The Zen garden is not merely for appreciating its beauty but is the essential place for meditation as part of the spiritual practice of Zen Buddhism.
Monks keep sitting quietly on the floor of Hojo (main hall), devotedly gazing at the peaceful garden to silence their chattering minds and quietly observing their streams of boiling delusions to erase them completely.
To reach the transcendent awakening of Zen, "San-doku" (the three mental poisons that dirty the mind of man), that is to say, the burning desire, anger, and ignorance based on the survival instinct, must be washed away and inhibited. The path to spiritual enlightenment is fundamentally obstructed by the dirty delusions caused by these deadly poisons.
Viewing the garden with a calm mind is the daily practice of watching inward and "Sen-shin" (washing one's mind). Sen-shin means the washing away of San-doku to enter into nirvana and attain supreme enlightenment.
The tranquil garden of Tenryu-ji serves as a place for both appreciation and contemplation (spiritual cultivation). Gazing quietly at Sogen Pond from the Hojo, the peaceful view of Arashiyama and Kameyama mountains is integrated with the garden's glassy pond. Thus the nature, the garden, and the mind must shape the clear, visual appearance of the very essence of Zen Buddhism.
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