A Japanese garden of pure, clear harmony and peace

"Are you looking for peace and harmony on the Internet? Enter Seiwa-en where you can experience such quietude. This garden is a project of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, designed by 'Koichi Kawana, M.F.A, Ph.D., a native of Japan and Principal Architecture Associate and lecturer in Japanese art, architecture and landscape design at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kawana Sensei not only designed Seiwa-en but also supervised its construction and development until his death in 1990. Here's your opportunity to experience this 'wet strolling garden' in the solitude of your home and maybe even develop a few ideas of your own for recreating a similar masterpiece in your own backyard!"

Seiwa-en, a Japanese garden of pure, clear harmony and peace

Did I go to the garden? Of course. It’s beautiful.

It also made me sad and glad at the same time. Why does there need to be a garden of serenity on the Internet? Do we lack our own “real” gardens? Do we spend so much time in virtual reality that an Internet garden is preferable to one in the backyard?

Zen gardens have a serenity that plenty of regular earth gardens do not. They borrow scenery, they show us imperfections, they exemplify nature.

What I began to wonder was if we need, in addition, to summon, build, create, maintain and nourish a place of pure, clear harmony and peace within ourselves so that we are able to find peace in any scenario? There is a Greek word that I’ve loved for a long time: temenos. It means sanctuary.

This week I offer you temenos. Sanctuary. On the Internet in a virtual sense, and on offer from within yourself at any moment you make that choice.