Beautiful Mountain

Beautiful Mountain - First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is.

These are lyrics from the song There Is A Mountain,written by the Scottish singer Donovan. He was inspired by the words of the famous, historical Zen teacher, Qingyuan Weixin who wrote about his journey of enlightenment......“At the first level on the path he saw mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers.

On the second level of the path he saw that mountains are not mountains and rivers are not rivers.

And at a third level he saw once again mountains were mountains and rivers were rivers.

In essence, this Buddhist Monk was describing the impermanence of everything. We see things as they are, a mountain is just there, appearing strong and solid, we accept it for what it is. But if we reflect and contemplate, we realise that the mountain was once not there. It has formed over thousands of years and it’s alive with vegetation. If we look closely it’s continuously changing and reforming. So then we observe the mountain again, but with a new perspective.

The acceptance of nothing staying the same, may be a struggle, because we focus on what we don’t want to change or let go of. Yet we long for change in those things that don’t bring us happiness. Meanwhile, we forget to sit in the hear and now, enjoying the moment, which will change too. We can’t resist change on one hand and force it with the other. Perhaps right now, we might welcome change, because we long for a better life. But we must also accept it when times are good too, cherishing that moment and not paying attention on the next thing, it will come soon enough. #change