What Do You See in Fifteen Rocks and White Gravels?・・・ Kyoto

I had been away from my blog for a long time because I had very bad summer fatigue.  Also my mother has been weaker on account of old age and has needed more help.
I am glad to restart my blog, but sorry if I slow down. It depends on my mother's condition.

Probably, this is the most famous and remarkable Japanese garden in the world；a dry landscape garden of Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, laid out around 1500.

The rock garden measures only 25 meters wide and 10 meters deep.
How simple and small it is!

The garden is made of only fifteen rocks, white gravels and moss. Interesting enough, no matter where you view the fifteen rocks from, you can not see all of them at the same time. This reflects the philosophy of Zen Buddhism as well as the Japanese appreciation of the imperfection.  Fifteen is considered as the perfect number. 

According to one book, there is the spot in the main hall

where we can see all fifteen rocks at the same time, but the main hall has not been allowed to enter

so I could not check if it is true or not.

Many priests of Zen Buddhism have meditated facing the rock garden.

Every visitor sits on  his or her favorite place of  the veranda and  gazes at the garden. Maybe  they quietly speak to rocks in their mind. I'm sure the rocks will listen to them

This spot is my favorite . I feel as if I saw and heard water. 

 The longer I gaze at the garden, the larger it looks.

It is said that the raked white gravels represent the ocean with beautiful flowing streams, and the rocks are compared to the mountains. What a genius came up with this unique idea of creating a dry landscape garden without using water!

There are other interpretations about the lay-out of the garden. The immense universe, the ocean with islands or a sea of clouds with mountains and so on. It doesn't matter at all as it is open to your imagination.  What do you see here?

Don't miss a huge, serene pond along the approach to the main hall.  This pond is the multi-colored world  while the rock garden is rather the monochromatic one.　I admired the beauty of blooming flowers, but I prefered the rusty elegance of the leaves to the flowers at this time.

A tinny butterfly looks happy surrounded by happy yellow. (in Nara Park)

Visit "Our World" and learn more !!

"My World" was over because of the passing of Klaus Peter , the founder of "My World".

My blog was nurtured through "My World" a lot. I offer my deepest condolences to him.