Tenryu-ji: Life and Spirit of a Kyoto Garden

by Norris Brock Johnson

Overview

This illustrated study of Tenryuji, ranked number one among the five great Zen temples of Kyoto and a major destination for tourism and worship, weaves together history, design, culture, and personal reflection to reveal the inner workings of a great spiritual institution. Looking at Tenryuji's present as a mirror to its past, and detailing the famous pond and rockwork composition by renowned designer Muso Soseki, Norris Brock Johnson presents the first full-length "biography" of a Zen temple garden.

Norris Brock Johnson is a professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and has been teaching and writing about Japanese temple gardens for over twenty years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611725261
Publisher:	Stone Bridge Press
Publication date:	07/10/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	31 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Norris Brock Johnson is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was a Fulbright Lecturer at Waseda University and University of Tokyo, Komaba. Professor Johnson has been researching, teaching, and writing about the temple gardens of Japan for over twenty years.

Table of Contents

The Pond in the Garden 000

Acknowledgments 000

Part I: Land, Landscape, and the Spirit of Place 000

1 Mountains, Water, and Fragrant Trees 000
2 Death, Dream, and the Genesis of a Temple 000
3 Clouds of Flowers Preserve the Way 000

Part II: A Garden in Green Shade 000

4 A Pond of Shadow and Shimmering Stones 000
5 Footprints in the Sky
6 Settling Flowers of Ice
7 Bridge to Buddha-Nature 000
8 Sitting in the Garden 000
9 Anchors Along the Journey 000
10 The Dragon Gate 000

Part III: Garden as Life and Spirit 000

11 A Walk to the Garden 000
12 Stones and Life: Sweet to See 000
13 Just As Before 000

Notes 000
Bibliography 000
Index 000

Editorial Reviews

"Whether you experience Tenryu-ji in person or through the pages of this book, you will learn to understand the enduring appeal of Japanese gardens and will take away a lot more than photographic images and quickly fading memories. You will have a connection with the garden that will stay with you until your next visit- or your first." - The New York Journal of Books

"[Norris Brock Johnson is] the perfect guide, describing Tenryu-ji with intellectual conciseness and tenderness, for a site that has clearly come to represent more than just a sacred garden."—The Japan Times

From the Publisher