For relaxation, meditation, whatever you want to call it, some people look at flowers, some at trees, some at paintings, some at mandalas, some (unbelievably) at television.

In the East, some look at stones. The Chinese started doing it several thousand years ago, looking at found stones of intriguing shapes and colors. The stone could be small enough to hold in your hand. It could be medium size, suitable for mounting on a wood base and placing on your desk. Or it could be large and placed in your garden.

The stones might be anthropmorphic, zoomorphic, or merely abstract. The most treasured shapes were those that in miniature evoked images of larger landscapes: mountains, cliffs, valleys, caves.

The Chinese have several names for the stones: guashi ("odd stones") is the most common.

The Japanese imported the tradition, and simplified it. Japanese stones (suiseki: "viewing stones") tend to be smaller and less complex than their Chinese counterparts.

In English, they are known variously as scholar stones, viewing stones, or spirit stones.

While the Chinese were traditionally averse to modifying a stone, in Japan and the West stones are often smoothed and even re-shaped.

Gathered from various sites around the Internet, here are eight stones to delight your retinas, with, we hope, unintrusive musical accompaniment.

(For an excellent print introduction to the subject, see Spirit Stones of China, by Stephen Little, the catalog for an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of New York.)

Stone 1
Stone 2
Stone 3
Stone 4
Stone 5
Stone 6
Stone 7
Stone 8
Stone 9
Stone 10

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