Buddhist Ideas & Gardens – Inspiring Places to Sit and Walk
Seats are important for people to quietly rest and feel inspired by the beauty around them.
Inspiring Places for Sitting & Walking
Sometimes there are little platforms where people can bring meditation cushions, like at the Meditation Park next to the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya. But much more common are ordinary garden seats or benches placed with nice views or in cosy alcoves or by trickling water in exactly the same way that you can find in ordinary British gardens.
Seats under trees are quite common. In Buddhist gardens in Bodhgaya you often see circular stone benches built all the way round a tree. Often that tree is a Bodhi tree, which grows easily in India. So these tree-seats are reminders of Buddha sitting under the Bodhi tree. (The proper scientific name for this tree is Ficus religiosa.)
Paths are important to get people walking slowly round the garden, paying attention to every footstep and each fresh view, without their mind wandering away. Sometimes the paths are made deliberately long and winding to prolong the experience. A good example, which is easy to visit in Britain, is Purelands, a Japanese Buddhist meditation garden in a Nottinghamshire village, which will be described later. There are many winding paths. Some paths go across water on stepping-stones – there is nothing quite like stepping stones for keeping your mind on your walking.
Buddhists always walk round any holy place in a clockwise direction and paths can be planned with this in mind. Quite often holy objects, like Buddha statues or bells, are purposefully placed in the centre of a path so that people can walk round them clockwise.
Continue reading: Buddhist pictures and texts placed along the paths.