The quintessential ones are those stripped of all vegetation, which contain only sixteen rocks in the sand, symbols of the sixteen disciples of Buddha who spread his doctrine all over the world; for example the Ryoan-ji garden or the Shuon-an in Kyoto. In some, the rocks are so arranged that a portion of them always block the view of others, no matter where you stand; because of this, you can never see them all at once. A clearer expression of an idea is hard to imagine: absolute vision, captive to time, has been irremediably lost to man. All that remains are partial and alternative perspectives. (Location 4611)
wondering how precisely the trees had been in selecting me. (Location 4687)
