How to Build Your Own Mini-Zen Garden

The container that you use to put your Mini-Zen Garden in can really be any size, depending on where you're going to set it and how much time you want to invest in choosing a garden "bed". A take-out sushi tray is a good size, has raised sides to contain the sand, and usually sushi trays will be decorated nicely, or plain black. For a more permanent, larger or decorative tray- try a small ceramic, glass, or wooden tray that will contain the sand and won't leak.

Use sand or small gravel that won't be too dusty- some decorative sand or fish-tank gravel/sand would be perfect, and you don't need much at all for a Mini-Zen Garden (about a cup of sand, depending on the size of the tray you've chosen to use). Place the sand in the tray, filling it about 2/3 of the way full so it covers the bottom of your try, yet doesn't spill over.

Select your rocks- try just a few, and maybe not all the same exact size. Use your wooden rake- you can find a small wooden comb, like a pick, or a wooden fork, or bamboo rake- making designs around the rocks. Study the pictures of the full-scale Zen gardens for ideas, then you will develop your own favorite patterns and style. Now you are finished, and you have a very simple Mini-Zen Garden of your own to meditate upon!