In Japanese karesansui means dry landscape. Because of its features it looks much more like a painting than a garden. In fact, whereas the Western garden is conceived as an exploitable open space to walk in,

grow plants, enjoy relaxing moments, the karesansui is
a meditation garden. You observe and admire it from
outside its borders, usually
only from one perspective,

emptying your mind and at the same time gathering the feelings the arrangement conveys. While in a normal garden there are many distracting elements (plant varieties with different shapes and colours, falling leaves, windblown branches, animals…), before a karesansui you can reach peace because you’re surveying a complete stillness.

It’s once again a monk who combs the gravel with a special rake tracing lines which can be interpreted in various ways: for instance, they can represent waves breaking on the shore or clouds surrounding a mountain peak.

Whereas a monk actively meditates throughout the karesansui’s creation and care, whoever observes it places himself in front of a perfect picture he admires trying to empty his mind from all other thoughts. This is in fact Buddhist meditation’s real aim: create the emptiness necessary to achieve Illumination.

The most famous karesansui in Japan belongs to the Ryoanji temple. The monk who completed it imagined a tiger jumping in and

crossing the garden. He set the stones “where the tiger put his paws”.
With this metaphor he meant to explain that the stones weren’t placed
according to a logical plan, but exactly where they had to be put.
A special feature of this garden, on which 15 stones are set in various groups, is that from whatever place you observe it you can only always
see 14 stones. The monk who created it meant it as a representation of
Truth which always has a hidden side.