Karesansui, 2011
Sand, stone, moss,
plastic frog, pillows, 35 x 700 x 700 cm
In traditional Zen-buddhist
monasteries the enigmatic rock garden function
as a symbol of Zen, which is not a religion nor
a philosophy, but rather a form of non-thought
that give rise to a certain form of acting. In
the words of D.T. Suzuki: “Zen in it´s
essence is the art of seeing into the nature of
one´s own being...”. Or in the words of
Alan Watts: “A way of liberation can have no
positive definition. It has to be suggested by
saying what it is not, somewhat as a sculptor
reveals an image by the act of removing pieces
of stone from a block”.
Sand and stones are basically the same substance
in different stages of evolution, but can in
their different form both represent water and
mountains. In Zen meditation - the act of being
in the present - the meditator metaphorically
becomes a grain of sand in the endless universe,
collapsing the imaginary boundaries between
animate and inanimate matter. This mystical
state corresponds to the scientific theory that
- on an atomic level - everything is of the same
material made in distant stars.
The commercial use of Zen in popular culture,
from self-help books to business management are
often comparable to kitsch. Like the
commodification of everything else, it creates
alienation which is the opposite of Zen, even
though the opposite of Zen is impossible since
Zen is the oneness of all things... And that
just comes to show that words can not describe
it, only rocks and sand - and a plastic frog.
- Bjørn Bjarre, 2011 |