Mountains are No Longer Mountains

1

‘Before I studied Zen,
mountains were mountains, and water was water.
~
After studying Zen for some time,
mountains were no longer mountains, and water was
no longer water.
~
But now, after studying Zen longer,
mountains are just mountains, and water is just water.’
~

This wisdom is not merely a koan but the straightforward description
of ‘The Great Journey’, in three parts.
The Tale of ME and ‘I’…
_______________________

Part One of the Journey

‘Before I studied Zen, mountains were mountains, and water was water’.

For myself and all sentient beings the first line tells it just ‘as it is’ and takes
no understanding. This is the world where most of us spend all of our time.

It is, in fact, in the words of the great sage John Cleese:

‘a statement of the bleeding obvious’

This is where separateness is described by one thing’s relationship to another,
by it’s similarity or non similarity.

All things appear separate to each other and are defined so. The creating
of more labels (names) leads to more and more concepts, or is it the other
way round?

This collection, is known universally as ‘knowledge’.

More knowledge is good, or is it? Cleverer people then can use their knowledge for their personal (or group) benefit, usually at the expense of other (s).

I (we) can have more, only… if you have less.
Striving for more of one thing is… striving for less of another.

Striving, mainly, manifests itself as, what we have come to call, stress. The latter being something we see as bad for us.

It is of course what we all know to be true!

As is…

My religion is better than yours… and you’re wrong
I know what’s right… and you don’t
My way is better, bigger, stronger… and you’ve got a lot to learn!

By the way… if you don’t I will kill you!

‘Effortless living’, like in the animal and plant kingdom, seems unnatural to us?

Why?

Lions eat lambs. And, lambs get eaten by lions. It’s what they both just do!
Sunrise is when the day becomes light, and dusk when the day turns to dark.
Spring is when the growth rises, and autumn when it falls…

_______________________

Part Two of the Journey

‘After studying Zen for some time, mountains were no longer mountains,
and water was no longer water’.

‘After studying Zen’… there comes the discovery that all is not, as it first seems.

The ‘normal reality’ from ‘part one’ gets confused by all the seekers’ ‘mumbo jumbo’ in their minds. This journey may involve glimpses but will surely involve lots of books, audio programs, satsangs, meditating etc. Teachings and teachers will come and go, in popularity, as will the books and all that stuff.

Mind really really really loves this game. This is known as the acquisition of knowledge, which is good, isn’t it?

The answer, cannot be in books… or even one book because if it were so, then why all this continuing printed matter?

The many books exist because of the different ways that many minds have been programmed throughout the years, and therefore the ‘pointing’ of one teacher will resonate more with one student than the other. This of course is absolutely natural and the way it is:)

This part of the journey is where the seekers know ‘something’ but are not sure.

Feeling ‘part one’ to be false seems like you are making progress, yet peace is not necessarily at hand and probably, a long way away.

Mind says ‘Surely if you know that ‘part one’ is not true, then it’s opposite, the second one surely must be’.

Mind, then says… but this doesn’t make any sense at all!?*

We hear concepts like the ‘there’s no one here’ or the ‘who’s asking the question?’ And, many many more variations of this theme.

Concepts are all created by the manipulation of knowledge, and you are, by now, becoming aware of how much respect I have for knowledge.

There are almost endless ways of approaching ‘This’, in the mind.

However, ‘This’, is only one thing or no thing: these two being the same, not 2, and not opposites. Otherwise known as the teaching of Non-Duality.

This makes absolutely no sense to the mind and therefore explains it’s resistance.

Starting as a baby, there is ‘I’ but with the acquiring of knowledge there very soon becomes a ME.

‘Me’ knowledge soon makes ‘Me’ feel very important and educated.

Therefore, good and bad, light and dark etc etc is the way that people acquire that ‘knowledge stuff’. The latter of course, is put on a pedestal, and the more
it is gathered, the more respect, money and success can follow…

This part of the journey is where many minds like more minds to compete with.

They then have a great time playing semantics. This is a game only a ‘mind’ can take seriously.

There is so much ‘neti neti’ or ‘this and that’ that even the ‘Advaita Police’ cannot stamp it out.

I know this is all being ‘Cog-nized’ in the Great Emptiness, but it doesn’t take away from the facts.

This is getting tough now!

An infinite number/quantity is one that cannot be made bigger/more.
The number/quantity Zero is that, that cannot be made smaller/less.

These two, combined, are surely the ‘every-thing… and no-thing!’

Even a mind should be able to cope with this story?

These two are also the ‘one thing’, since nothing can exist outside them.

Tougher and tougher!

Everything is contained in space (no thing) …
So what thing is it that contains the space?

And so on and so on. Chicken and egg story, only infinitely bigger (or smaller)

More… tougher and tougher

Descartes said ‘Cogito ergo sum’ (I think therefore I am)
Eastern philosophy says ‘I am therefore, I think’
John Greven says ‘No one thinks I am’ :-)

All the same thing…!

The ‘every-thing’ lives and dies in ‘no-thing’ and therefore, that is all there is.

One Thing… This!

‘This’ can manifest itself in a variety of ways:

Sometimes with a mental aberration, equating with the ‘Eureka’ moment, which can last for a short time or much longer. Even forever, although the latter is not all that common.

Sometimes with a subtle creeping-in of This, equating much more with an ‘Oh, so that is all there is to this then’ moment.

At this point then, surely the search must be over… tee hee :)

No… it isn’t!!

It is now time for part three.

There’s no time like ‘NOW TIME’ !


_______________________

Part three of the journey.

‘But now, after studying Zen longer,
mountains are just mountains, and water is just water.’

Confusion and curiosity still reigns amongst these seekers, why?

Because amongst all those seeking, there is still an awareness of ‘someone’ standing in these shoes, wearing these clothes and feeling in pain.

So… who is it?

Well it’s ME, and I’m hungry, angry and my back hurts.!!

So… that’s ME sorted out then!

‘I’… has just become involved in ME for a while.
That’s ‘just fine’. ME is uncomfortable so let it be as it is.

Taking ME seriously is the only mistake in this journey,

ME is knowledge… ‘I’ is wisdom.

‘I’ knows and accepts that thoughts and feelings (mind created) do exist, since they come and go all the time.

‘I’ can let these things pass by without having to believe in them.

‘I’ also knows that walking up mountains makes ME puff and pant and water makes ME wet :)

Knowing: is ME living in this World (illusion)

Wisdoming: is ‘I’ living This… and, This… living ‘I’ and ME

And that’s all there is…

1
The aphorism occurs in many variants in Ch’an and Zen literature, but is first
attributed to Master Qingyuan in the Compendium of the Five Lamps (Wudeng Huiyuan)
1252):

Thirty years ago, before I practiced Ch’an, I saw that mountains are mountains
and rivers are rivers. However, after having achieved intimate knowledge and
having gotten a way in, I saw that mountains are not mountains and rivers
are not rivers. But now that I have found rest, as before I see mountains are
mountains and rivers are rivers.