Landscape as Spirit: Creating a Contemplative Garden
by Martin Hakubai Mosko, Alxe Noden
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alxe Noden, Martin Hakubai MoskoEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-01
ISBN: 0834805383
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Weatherhill
Book Reviews of Landscape as Spirit: Creating a Contemplative Garden
Book Review: Landscape as Symbolism
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is not Landscape as "Spirit" but Landscape as "Symbolism". Which is ok but that is not why I purchased this book. I wanted a book that taught or "pointed" towards how to create or how a Zen garden is created. To see what the inner Zen world looks like when projected outward into a Zen garden.
The book starts out with the idea that a garden designed from the Zen perspective is a Mandela. Then the Mandela is created using elements in the garden to symbolize Heaven, Earth and Man. Then the book goes on to say that one level down, the garden can be created using garden elements to symbolize Earth, Fire, Water, Fire, Air and Space. For me this "Spirit" theory was very incoherent. A Zen Master experiences "The Tao" and reacts intuitively. This Spirit theory seemed to contradict Zen teachings. In fact the arrangement of stones in many of the photographs and plans are "too" ordered; too balanced and unnatural; unintuitive.
Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful book with many beautiful "details" to learn from. But good eastern minded landscaping "responds" to the site NOT created things like miniature mountains, miniature trees that represent fire, perfectly placed stones, perfectly placed plants in between perfectly placed stones and so on and so on???
Nature and Zen are natural not contrived. Zen is natural or consists of "a suchness" or an experience of "The garden IS" not something that reflects levels of symbolic hierarchy.
Summary of Landscape as Spirit: Creating a Contemplative Garden
This beautiful book is a resource for those who want to create a contemplative garden or to better understand what it is to follow a contemplative path. It will be of interest to landscape architects and designers, anyone interested in the fusion of East and West in cultural expression, and garden lovers everywhere. It explores the innovative approach to garden and landscape design found in the work of Martin Mosoko, a landscape architect and Zen teacher working in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado. Mosoko's work incorporates principles of Oriental and Western garden design to make bold and original statements in his landscapes. Mosoko explains how to deploy the materials of the garden so that their arrangement reflects the contemplative mind. The chief paradigm he uses is the mandala, a symbolic picture of the ideal world used in some form in many of the world's cultures. Rocks, streams, plants, paths, and structures of the garden each take their place in the mandala as one of its five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space. The means to produce a balance of these elements is the mind conditioned by meditation and a clear understanding of its own nature. Inner harmony is expressed as outer beauty. Mosoko's approach to landscaping transforms space into spirit, infused with magic. It can be used to create anything from a small courtyard to a country estate, in any environment from the city to the suburbs. After explaining theory and method the book leads us into five of Mosko's gardens, each alive with the energy and excitement he brings to his designs. Although located in different parts of the country and created in different styles, each garden is a reflection of the mind of clarity and calm.General Books
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