Seeing Zen
by Takuma Ono
The dry gardens of Kyoto, colloquially called Zen Gardens, are often designed to conjure visions of water—they do so by borrowing the colors, textures, and patterns that are inherent to tidal landscapes.
Zen dry gardens of Kyoto (karesansui) have a common thread—they invite the mind to see water where water does not exist. Mostly comprised of gravel, boulders, mounded earth, and moss, Zen dry gardens are often intentionally austere and deliberately abstract. The austerity creates room for interpretation; the abstract quality creates an open invitation to see fluidly.
As enjoyable as they are to look at, Zen dry gardens bring awareness to the shortfalls of seeing—if one can see water where water does not exist, it’s plausible that what one is seeing (perceiving) elsewhere is wrought with errors, distortions, and preconceptions. The idiom, “seeing is believing” exemplifies how easily seeing can become synonymous with believing. Monks recognized the shortfalls of human perception and developed a meditative practice to contend with it.
The Zen aesthetic emerged alongside meditative practices that contend with human perception (of seeing) and its counterpart, ego. Although the word ego and the word perception describe two different things, ego and perception work in tandem to give definition to what one sees.
People tend to become increasingly rigid with age, and this is because perception tends to stiffen with age—and stiffness does not beget wisdom. Over time, seeing (and its counterpart, ego) start working more and more like muscle memory. In fact, one of the central tenets of Zen is denial of ego—for the ego is associated with stiffness; the denial of ego in Zen is not about eliminating the ego—rather, its about overcoming ego, overcoming stiffness. Although only a mental construct, the ego is not easily overcome since ego and self identity are tightly interwoven. Overcoming ego is about overcoming one’s fixed perceptions—it’s about contending with habit-based patterns of seeing. Overcoming ego opens the senses, and enables one to be receptive to change and other ways of seeing. Ultimately, overcoming ego creates opportunities to continue flourishing, growing, and living.
Zen meditation is in essence a practice of connecting—with physical (bodily) and environmental stimuli—and through it it opens a path to overcoming ego.
Zen meditation begins with mindful breathing, which has been scientifically proven to positively alter emotional and physical states. Sometime during childhood, we learn that breathing deeply can be calming. Though breathing is mostly involuntary (automatic) we learn to voluntarily slow down breathing by consciously taking bigger breaths (try 6 breaths/min). Controlled, mindful breathing is a powerful tool for becoming more mindful of our autonomic side—and it illuminates a path towards re-conditioning “knee-jerk” reactions that accompany aging—including those of seeing.
It’s astonishing to think that being mindful of ones own breathing can loosen entrenched, conditioned emotions that seem to almost inexplicably grip us in a holding pattern.
Practically speaking, sitting still and seeing a dry garden while practicing mindful breathing is somewhat analogous to physically exercising and stretching—the obvious difference is that seeing is a stretching exercise in one’s imagination and cognition.
Read my blog post on the origins of breathing here.