日本庭園這種人為環境將人的藝術創作與大自然的成長、規劃與偶然性融為一體，以便經由「自然物」在漫遊者或觀者身上發揮某種甚為獨特的轉化作用。本論文集中在某些日本庭園的造園特色，尤其專注所謂的枯山水，從一個當代哲學背景來探索庭園中諸如巖石、樹木等「自然物」究竟有何種身分和性質。本文特別關注這幾個問題：一、人應當如何看待庭園中之物？二、人憑什麼可以感覺庭園中之物「在看自己」？面對庭園中之物時，人是否面對所謂的他者，被他者所引入看視情境？三、作為非我之庭園物來感觸我，如何能夠在我身上發揮向世界敞開這種轉化作用？由此觀之，日本庭園不僅為東亞文化遺產中非常珍貴的一種藝術，而且對當代哲學思考「何為物？」這個問題意識，日本庭園其實也具有難得的啟發作用。圍繞觀看庭園時所展開的物我關係，本論文是經由一番現象學的省思，來分析任何觀看情形所包含的被動狀態以及現象學所命名為「觸發」的結構。

As an artificial environment the classical Japanese garden represents a union of artistic creation with natural growth, of planning and contingency, so as to induce, on the part of the visitor or the spectator, a peculiar kind of transformation. This paper focusses on significant features of some Japanese gardens, especially those of the “dry mountain-water” (karesansui) type, investigating into the specific properties “natural things” like rocks or trees exhibit in such gardens, as seen from a philosophical stance, in order to clarify the following questions: How should we look at these garden elements? Why may we get the impression that things in the garden are “looking at us” as though we were being confronted with the Other and brought into the field of looking by the Other? How can the things in the garden, though not being ourselves, yet exert an affection upon us, so as to transform us by inducing our opening up towards the world? From this perspective, Japanese gardens do not merely represent an unequalled East Asian art form, they also yield important clues concerning the philosophical inquiry on “what a thing is”. Taking the relation between things in the garden and the I unfolded through vision as its starting point, this paper is to analyze, by way of a phenomenological questioning, the structure of passivity as well as of phenomenological “affection” inherent in any form of looking and vision.