A Study on the Japanese Gardens Viewed from the Teachings of the Rinzai Zen Buddhism (XIII)

Case Study on the Saiho-ji Garden, Kyoto

Abstract

The Object and Method of This Study
The lower garden of Saiho-ji temple is composed of eight scenes-the Sairaido (Buddha-hall), the egg-shaped stupa (lower story of the sarira-hall), the Ruri-den (lower story of the sarira-hall), three arbors of Shonan, Tanhoku and Tosei, a wharf and a golden pond.
The upper garden of it consists of three scenesthe Shukuen-tei (arbor on the top of the garden hill), the Shito-an (arbor on the hill-side) and the Kojo-kan (gate at the foot of the hill)-based on the koan “Chou Shusai Asks Senior Monk Ryo” in the Shirmon-buko by Dai-e Shuko.
By this study, therefore, I am going to expound theoretically the intention and expression of constructing this garden, depending upon the Musokokushi-goroku.
The Essence of the Saiho-ji Garden
This temple is a Zen monastery where the founder Muso-kokushi once practised the Way, aloof of the secular life. Its garden, I suppose, is the Zen garden which was constructed on the essence of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.
Its subject expresses the fundamental thought of Rinzai Zen Buddhism in the Rinzai-roku.
Its conception shows the “self-realization through zazen-samadhi” in the Rozan-ki.
Its formation means, in the lower garden, “special transmission of the Law beyond sutras” and “nonattachment to letters” based on the koan Egg-shaped Stupa by Echu-kokushi (cf. the Hekigan-roku, Case 18) and, in the upper one, “direct pointing of the Buddha-mind” and “realization of the Buddhanature” based on the koan “Chou Shusai Asks Senior Monk Ryo” (cf. the Shumon-buko by Dai-e Fugakuzenji).