TYPE OF THE ARTICLE/ YAZI TÜRÜ: Research Paper / Araştırma Makalesi
DATE OF COMPLETION/ TAMAMLANMA TARİHİ: May 2017 / Mayıs 2017
LANGUAGES/DİLLER: English / İngilizce
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR/ YAZARIN NOTU: This paper was prepared for the ENG-102 course of Bilkent University. / Bu makale Bilkent Üniversitesi'nin ENG-102 dersi için hazırlanmıştır.
ZEN AND THE MEANING OF JAPANESE GARDENS
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A photograph of a Japanese garden from the essay of Polat and Kurtaslan |
This research is essentially about Zen philosophy and
the meaning of the Japanese gardens for this philosophy. Japanese gardens
usually consist of rocks, sand and gravel (and some of these gardens have ponds).
The materials which are used to make these gardens are what make these gardens look
quite different than the gardens which were made using other styles than the
Japanese gardening style. Actually, investigation of Japanese gardens in terms
of their purposes and origins is very popular amongst scholars recently. Some
of the articles which were cited in this research call these gardens Zen
gardens due to their wrong interpretation about these gardens’ purposes and
origins. In fact Zen philosophy is not related to Japanese gardens because the
mere thing the Zen meditation cares about is the inner world of the believer of
Zen. Therefore, the objects of Japanese gardens do not assist the believers of
Zen for their meditations. Besides, gardens in Zen temples of Japan were
created for Shintoism. In addition to these reasons, believers of Zen
considered Japanese style gardening a hobby and this is another reason why
Japanese gardens are not so important for Zen philosophy.
The first and the most
essential reason why Zen philosophy is not related to Japanese gardens is that
the mere thing the Zen meditation cares about is the inner world of the
believer of Zen. Zen Buddhism is a sect of the Buddhism. Buddhism gives great
significance for the enlightenment of the individual. It can easily be said
that this is what makes Buddhism famous around the world. The difference of Zen
from other sects of Buddhism is that Zen philosophy regards meditation more
than anything else. This difference is a result of different perspectives of
the first disciples of Buddha. Daisetz
Suzuki asserts that Zen is against words since they are likely to detach
themselves from realities and become conceptions but Zen is against conceptions
because Zen likes to handle the concrete subjects instead of handling abstract
subjects. Thus Zen ignores sutras (5). This quote shows that Zen ignores any means of Buddhism that
is being used for enlightenment other than meditation –keep in mind that sutras
are collections of sermons which are given by Buddha. A believer of Zen
understands that the material world is nothing for him after having some
progress in improving his comprehension about Zen philosophy. Thus, he tries to
reach the “self” in “himself”. This characteristic of Zen is the main reason
why Japanese gardens and any other objects from the outer world of the
individual do not contribute to the enlightenment of the individual according
to the Zen philosophy.
Glenn Norio
Masuchika tells a story about the Japanese gardens and Zen philosophy in his
essay:
“A Zen master and a young monk sit
before a Zen garden. The Zen master asks the young monk, ‘What do you see?’ Puzzled, the young monk answers plainly, ‘A
garden.’ The master asks again, ‘What
do you see?’ The young monk looks at the small landscape before them and answers, ‘Rocks and
gravel.’ The master asks again, ‘What do you see?’
Thinking deeper, the young monk
answers, ‘Boulders in a river.’…‘What do you see?’.
‘I see, infinities in infinity.’.
‘Baka! (fool!),’ the Zen master shouts, slapping the young monk on his head. ‘No rocks! no gravel!’ And
another slap to his head. ‘And no garden!’” (67).
The dialogue
in this quote is a good example to show that Zen is a road. A believer of Zen
starts with the material world around him at the beginning. However, he walks
on the road called Zen to approach the nothingness in him. This process helps
him to get rid of “I” so that he completely purifies himself from evil. The
young monk in the story can be considered as a person who is new to the Zen
philosophy since the garden in front of him still reminds him of the material
world. However, the Zen master in the story is closer to the “nothing” that is
at the end of the road named Zen. That is the reason he reflects the attitude
of Zen philosophy towards Japanese gardens. Some sources I have looked over
call Japanese gardens Zen gardens despite the essence of the Zen philosophy. If
these gardens were created for purposes of Zen there should have been gardens
with the same style in India, China or Korea because Zen was popular in these
countries before Japan knew anything about Zen. “Bodhidharma or Daruma was the First Patriarch
of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, developed in China some 1500 years ago. According to
historian Tao-hsuan…,Daruma reached the southern coast of China from India in 470
A.D., that was, near the end of the Sung Dynasty (420–479).” (Ku 1). Thus, Zen
was established in India and then Zen developed in China. Chan is the Chinese
word that refers to Zen. Daruma was the founder of the first Zen school of the
world.
The
time when Daruma lived was so long before Zen was introduced in Japan widely. “Zen
Buddhism was introduced to Japan by Eisai… Eisai(1141-1215) studied the Tendai
doctrine on Mount Hiei and went to China where he found that the Tendai(Tiantai
in Chinese) had already declined and the study of Zen was flourishing.
Therefore, he studied and brought back to Japan many Zen texts…”( Matsunami
12). The time when Eisai lived was in
the Kamakura Period of Japan. Through the agency of him, Zen became popular
among Japanese people in that period. If “Zen” gardens became popular in Japan
in the Kamakura Period of Japan, then there should have been gardens of the
same style in China. Isao Yoshiwaka who is the author of the book which is
named The World of Zen Gardens says
in his book that “It is also still unclear, for lack of reliable documentation,
what kind of gardens was made at Zen temples in China during the Southern Sung
Period.”(136). For now, there is no evidence there were gardens made for merely
the purposes of Zen. There is a very common confusion over the right name of
the traditional gardens of Japan. Yoshiwaka is one of the authors that call the
Japanese gardens Zen gardens. Even the book which his quote was cited from is
named The World of Zen Gardens. Misunderstanding
of some scholars like Yoshiwaka may have stemmed from the fact that the arrival
of Zen in Japan caused some changes in the Japanese gardens’ structure. Given all
the background about Zen philosophy and its appearance in Japan, one can
conclude that Zen philosophy does not get enriched by gardens. Japanese gardens which are also called “Zen gardens”
in some sources are actually inspired by the symbolism of Shintoism.
The
second point to mention is that gardens in Zen temples of Japan are created for
Shintoism. Shintoism is the traditional religion of the Japanese people and it
was established in Japan. Japanese gardens which were made in Kamakura Period
or after those periods consist of gravel and rocks. Gravel and rocks were
actually used for the symbolism of Shintoism. “According to …Shinto,
...mountains, hills, trees and stones house divine spirits. Even today, a hiker
in the forest might come upon a shrine area spread with white gravel... In the
middle might stand a large stone called Iwakura, which would be bound with
rice-straw rope, an indication of the presence of kami (god), or spiritual
guardians.”(Lung-Ming, Web). It may seem odd for people to see that Japanese
who are the creators of these gardens embrace both Zen Buddhism and Shintoism.
However, it was not hard for Japanese to embrace Zen Buddhism because Buddhism
should not be considered as a religion since Buddhism does not concern about
the existence of a god or gods but aims to enlighten its believers. Therefore
Zen Buddhism is a philosophy which asserts that people must reach the
enlightenment –high consciousness- by themselves sitting silently and emptying
their minds via meditation. The next quote to mention is about the fact that
most of the Japanese people believe in both Shintoism and Buddhism and that
quote explains how they relate Shintoism to Buddhism.
“Japanese
have worshiped both Shinto and Buddhist deities from ancient times. Shinto or Shintoism is the indigenous religion of
Japan that worships certain spirits or deities (kami) associated with many forms and forces in the natural world, such as
mountains, rivers, wind, waves,
lightning, trees, and rocks. In Buddhism, founded by Siddhartha Gautama in India, the realm of Buddha and other
deities exists beyond the natural world. To communicate
with their gods, Japanese fused Buddhism with the Shinto idea of nature worship and created gardens representing the
spiritual world.” (Goto and Naka 9)
After
reading this quote the readers of this research paper might think this is a
proof for the importance of gardens for Zen philosophy. That is, they may infer
from the quote that gardens’ significance for Zen is to be a portal between the
natural world and beyond it to help people communicate with Gods who exist
beyond the natural world. However, the truth is that it is the Japanese people
who fused Shintoism with the Zen philosophy and give regard to these gardens. Nevertheless,
Zen is universal and should not come under review by considering the attitude
of Japanese people towards gardening. Hence, this quote does not prove that Zen
philosophy concerns about gardens or any other objects of the universe.
Japanese gardens can be seen as a mixture of cultures that influenced Japan. Ayşe
Betül Gök and Bora Bingöl report in their essay that use of trees and other
plants in Japanese gardens diminished due to the impact of the Zen Buddhism and
rocks has been symbolizing what those trees and plants had once symbolized
since the Heian Period of Japan (90). Zen art is focused on simplicity because
of the demand of the believer of Zen to find the self in himself. These
gardens’ structure changed due to the arrival of Zen at Japan but these gardens
did not affect Zen philosophy since the enlightenment which is gained via Zen
meditation is not dependent on outer world of the individual. In conclusion, there
were traditional gardens in Japan even before the arrival of Zen at Japan and
the symbolism behind the materials which are used to compose a traditional
garden represent symbols which are owned by Shintoism, so Japanese gardens were
most inspired by Shintoism. Even though Japanese gardens first stemmed from the
values of Shintoism, these gardens are not merely affected by Shintoism, also
other elements of Japanese culture including Zen philosophy affected the
structure of Japanese gardens but these gardens did not have impact on Zen
philosophy.
The
last thing to report is that believers of Zen considered Japanese style
gardening a hobby and this is another reason why Japanese gardens are not so
important for Zen philosophy. Japanese gardens have a very long history. The first
garden in Japan was organized centuries before both the days when the first Zen
school of the world was founded and the period when Zen was introduced to
Japanese people. According to Ahmet Tuğrul Polat and Banu Öztürk Kurtaslan,
gardening started in Japan in 74 AD and the idea of having a garden inside the
residence of the emperor was born as a result of the relationships between
Japan and China (111). As can be seen, the first appearance of these gardens
was not for religious or philosophical reasons. Japanese people considered
making these gardens a hobby and its style was created by their beliefs.
However, this does not mean Zen philosophy itself was affected by gardens. Japanese
gardens were actually named karesansui
and this name is more appropriate than Zen gardens since these gardens are not
a product of Zen philosophy and there are Japanese gardens which are not in Zen
temples. This fact can be proved by the fact that the first appearance of
Japanese gardens was in the residence of the emperor as mentioned in the
paraphrase that was cited from Polat and Kurtaslan. Glenn Masuchika states that
Wybe Kuitert wrote in his book that karesansui
style gardens are the traditional Japanese gardens but the term “Zen garden”
appeared in the Japanese for the first time in 1935 (69). The only importance
of Japanese gardens in Zen philosophy for some monks is that beginners of the
Zen meditation cannot meditate in an empty room, so need some help from the nature
–a garden- around them.
This
attitude of those monks may be the reason some researchers thought naming
Japanese gardens Zen gardens would be a good idea. Muro Soseki is the most
famous monk to advocate this attitude. Gök and Bingöl report that:
Muro Soseki who is a
Japanese Zen monk thinks that beginners of Zen meditation need to have some spiritual improvement by
communicating with nature. He adds that these people
can find a way to enlighten their lives after completing this process. Soseki was
the creator of some Japanese gardens
and he was the first person who used gravel and sand instead of water to organize Japanese gardens. According
to Gök and Bingöl, this attitude simplified Japanese gardens’ structure (86-87).
Zen art approves plainness due to
the fundamentals of the Zen philosophy. Therefore, contributions of Zen monks
to the Japanese gardens caused them to simplify a lot. After the use of the
name Zen gardens for traditional Japanese gardens for the first time in 1935,
most of the sources which were written in the 20th century referred
to the Japanese gardens as Zen gardens. Looking for resources for Japanese
gardens on a large database such as Bilkent University database is enough to
prove this fact. The authors of these resources might have been affected by the
relations between the Japanese gardens and the Zen monks like Muro Soseki. Granted,
these gardens may be helpful for those who are new to Zen meditation. However, the
effects of Japanese Zen monks on these gardens are not sufficient to prove that
there are gardens which are devoted to the sake of the Zen philosophy. The
reason of this insufficiency is that Zen is not owned by only Japan. It is
universal. As a result, it can be said that gardening in Japan was affected by
a mixture of different cultures of the Eastern Asia and gardening was more of a
hobby for Japanese Zen monks and regular people of Japan.
This research essentially
concludes that Zen philosophy is not related to Japanese gardens because the
mere thing the Zen meditation cares about is the inner world of the believer of
Zen. Therefore, the objects of Japanese gardens do not assist the believers of
Zen for their meditations. Eisai is the monk who established Japanese Zen sect
of Buddhism in the Kamakura Period of Japan but there is no clue about the
impact of gardens on his sect. Besides, gardens in Zen temples of Japan were
created for Shintoism. Japanese gardens consist of rocks, sand and gravel, also
some of them include ponds and these elements actually symbolize the values of
Shintoism. In addition to these reasons, believers of Zen considered Japanese
style gardening a hobby and this is another reason why Japanese gardens are not
so important for Zen philosophy. Zen philosophy does not care about gardens but
Japanese gardens’ structure simplified because of the impact of the simplicity
of Zen art. Some Zen monks believe that beginners of the Zen meditation cannot
meditate in an empty room, so they need some help from the nature –a garden-
around them. However this is not make gardens so important for Zen philosophy.
Since traditional Japanese gardens were first designed using the symbolism of
Shintoism and ancient Japanese culture, it is completely wrong to call these
gardens Zen gardens. Their original name is karesansui. All these points show
that significance of gardens in Zen philosophy is negligible.
WORKS CITED
Gök, Ayşe Betül, and Bora Bingöl. “Zen
Bahçeleri.” The Journal of Graduate
School of Natural and Applied Sciences of Mehmet Akif Ersoy University,
vol. 7, no. 1, 2016, pp. 84–93., dergipark.gov.tr/makufebed/issue/24657/260809.
Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
Goto, Seiko, and Takahiro Naka. Japanese
Gardens: Symbolism and Design. New York, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2016, Accessed 28 Feb. 2017.
Ku, Yu-Hisu. History of Zen. Place of Publication Not Identified, Springer,
2017.
Lung-Ming, Tsai. “A
Study on the Beauty of Zen Garden – Cases of Ginkaku Temple, Ryōan Temple and
Sankei Garden.” American Journal of
Sociological Research, Scientific & Academic Publishing,
article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.sociology.20160604.01.html. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
Masuchika, Glenn Norio. "Zen Garden
and No Zen Garden: A Bibliographic Essay." Theological Librarianship, Vol
5, Iss 1, Pp 67-70 (2011), no. 1, 2011, p. 67. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.5b045b76513b48f2b4e7e61bebb2159b&site=eds-live.
Matsunami, Kõdõ. A Guide to Japanese Buddhism. Tokyo, Japan, Japan Buddhist Federation, 2008, Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
Polat, Ahmet Tuğrul, and Banu Öztürk
Kurtaslan. “Japon Bahçe Sanatı Dönemleri Ve Japon Bahçelerinde Sembolizm.” Selçuk Tarım Ve Gıda Bilimleri Dergisi,
2011, Accessed 28 Feb. 2017
Suzuki, Daisetz T. Zen and Japanese Culture. Princeton,
N.J., Princeton University Press, 1959.
Yoshikawa, Isao, et al. The World of Zen Gardens. Tokyo,
Graphic-Shu Pub., 1991.
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