Traditionally, Japanese Zen monasteries even referred to garden designers as "rock-setting priests." There is no hard-and-fast rule for how stones and rocks should be placed—it’s up to the ...

A backyard zen garden can be a great way to create tranquility regardless of the size of your space. Here's the key to making ...

Stones represent mountains, ponds represent seas and bonsai symbolize weathered trees growing on the side of a cliff or an entire forest. Concealment Most elements in a Japanese garden aren’t ...

Gardens of Stone, Moss, Sand: 4 Moments of Zen in Kyoto The city’s dry gardens seem timeless, but as these relatively new versions show, their design is still evolving.

While the traditional elements of Japanese gardens—stone, water, gravel, pruned pines, and asymmetry—are rooted in ...

The 'phenomenon of a stone on an ice pedestal' that occurs in winter on Lake Baikal in southeastern Russia is called 'Zen stone' after a Japanese garden. Although it was scientifically unclear why ...

Over time, Japanese gardens have evolved to serve different purposes, but the traditional concept of combining the elements of stone, water, foliage and man-made features has remained an integral ...

Gardens of stone, moss, sand: 4 moments of Zen in Kyoto The Japanese city’s dry gardens seem timeless, but these relatively new versions show that they are still evolving, offering serenity in ...

In this series, Lagniappe presents a different work each week from the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art, with commentary from a curator. For centuries, Japanese Zen Buddhist masters ...