Yesterday I walked through the new Tiger Glen in Ithaca, a garden inspired by three ancient Chinese wise men. Designed by Marc Peter Kane for his Alma mater, Cornell University, the new Japanese garden is a tribute to Tao Yuanming, a Confucian poet, Lu Xiujing, a Daoist priest, and Hui Yuan, a Buddhist monk. Why a Japanese garden, you wonder? Because the story of the three Chinese wise men was equally beloved in Japan.
The 3rd-century parable of the Three Laughers of Tiger Brook celebrates the virtues of open-mindedness, curiosity, and tolerance. When the poet and the priest visit their friend at his home in the mountains, their discussion becomes so animated that they cross the ravine that surrounds the temple. Realizing that he has broken his vow never to leave his monastery, the monk and his friends break into laughter at the absurdity of artificial boundaries.
In Doun Masanobu's 17th-century silk painting the three friends are pictured n their moment of recognition. In the garden, the raging torrent is mimicked by carefully fitted elongated blue-gray rocks. The garden is new this year, its pines and mosses come to grow in a sheltered spot on a promontory one thousand feet above Cayuga Lake, the longest of the Finger Lakes. It, too, is ancient, being about two hundred million years old.
Image:
Kano Doun Masanobu (1625-1694) - Three Laughers of the Tiger Glen, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Ithaca, NY.
4 comments:
Cornell is so beautiful. My brother in law has a masters in landscape architecture from Cornell and talks often of the talent present there. Gorgeous
Very pleased to find this site. Thanks for taking the time to share this.
BFF, the Finger Lakes Region is like Napa Valley - but without the earthquake fault lines. Maybe we should keep mum about this!
Short Sale in Chicago, very pleased to have you visit. I'm always curious about how people do find this site.
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