Good Zen Site

I thought that this was a really good Zen site. I especially like this page which covers the various different ways of looking at Zen gardens.

Here's an example...


The mind is very flexible if we practice flexibility. This ability to think flexibly is useful in ordinary life and in the pursuit of Zen.

What do you see in the garden?

Some people see hills with their peaks poking above the clouds.
Some people see tigers crossing a river.
Some people see islands rising from the sea.
Some see a lake or heaven itself.
Some people see only rocks.

What do you see in the garden?




Modern life is full of distractions. Our minds weren't built to absorb all the information coming at us. Even when these temples were built, the outside city life was busy and full of entertaining distractions. At breakfast, we think of work. At work we think of going home; while going home we plan our weekend. How much time do we spend right now, right where we are?

Visiting a garden with a few rocks in it gives our mind just enough information to feel comfortable. Here we can train our mind to stop jumping about from one unrelated subject to another. In this way, it is similar to the breath counting meditation. Calming the mind, like calming water, allows the dirt to settle, and the water to clear.




Why is our thought deluded? Why can't we perceive reality correctly? One reason is that we are usually limited to a single, subjective view. Our deluded perception constantly deceives us into making bad decisions. Those wise performers, Penn & Teller often explain to the audience how easily people are fooled by magicians. But delusions aren't limited to the stage. At Ryuan-ji (above) 15 stones are arranged so that from any point, only 14 are visible. So how many stones are there? How many times are we fooled by appearances? Like the stones, in real situation, we can't see everything all the time. Through meditation, we can deepen our perception, clear our mind, and see past daily dramas and ordinary "logic" though to the deeper wisdom of Zen.


You can check out more here...
http://zen.thetao.info/perceive/zengarden.htm

Those are cool, I love Zen gardens. In LA there is the Huntington Gardens, and they have a beautiful Asian themed area with a Zen garden and Bonzai trees.

-TC