Oh, the possibilities. Shady mattress? Nah, too shady.

Shady make out corner? Not shady enough.

Big Zen rock garden? It’s more aesthetically pleasing than the mattress and more spiritual than the make out corner. Perfect.

Everyone has those little spaces in their apartment that could be sweet if only you could find something no one else has. The area underneath the stairs in a South Campus apartment is just that kind of place.

All you need to make this dream a reality is rocks, some wood and a whole lot of sand (100 pounds to be exact.) In no time at all you’ll have your very own 3 foot by 4 foot path to Nirvana – or a nice sandy work of art.

‘The garden, especially the rock garden, it is kind of a 3D landscape painting,’ said professor of Buddhism Richard Pilgrim.

The aspects of the garden represent geographical structures like mountains, rivers and trees. Gardens are aspects of many religions but in the practice of Zen in particular they are meant as a place where one can go to relax, Pilgrim said.

‘It may mean clearing out the mind, letting it rest,’ he said. ‘There is a certain meditative state of mind these gardens will help create.’

Seems to me this could be what students need sometimes. Just not to think but to rake their sand or look at their rocks.

Pilgrim described the garden also as going along with the Zen ideas of form and emptiness. To put it briefly, it is only when we are fully empty of the self that we can begin to see the world for what it really is, he said.

So when all is said and done, while you may not achieve enlightenment, at least a rock garden is much easier to explain than a shady mattress.

Published on January 19, 2005 at 12:00 pm