The Universe In A Moment At Ryōanji

It's a Sunday morning in Kyoto and I am sitting on the long wooden steps of the hōjō, the abbott's residence of Ryōanji Temple – one of 1,600 temples in this historic city. At my feet is the temple's famous karesansui, or dry rock garden. In a small rectangle of white gravel, measuring just twenty-five by ten meters and raked to perfection by the monks each morning, fifteen stones have been arranged in such a way that they are never all visible from the same vantage point.