Lessons From a Zen Master (LP&M #7)

A week ago, Shunmyo Masuno, the head Zen priest of Kenko-ji temple in Japan, came to speak at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. At first, I found this location for the event to be a bit strange. Having not visited this building before, I anticipated something on par, with all its colorful facets of stimulation for children, as Science World. Yet, after reflecting upon his presentation, I understood the particular suitability of this choice.

The sun had set by the time I arrived, but the uplighting of the formal modernist structure gave it a royal prominence reminiscent of some holy mitra pretiosa. The modesty of a monastic life was certainly not embodied in its form. The space within which Shunmyo Masuno spoke however, was adorned by wood paneled walls and a low stage, and evoked a more appropriate simplicity. He opened with such sentiments as, "if the shape is perfect, there is no room for culture or beauty."

That night Shunmyo Masuno came to Vancouver to speak of his zen dryland garden creations and of "imperfect beauty beyond perfection." He spoke of how beauty is not fixed but rather changes over time. He shared the majority of his 17 projects and when it came time to answer questions, he stepped away from the podium and the comforts of his scripted presentation and proceeded to answer our queries with eloquence greater than our assumed mastery of a tongue barely second to him.

I left understanding the juxtaposition between his words and images and the forum in which they were delivered. The stark symmetry of the architecture offered only a proud and static snapshot of the era in which it was built. It was during an era that commonly embraced humankind's theoretical decoupling from the environment. The modernist ideal helped usher in technology as the new savior and a harbinger of utopia. Shunmyo Masuno reminded us of a truer wisdom.

"If the snake drinks the water, water becomes poison. If the cow drinks the water, water becomes milk." As designers, the work that runs through us has the power to either destroy our surroundings or nourish them. We are of nature, embedded and wholly reliant upon the health of the ecosphere. If we designers are our work as the Zen priest reminded us, our creations should be nothing but nourishing and biocentrically aligned.