Japanese Gardens

Japan—Japanese Garden

Materials:
-regular sized white paper
-markers
-5x5 wooden square plate per person
-a Ziploc bag of ¼ cup of white fine grain sand per person
-3 small rocks per person
-1 miniature Japanese temple
-1 miniature wooded rake
-Picture slide shows of different Japanese gardens:
http://learn.bowdoin.edu/japanesegardens/gardens/ryoan/ryoan-ji.html
http://learn.bowdoin.edu/japanesegardens/elements/sand/sand.html

Goals:
1. Students will learn about and understand Japanese Zen gardens.

Objectives:
1. Using the given materials above, the students will create their own
Japanese garden.
2. The students will understand what Zen is and it's relation to
Japanese gardens.
3. The students will realize that Zen Gardens are becoming very
popular in the U.S. and other countries in the world.

Procedure:
1. Introductory experience: Give the students 5 minutes to draw and
color a simple (not too detailed) picture of a garden. (Don't expand
on the word "garden"—just "draw/color a garden") 5 minutes
2. Discuss the gardens that they drew. "How many of you drew flowers
in your garden? …Grass? …Vegetables?...Fruits? How many of you had
very colorful gardens? Ask the students: "What makes a garden a
garden?" The students might say: flowers, plants, animals, life,
soil, dirt, waterfalls, vines, bird baths, ponds, statues, vegetables,
fruits. (write this list on the board). ( 5 minutes)
3. On the overhead projector display the Winona Daily newspaper
article. Have 2 or 3 children read this article aloud to the class.
Ask them, "Has anyone every seen a Japanese garden before?" "What did
the article say that the garden would be used for?" "What does a
Japanese garden consist of?" (5 mintues)
4. There are actually many types of Japanese gardens, specifically
called "Zen Gardens". Some Zen gardens are similar to ones we have
seen here in Winona, but some are very different from what we think of
as a "garden". We will be discussing the dry rock gardens of Zen.
Here is a picture of the most famous Japanese dry garden of all the
Ryoan-ji: (show one photo of Ryoan-ji).
http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/places-and-sights/_more1999/_more04/Japan-Kyoto-Ryoanji-Sekitei-rock-garden-1-AJHD.jpg.
(5 minutes)
5. Ask the children to recall what yesterdays lesson was about.
(Buddhism-Zen) Go around the class and have each student mention one
thing they learned in the Buddhism lesson of yesterday. Responses may
be: it is Japan's religion, it is a philosophy, it began in India,
Siddharha Gautama is the Buddha, Buddha means "one who is awake",
philosophy: "change in nature is constant", meditation, monks, Zen
temples, Buddhism came to Japan and is known as Zen, satori is the aim
of all Zen Buddhists, satori is an awakening or understanding of the
creation of nature. (10 minutes)
6. A big part of Zen Buddhism is relaxation, meditation, calming, and
reaching "satori". Besides worshiping and meditating the Zen temples,
Buddhist Japanese often practice their religion in these Zen gardens.
Every person has his or her own way of relaxing. Have the students
close their eyes and think of their place that helps them relax the
most. (They will not have to share their special place, but just have
them think of it). Make sure that the students realize that everyone
has their own place of relaxation, their own way of winding down, it
may be saying a prayer in bed, listening to music, gardening, cooking,
singing, playing an instrument, drawing, painting, snuggling up to
your teddy bear. I would like to give you a tour of one of the very
important places that some Buddhists use to help them calm, relax, and
eventually reach their satori. Show virtual tour of the Ryoan-ji
garden: http://learn.bowdoin.edu/japanesegardens/gardens/ryoan/ryoan-ji.html
Tell the students that this is not a garden that you see here in the
U.S. very often. Japanese dry gardens are quite different from our
list of what we thought a garden to be. Note: the careful raking of
the sand, the rocks, and the house that the garden is directly next
to. Mention that some of the rocks represent different things such
as: mountains and islands. (10 minutes)
7. Closure experience: Now have each student make his or her own Zen
Garden! Each student will get: 1 wooden plate, 1 Ziplock bag of sand,
3 rocks, 1 rake, and one temple. After each student has gotten his or
her materials have them spread out and find a place to sit by
themselves in the room. Tell the students they are to be quiet and
not say one word for 5 minutes. They are to sit quietly and create
their own Zen garden. They can put the objects (rocks and temple)
wherever they please and however they please (inside their garden
however), they can rake their sand in whatever designs they want (be
creative!), they can do as many creations as they want (erase and
recreate), but they MUST be quiet and not disturb anyone else (be
respectful to your classmates around). "Just as the Buddhist Japanese
use their gardens for relaxing, we are going to do the same." Tell
the students to carefully pour the bag of sand into the plate (be very
careful not to spill!), then they may go on from there and do what
they please with their garden to relax. (8 minutes including
directions). After this experience be calm in gathering the children
back together; quietly tell them to pour their garden contents (sand,
rocks, rake, temple) into their Ziploc and seal it tightly. Then
have them put their Zen gardens into their backpacks to take home.

Assessments:
-Walk around the room as the students are doing their Zen garden,
make sure all are participating and using this time as a quiet,
relaxation time.
-The drawing of the garden in the "introductory experience".
-The discussion about what they learned from the previous lesson
about Buddhism.