Gentle autumnal breezes keep flowing lightly, ripples forming and fading on the calm pond's surface reflecting the surrounding trees, which have just begun to turn red and yellow. White clouds appear one after another in the clear blue sky, drifting away and vanishing in a moment. This ever-changing spectacle of stillness is making me find the beautiful metaphor of ”Mujo," namely, the absolute transience of our universe.
This Sogenchi (Sogen pond) garden was initially designed by Muso Soseki (1275-1351) to symbolize the realm of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment, or the Buddha's pure land.
Muso Soseki was one of the most prominent masters of Zen Buddhism in Japan and was known also as a superior poet, calligrapher, and landscape gardener. He established the foundation for spiritual landscaping in Japanese garden culture. In other words, his approach to garden design sought not merely scenic beauty, but was intended to visualize the vivid image of enlightenment that Buddha experienced.
The vast central pond is called “Sogen Pond." This name is said to originate from the discovery of a stone monument inscribed with the words “Sogen Itteki Sui” (a single drop of Sogen) when Muso Soseki was dredging the pond during the garden's construction.
This is the Zen saying that means “the essence of Zen (Buddhahood) is as pure as a single drop of water, which flows through this world like a stream becoming a brook, a brook becoming a river, a river becoming a great river, and a great river becoming the ocean."
