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October 24, 2005
Kyoto: Kokedera (Part 8)
Filed in: Current Affairs, Japan, Photography

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I descended from the upper garden into the main temple complex - but I wasn't ready for this visit to be 'over'...

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I really wanted to more fully grasp this place - it was obviously suffused with meaning - but how much could I understand what these priests intended to convey with more than 600 years to work at it?

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This is the way out. Not going there.

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'Outside' of the moss gardens proper, things look a bit more conventional. What's the difference?

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Closer to the lower garden - something begins to change. Is it the light?

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Is it the shape of the plantings? The increasing coverage of the ground?

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Why do they command the water and force such discipline on it?

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Is there some order to the placements of the plantings and the stones?

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Why is the 'entry' hidden behind maple foliage?

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What have these Zen masters thought about for so long?

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What is the sudden sense of immersion that happens as soon as I enter the garden?

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What shapes these views?

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What stirs the innate sense of beauty within us?

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How can it engage us for so long?

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Why does the water seem like a solid surface?

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Since I was here a little while ago - what has happened to the light? Where has it moved?

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Why are my eyes drawn to a different place?

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Where did that spotlight come from? And why didn't I see that one before?

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How did this change? And what is so different about it?

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Has the moss changed color?

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I look to the left - see the panoply of dark and light...

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Turn about 45 degrees to the right...

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And 45 degrees again...

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And once more - to complete a 180 degree panorama - it speaks. What does it say?

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What emanates?

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What reflects?

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Will these stones speak?

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Is there writing on the water?

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Or the moss?

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A voice comes from behind me: "We have others coming. You must leave the garden. Please go."

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I leave by the maple gate. It is time to say goodbye to Kokedera. I will not forget this place.

I do not know all of the answers to the questions that I've asked - those that have come to me. I've figured out a few things.

The lower garden was built so that the ponds 'write' the ancient Chinese character (SHIN) for the word 'heart' among the plantings.

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The lower garden is the 'garden of the heart'. Everything about it is designed to engage the emotions - to 'pull at your heartstrings'. It is to be viewed from every angle and it invites whoever contemplates it to open up their hearts to receive enlightenment. For me, it is the single most beautiful evidence of the natural truths underlying the knowledge of the Zen masters. It is what a group of individuals who have the time (over 600 years so far) and focus can communicate to the world in this subtle yet profound way.

I further discovered something else as I have worked with these photos since. The net of it is that - within the garden - the photos are optically 'flat'. Remember, I took all of these without a tripod - but I got reasonable exposure times. As I processed the photos outside of the garden they had what I would consider to be typical photo corrections for brightness and color saturation. A little more brightness - a little less saturation - a little less brightness - a little more saturation. Within the garden: nothing. For the most part photo processiing algorithms determined that nothing was necessary for optical correction of these photos in the garden - not from any angle, not from areas that were overexposed due to sunlight, not from shadow of trees or darkness of bark. This cannot have been by accident. It leads me to believe that the entire atmostphere of the garden - this 'illuminated', 'emanating' sense that pervades the place is from very careful management of the amount of light that enters the garden from the sun - in all times of the day and in all seasons of the year. I don't know whether this was unconscious or not on the part of the designers - I suspect that to whatever extent that this kind of work could be intentional - it was.

Dear ancient Muso has achieved a kind of natural immortality - he has conveyed the warmth of his heart - and an invitation to experience the heart of the natural world from hundreds of years ago.

I hope to be able once again to visit this place in another time of the year, during another season - so that I may hear it speak once again - a testimony to the heart.



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People Pulling

Hmm, lets try this again. Typepad's goofing and lost my comment.

These are the pictures that caught my eye for various and sundry reasons: Dsc_02650066, Dsc_02680068, Dsc_02740073, Dsc_02770075, Dsc_02780076, Dsc_02810079, Dsc_02840081, Dsc_02890086, Dsc_02910088, Dsc_02980093.

What a beautiful place. I suspect that there are no answers to your questions, other than "to get your attention." Your brain filters out most of the information coming in through your physical senses, and this place removes the filters, so that you are suddenly immersed in them.

jan

EMCEE: Well, getting my attention is certainly something that it did. I really appreciate that you look at my photos and like some of them Jan. If you see them with your practiced eyes and like them - well that's really great for me! Thanks!

Posted by: jlb at Oct 24, 2005 8:40:47 PM

Man, I kid you not, that comment took 5 tries to get through. Typepad's lost it's mind...

EMCEE: Sorry about that Jan - I opened up a service ticket with them. Thanks for letting me know...

Posted by: jlb at Oct 24, 2005 8:42:11 PM

Wow, I have no words. I really hope to be able to visit this place some day.

Posted by: Tomas Rees at Nov 16, 2005 2:01:56 AM

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