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The Tibetan Peace Garden in London is well designed, well planted and very well made
- by Hamish Horsley, a sculptor. I like the idea of a peace garden beside a War Museum.
But I'm not comfortable with the design. Though the sculptor makes a good case for taking
Tibetan ideas forward, the design has three problems. First, it is dominated by the war
museum. I prefer peace to war and would like the garden to attract more attention. Second,
the design is too busy. It could have had more of a Zen quality - without using Zen
imagery. Third, the design is insufficiently Tibetan. Since the sculptor lived in a Tibetan
monastery, for a time, this is surprising. Fourth, the design has too much in common
with a war memorial. It is semi-baroque and one's eye keeps looking for the names of the
fallen - which shall live for evermore.
In my view, a peace garden should attract attention. It should be a place of vibrant
joy and a calm place like the face of a happy child. And a Tibetan Peace Garden should glow
with the vibrant colours of Tibetan Art. Instead of carvings symbolising the four elements
of the Pali Canon, the five Tibetan colours should have been used to represent the five
Tibetan elements blue for space, white for water, red for fire, green for air and yellow
for earth. These are also the colours of prayer flags - and I would like the garden to have
had them. As from the Samye Ling Peace Garden in Scotland, they could blow hopes for peace
to the furthest corners of the world.
There is a Kalachakra Mandala in the Tibetan Peace Garden. Its a wonderful symbol - but
one which uses colour for much of its meaning. The East is black
The West is yellow Black wind goes together with yellow earth
The North is white - and cold The South is red- and hot
White water goes with red fire Above is green
Below is blue Green space goes with deep blue awareness.
On memorials, bronze is gloomy and silent. The garden is not silent. It is oppressed
by traffic noise and aircraft noise - though it enjoys birdsong.