Zen Stones and Cairns

Piling stones is a meditative practice. You must slow down, think of balance and strength.

They will tumble down. Watch them

Then a contour drawing of a cairn. 

This is a lovely image on Flickr

Your comments are inspiring and so thoughtful. If you are reading them, you know this. 

Comments

[lyle baxter]

stones piled in the birdbath, on the kitchen window sill' in a flat bowl on a table. stones everywhere. my driveway has wonderful stones that must be from new england certainly not south jersey and every day I have to stop to examine some little fellow! they are all lovely and yes, an exercise in patience. I like your drawings of stones and some rocks as well. I'd like to carve a stamp of a well balanced pile but havent been able to make them look right yet! Patience is the word.

[Cami Smith]

I have a vessel by my front door where I toss the stones that I collect. Except - I put my special heart shaped stones on a wood vessel on my porch. Love stones... never thought of doing a simple drawing of them...

[sheila]

I love stones too and have just written names on a lot of stones and put them in a basket. This way I can pray and think about people who I care for on a daily basis. I decide in the morning, fairly intuitively, which name needs to sit on my desk for the day and it is a helpful reminder of that person and their needs.

Love your big stones, especially the ones with lines on them.

[kelley fitzpatrick]

i love what Sheila said about the stones representing people for whom she prays. lovely. i have always loved the word cairn and it is magical to encounter a cairn left by an unknown hiker in the woods. i have them piled in little cairns on my kitchen window sill. what is it about them that seems magical? thank you, Diana, for your calm inspiration!

[Laura Lea]

I'm drawn to those striped rocks. A wonderful woman in Canada told me that the rocks with stripes all around, encircled are wish rocks that you can throw back into the sea and make a wish. Isn't that wonderful. I'd been collecting them for years, since I was a child (my mother loved rock hounding as she called it). I used to pack a box of special rocks when we moved, I'd lie and tell my husband they were books! It didn't take him more than a couple moved to figure this one out. Now he's also collecting rocks. I have rock all over my home, inside and outside. Cairns, marking a pathway, they are a great way to use rocks, I'm always thrilled to find one in my walks.

[Susan]

I love your drawing. It looks a tower for a castle which are also subject to falling down especially as they age. I think two as I look at this some more that in nature your rock drawing would collapse. Looks unstable....very interesting.

[Diana Trout]

Isnt that cool what Sheila said? What a lovely thing to do ... . The word cairn was new to me and, yes, it is turning around in my mind now. Thank you for comment, Kelly.

[Diana Trout]

Oh ... circled with wishes. That is lovely. Thank you, Laura Lea

[Diana Trout]

Yes, Susan. I am playing with the idea of making the drawings look unsteady or as if they could float away ...

[Susan]

So you are playing Jenga if you will with your drawings? Great idea!

[Diana Trout]

Jenga, yes! And the other night a stone in my drawing floated up into the sky and was the moon

[Diana Trout]

patience and practice and watching a pretend ant crawling around the surface as you trace him

[Diana Trout]

stones and stones in vessels. very nice image there

[Diana Trout]

This is just lovely. As you hold the stone with its weight you could almost feel the person. Stones have souls

[Marcie]

Very nice, I have been creating many of these, but they can't tumble down :( They are pretty to look at and feel : )

Marcie

[Diana Trout]

No tumbling? Glue?

[raylee]

hi diana, thanks for visiting our blog, i had some white stones left over from a garden project, so piled them either side of the front door.

[Diana Trout]

Leftovers stones - a bonus!

[Seth]

I love stacking rocks, especially at the beach. And...I love that drawing too.

[Diana Trout]

Wow, rock-lovers could probably elect a candidate! There are so many of us ... :)