Buddhist Peace Gardens Design

The Buddha of course was a great man of peace,wisdom and compassion - it had been prophesied when he was born he would either be a great commander and leader of his nation or else a great spiritual leader. Hence the reason his father was determined to keep him within the palace walls and away from outside influences. His curiosity and desire for knowledge could not however prevent him from making the journey to the outside world and take the path towards the Bodhi tree and his enlightenment.

Once he had reached enlightenment spreading the message of peace and compassion became his life's journey - indeed he said holding on to anger is like holding a hot coal with the desire of chucking it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. Peace and non-violence lie at the heart of the Buddha's message.

Gardens are of course on the whole nature tamed , places where we come to relax and contemplate our lives or just forget ourselves for a few moments amongst the beauty of nature - so it is not surprising that Buddhist principles are applied to those of Garden Design - as part of the Buddha's Face Buddhism 101 Project I have written an article Buddhist Garden Design Considerations – Buddhist Peace Gardens.

London's best example is that garden alongside the Imperial war Museum in Lambeth London inaugurated by the Dalai Lama in May 1999 one of the stone pillars has the carved message from His Holiness :

"Conflicts and mistrust have plagued the past century, which has brought immeasurable human suffering and environmental destruction. It is in the interests of all of us on this planet that we make a joint effort to turn the next century into an era of peace and harmony." I couldn't agree more.

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