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Japanese Zen Garden Design: 7 Tranquil Space Principles Create a Reductionist Space. Employ Natural Materials. Use the Principle of the Borrowed Landscape. The Importance of Asymmetry. Employ Simplicity and Subtlety. The Role of Water Elements. Incorporate Pathways and Lanterns.

How to Create a Zen Garden Choose the Perfect Location. Select a space in your outdoor area that is quiet and secluded. Plan the Layout. Consider the size and shape of your garden. Prepare the Ground. Select the Rocks. Add Gravel or Sand. Add Additional Elements. Other Elements to Consider. Maintain Your Zen Garden.

The term Zen garden was first coined by Loraine Kuck, in her 1935 book 100 Gardens of Kyoto. By the 1950s, the term became popular as a way for Westerners and Europeans to describe the minimalistic rock-and-sand gardens found at Zen Buddhist temples in Japan.

Use a small sculpture as a focal point and add a few dwarf or miniature plants. Moss is an excellent ground cover for a shady area. Although authenic Zen gardens are typically dry landscapes, consider adding sand, gravel and a few plants around a small water feature, such as a fountain, or use a pond kit.

Historically, Zen is a branch of Buddhism which developed in India about 2500 years ago, then came to China about 2000 years ago. 1000 years ago, aspects of Buddhism merging with Taoism to form Chan Buddhism which later moved to Japan where it came to be called Zen.

The term Zen garden was first coined by Loraine Kuck, in her 1935 book 100 Gardens of Kyoto. By the 1950s, the term became popular as a way for Westerners and Europeans to describe the minimalistic rock-and-sand gardens found at Zen Buddhist temples in Japan.

Zen is a school of Buddhism which emphasises the practice of meditation as the key ingredient to awakening ones inner nature, compassion and wisdom. The practice of meditation (Zen in Japanese) as a means of attaining enlightenment was introduced, as we have seen, by the Buddha himself.

While Zen gardens have been a fixture of Japanese aesthetics since the Muromachi Period (13361573), the purposes and meanings of these austere landscapes have been far less fixed, and indeed have changed somewhat since their first appearance as places for meditation in the Zen temples of medieval Japan.