Searching for the heart of sacred space

"Searching for the heart of sacred space Landscape, Buddhism and Awakening Dennis Winters, OALA, ASLA Searching for the Heart of Sacred Space is about Landscape, Buddhism and Awakening – spoken in the same breath – exploring ways of being in sacred landscapes, foundations for designing the contemplative garden. The book’s three parts candidly reveal Winters’ path of transformation. His environmental activities and spiritual awakening lead to his design of a Tibetan Buddhist meditation centre, one of the first in North America. Fueled by his Cornell University mentor, and guidance from H. H. the Dalai Lama and Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, he questions, – “What is the truth of design? How deep would I go to draw inspiration? How deeply am I willing to know myself in order to design sacred landscape?” His search for the answers to those questions draws us into the astounding history connecting Bodh Gaya in India to Kyoto’s Zen gardens, through Mount Kailas, to Pretapuri in Western Tibet, one of Buddhism’s twenty-four sacred tantric sites. Charged with spiritual agreement between pilgrims and deities, landscape is revealed through three layers of discourse – external, internal and secret – as the physical manifestation of Buddhist ideals. As landscape architect and Buddhist, Winters personally speaks with these provocative landscapes and the historical characters who previously addressed their mysteries, supported with extensive textual references. Discovering layers of subtlety enhanced with sketches in Searching for the Heart of Sacred Space, you may never look at landscape the same way again."--