Ryoan-ji or ” The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon” is on the north-western edge of Kyoto. When we walk into Ryoan-ji temple grounds, we can feel peace because it is nestled in the trees and mountains. We can stroll along the 600 year old paths beneath cherry trees next to tranquil ponds and fragrant gardens.

When we enter the tea house there is a special type of Japanese Dry Rock  Garden pronounced “karesansui”.

Ryoanji Dry Rock Garden

We can view rocks emanating from sand waves. We can ponder the emptiness and the spaces between the rocks.

We also learn there are 15 rocks. What makes this somewhat special is that we cannot view all 15 rocks at once.

All of us; who have seen this garden, want to see all the rocks.

Legend has it from the proper perspective the enlightened master may view all the rocks.

We can view this as a metaphor for good Project Management Communications.

People can see parts of a project very clearly. Different people can see different parts. Good Projects identify the people involved, and their perspective in relationship to success. People are important for a happy satisfying project.  To foster creativity; an essential ingredient for new ideas, people have to have expression channels. People, may never see the other rocks.  Different people will need to know the nature of the other rocks and conversely they need to be able to express the fine grain detail of the rocks they can perceive.

Good skills involve understanding the layout of the garden, where the best position is to see all the rocks in the garden. Communicating with people means understanding not only what they know but what they don’t know or cannot see. Good skills also involve knowing the nature of the information.  By “nature of the information”, I mean that what to say, when to say, how to say and if to say is essential.

So our job as Project Managers or Masters of our Gardens is to become enlightened and to express the nature of the rocks that are impossible to be seen by others in the proper place and time. We can visualize that The Master Japanese gardeners designed these special places as lessons to let us contemplate knowing and not knowing.

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Photographs of Ryoan-ji dry rock garden by Frantisek Staud

Positional photographs of Ryoan-ji dry rock garden.

Article by Robert Higgins