Steve McIntosh, Inventor of the Zen Clocks and Tehya (his wife) were most fortunate to visit the Ryoanji Zen Temple in Kyoto, Japan before their son, Peter McIntosh was born.  It was a most peaceful and memorable trip.  Below is a description of the ancient site:

Ryōan-ji is a Zen Temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan.  The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder.

Japanese gardens are a living work of art in which the plants and trees are ever changing with the seasons.  As they grow and mature, they are constantly sculpted to maintain and enhance the overall experience; hence, a Japanese garden is never the same and never really finished. The underlying structure of a Japanese garden is determined by the architecture; that is, the framework of enduring elements such as buildings, verandas and terraces, paths, tsukiyama (artificial hills), and stone compositions. Over time, it is only as good as the careful maintenance that it receives by those skilled in the art of training and pruning. Part of the art is to keep the garden almost static, like a painting.

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