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Zen GardensEditions
Review
True Zen gardens exemplify the austere doctrine of contemplation through negation and minimalism, linked to a strong literary tradition of naturalistic versifying. Author Erik Borja is a practical garden designer who seems to have got to the heart of this philosophy, and, assisted by photographer Paul Maurer, he takes us on a tour of Zen gardens, ancient and modern. Among the most celebrated of these are the moss gardens at Kyoto which look beautiful and tempting to replicate. But however much moss we have in our own lawns after a wet winter, this is not a realistic aspiration in our climate. They become patchy and wear out in our summer. I know. I tried. The other great hallmark of the art form is the gravel-swept landscape, with artfully selected and positioned rocks. This lends itself to the post-Bauhaus ethos and author Borja reveals some of his own designs in this manner as well as great classics of the genre. Few of us have the cultural requirements to make a full response to the ideas inherent in the gardens of ancient Japan and although this is far from a definitive or academic treatise on the subject, it will help us appreciate ideas of simplicity and spirituality prevalent in the Orient. - review by Stewart Grimshaw |
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John Sandoe [Books] Ltd |
Zen gardening is one of the most remarkable and ancient styles in the history of art, and although we can all summon up stylistic horticultural references such as Monet’s bridge at Giverny, tortured miniature Bonsai or the Japanese stone lantern, we in the West have consistently failed to understand the underlying principles.
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