People often bring up
another Zen story about seeing that the mountains are not
mountains, seeing that the rivers are not rivers, and seeing the
mountains and seeing the rivers; so I might as well include a
discussion of it here. This story comes from a statement given in a
formal lecture by Zen Master Wei Cheng, who said, “Thirty years
ago, before I had studied Zen, I saw the mountains were mountains
and the rivers were rivers. Later, when I had personally seen a Zen
teacher and had attained initiatory experience, I saw that the
mountains are not mountains and the rivers are not rivers. But now
that I had attained peace, I see the mountains simply as mountains,
and see the rivers simply as rivers. Tell me, everyone, are these
three views the same or different? If anyone can distinguish the
black from the white, I will admit that you have seen me in
person.”
Because this story is part
of traditional Zen lore, students of later generations, including
people all over the world today, have taken it as a handle on Zen
study. Some people say it represents the so-called three barriers
of Zen. Others say that it is necessary to reach the point at which
you see that mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers,
and then turn around again to arrive at seeing mountains as
mountains and rivers as rivers again; this they identify as the
realm of great penetration and great enlightenment. In reality,
these explanations are ultimately just impressionistic talk; these
views may seem to be correct, but they are not.
First, it is necessary to
understand clearly that this talk by Zen Master Wei-cheng is about
his own personal experience in practice. When it comes to the
matter of whether Master Wei-cheng had actually attained great
penetration and great enlightenment himself, you first of all
cannot invent some fabrication and make up a subjective
determination of the issue on his behalf.
His first stage, where he
says he saw mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers, of course,
represents the state of anyone before studying the Zen Way.
Everyone is like this, seeing mountains, rivers, and earth, the
various humans and natural environments in the physical world
clearly and distinctly; this does not require any special
interpretation.
For the second stage,
where he said he saw mountains are not mountains and rivers are not
rivers, it is one hundred percent certain that this is a state
achieved through the actual application of meditative concentration
work. If one has genuinely practiced meditative concentration work
and the method and process of cultivation realization, and if one’s
inner and outer physical and mental application and conduct have
not gone astray in any way, then eventually this should cause the
physical and mental temperament and constitution to undergo a great
change. The eyes will be full of spiritual light, the spirit will
solidify, the energy will mass, and the material world seen by the
eyes, the mountains, rivers, land, and so on will naturally seem as
though one is in a waking dream, like images of light reflected in
water. One will feel that everything in this material world is all
dreamlike, illusory existence, totally unreal; and one will also
see people as like mechanical robots.
Many people who reach this
stage, whether they are studying Zen or practicing Taoism,
thereupon assume it is the true Way, but really this sort of state
has nothing to do with the Way. This happens because of long
immersion of the body and mind in quiet concentration, resulting in
diminution of psychological and biological instincts, and repletion
with vital energy that causes the brain and nervous system to
undergo a change resembling electrical charging, so one sees the
phenomena before one as ephemeral and has no feeling of reality.
This is similar to the scattering of vision experienced when the
body is depleted and weakened after a serious illness, or when one
is about to die. Of course, this phenomenon associated with
sickness and dying does not itself represent the state of people
practicing meditative concentration who see mountains and rivers as
not being mountains and rivers: it is just a way of making a
comparison. One is due to illness or dying; one arises from being
filled with the living power of life; so they are not exactly the
same.
But you must not forget
that this kind of phenomenon is just a different sensation of the
biological organs; what enables you to produce such feelings and
cognition is still the function of your consciousness and thought.
If you assume that seeing mountains as not being mountains and
seeing rivers as not being rivers is a good phenomenon reflecting
practice of Zen or Tao, that is still mediocre; if so, then you
might as well take a hallucinogenic pill or a moderate dose of
tranquilizers, for would that not cause a similar marvel? Can you
say this is the Way?
So many people who study
Zen and lecture on Zen today, both in China and the rest of the
world, often bring up this issue. I cannot but add some explanation
to the matter so that practitioners avoid making the mistake of
entering into byways and ruining the useful physical body.
Coming to Zen Master
Wei-cheng’s third stage of seeing the mountains as mountains again
and seeing the rivers as rivers again represents a Zen state where
he had advanced a step farther, so he said of himself that he had
attained peace. If you just go by these remarks and assume that
this is great penetration and great enlightenment, then you might
as well relax and go to sleep, waking up to see that mountains are
still mountains and rivers are still rivers. Would this not be more
direct and enjoyable?
Therefore it is really not
easy at all to read the classics and stories of Zen; we should not
by any means become confused by fragmentary interpretations. It is
essential to seek personal experience of realization; only then do
you know the ultimate. If we were to take this one story, which
only points to a process of practice, and augment it so that it
would be perfectly complete, we would have to cite the saying of
T’ang dynasty Zen Master Nan-ch’uan, “When people today see this
flower, it is like a dream,” to be able to approach the final Zen
work of letting go. In sum, this story only refers to the mental
work involved in Zen; it is not completely relevant to the insight
of enlightenment.
Nan Huai Jing