that, it still is a great place to sit in front of and it will create a place of peace and tranquility in your garden.
How would you create a meditation garden?
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Great Idea
Nice ideas!
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