Fifteen Meditations On Ryoan-ji,
Notwithstanding the Fact
of My Never Having Visited
By Rex Robertson
Ryoan-ji, the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon in Kyoto, Japan, is probably the most famous karesansui ("dry garden") in the world. Confusion exists regarding the origins of the garden; some sources have no record of the garden's creation. Other sources credit Soami (d. 1525) as either the artist, or with a restoration in the period 1488-1499.
The garden is 10m by 30m, bounded on two sides by a low earthen parapet wall, beyond which the borrowed landscape of a forest of pine, cedar, and cherry trees beckon. The other two sides of the garden consist of viewing decks beneath a veranda. The actual garden consists of 15 stones, grouped irregularly in 5 moss-covered islands. These islands sit in a sea of off-white gravel, which is raked lengthwise and in concentric circles, swirling around the groupings. The rocks are so arranged that you can not see all of the 15 stones from any particular viewpoint; only some 12 or 14. The 15th invisible stone appears only to the enlightened eye.
It appears that no particular definite meaning was assigned to the garden & rock groupings, which is in keeping with the principles of Zen. But images are immediately invoked in the dry gardens; the gravel appears as water, swirling dynamically around the stone islands. Some sources describe the stone groupings as abstract representations of the immovable deity Fudo-Myoo, the Three Bodies of the Buddha (transformation, bliss, law), or even as a "tigress ferrying her cubs."
Bits of inspiration include William Blake, T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Hakuin, The Heart Sutra, & the Zenrin Kushu.
I
soami
or some other,
casting off
both body
& mind.
In gravel,
moss,
stones.
rippling through
the centuries
until now.
II
what fearful symmetry
now framed
in stone,
moss,
gravel?
burning bright
beneath the moon,
tygress
ferries her cubs.
III
here,
there be tygers,
or dragons
perhaps.
here,
dreams
not made flesh,
but stone,
moss,
gravel.
the disparate voices
of disembodied poets
chant
in stone
&
silence.
IV
ordinary
stones, moss
mind
& gravel
is the buddha
without beings
no buddhas
or
stones, moss
& gravel.
still life
fast moving;
these very lines,
are they not
the luminous mantra,
the pure body?
V
vast emptiness,
nothing sacred.
clouds & moon,
passage
through night
& the
sea of stars.
of no mind
to mirror
gravel,
stone,
& moss
below.
there,
black diamonds,
emerald,
sea of
raked pearls.
vast holiness,
nothing empty.
VI
water,
ice, vapor.
without water,
no ice.
outside us,
no buddhas.
paper
wraps rock.
rock
breaks scissors.
scissors
cut paper.
time
is
the motion
of mind
like a dog
chasing its tail.
VII
in the temple
of the moment,
stones
lift up their voices
& the trees
clap their hands:
[...tok tok tok
"...form
is no other
than emptiness,
emptiness
no other
than form;
form is precisely
emptiness,
emptiness
precisely form;
thus emptiness
is not form..."
...tok tok tok]
the song
of crickets & cicadas
shimmers in the
heat mirage
& the incense
of cedar & pine.
VIII
single blade
of grass:
a sixteen foot
golden buddha.
a diamond blade
cutting through delusion.
nirvana is
already here.
stone,
moss,
gravel.
nothing whatever
is hidden;
from of old,
all is as clear
as daylight.
IX
"at the still point
of the turning world.
neither flesh
nor fleshless;
neither from
nor towards;
at the still point,
the dance is...
except for the point,
the still point,
there would be
no dance,
& there is only
the dance..."
play
of emptiness
& form.
sitting still,
the dance
of gravel,
moss,
& stones,
spiral & whorl.
still, calm-
the sudden cry
of the night bird,
& you.
nothing more,
no less.
X
stones,
moss,
gravel.
of no mind
to reflect
your image.
shall we then,
disturb the dreams
of sleeping dragons?
XI
the palm
at the end
of the mind,
beyond
the last thought,
gathers
gravel,
moss,
stones;
drift slowly
in the swaying branches.
there is only
one thought.
there is only
one mind.
XII
the garden
of forking paths
arrives
here.
through
the unknown
remembered gate
where you
began
& know
the place
for the first time.
XIII
do we dream
aright, awake
(through half-lidded eyes)
this dream
of stone & moss?
or
gravel,
moss,
& stones
dreaming us?
fleeting shapes,
translucent ghosts,
dim apparitions.
in the contemplations
of stone.
the water before,
the water after
now & forever
flowing.
XIV
burial ground
of dreams
& waking.
buddha turns the flower
turns the dharma;
spiral turns
the shell,
spiral whorls
clouds & stars above,
gravel below,
along some hidden axis.
in silence,
smiles eternal.
the eternal smile
dies
on mahakashyapa's face.
here
are the bones,
decayed flesh,
funereal ashes,
of all the patriarchs
in this moment;
of you & i,
spread beneath
the empty sky.
XV
form
out of
formlessness.
gray, green,
grayblack.
play of
light
& shadow.
beyond,
evergreen beckons.
beyond evergreen,
grayblack clouds
against
bluegray sky.
cloudstones,
gravelsky.
stones,
moss,
gravel,
mind
take flight
with the wild birds,
leaving no footprint.
XVI
.
--Rex Robertson