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Deep Kyoto Insights by Michael Lambe


''A Visual of Koan''
Rock Garden at Ryoan-ji


In Jack Kerouac's book The Dharma Bums, Kerouac's alter ego, Ray Smith describes hanging out at his buddy Japhy Ryder’s house when someone walks in...

'...Rol Sturlason, a tall blond goodlooking kid, came in to discuss his coming trip to Japan... This Rol Sturlason was interested in the famous Ryoanji rock garden of Shokokuji monastery in Kyoto, which is nothing but old boulders placed in such a way, supposedly mystical aesthetic, as to cause thousands of tourists and monks every year to journey there to stare at the boulders in the sand and thereby gain peace of mind... I never saw Rol Sturlason again, he went to Japan soon after, but I can't forget what he said about the boulders, to my question, ''Well who placed them in that certain way that's so great?''

''Nobody knows, some monk, or monks, long ago. But there is a definite mysterious form in the arrangement of the rocks. It's only through form that we can realize emptiness.'' He showed me the picture of the boulders in well-raked sand, looking like islands in the sea, looking as though they had eyes (declivities) and surrounded by a neatly screened and architectural monastery patio. then he showed me a diagram of the stone arrangement with the projection in silhouette and showed me the geometrical logics and all, and mentioned the phrases ''lonely individuality'' and the rocks as ''bumps pushing into space,'' all meaning some kind of koan business I wasn't as much interested in as in him...' - from ''The Dharma Bums'' by Jack Kerouac.



The character of Rol Sturlason was based on Will Petersen, an artist and poet associated with the Beat Generation, who lived in Kyoto for eight years. Here he followed his passions in art, printmaking and Noh drama. In 1957 he published a famous essay named ''Stone Garden.''

Petersen sees the stone garden as an endlessly fascinating puzzle; ''a visual koan''. He points out that because of the walls that enclose it on three sides, the garden can only be viewed from a single vantage point. This focus, he says, ''suggests the garden's purpose as an object of contemplation.'' It's simplicity: ''fifteen rocks -of various sizes and shapes... on a flat rectangular area of raked white sand'', guides our mind into a purer meditation on the abstract relationship between emptiness and form. ''The garden,'' he says, ''like all things is not unchanging. But what significant changes do occur, occur not within the garden, but in the mind of the viewer and in his perception of the garden.''



'Ultimately the garden must be viewed as art, and viewed in silence. As a silent sermon it raises many questions, but asks for no answers. It calls to mind the flower held before his disciples by the silent Buddha, which brought forth no classification, description, analysis or discussion, but only the comprehending smile of the clear-seeing.' - from ''Stone Garden'' by Will Petersen.

This is just a taste of Petersen's essay. If you find your interest has been piqued, then read both the full article and view the garden for yourself. ''Stone Garden'' was published in the Evergreen Review Vol. 4 in 1957 (available as a downloadable pdf for a humble $2.95: http://www.evergreenreview.com/116/evergreenreview_shop/

Ryoan-ji Temple: 8:30-16:30; 500 yen; Tel: 075-463-1036; http://www.ryoanji.jp/

Note: In reality, Ryoanji Temple belongs to the Myoshinji school of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.
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