Walking Mountains


In the Pines, a blog I really like, quotes an ancient sutra talking about how mountains walk. But, for people, that is hard to comprehend. The sutra notes that if you tell a fish that the river flows, it will also not understand. Such are the sutras:

Nevertheless, when dragons and fish see water as a palace, just as when humans see palaces, they do not view it as flowing. And, if some onlooker were to explain to them that their palace was flowing water, they would surely be just as amazed as we are now to hear it said that mountains flow.


From Dogen's san-sui-kyou (山水経)--Mountains and Waters Sutra.

In the Pines visited Eiheiji, a special place in Fukui prefecture, with a number of temples up in those walking mountains. Thanks to the miracles of Youtube, you can also stroll around and get a brief lecture about how the temple compound is like the body (and soul) of a human being. Deep stuff (except for the silly music in the background). Enjoy.

Comments

Pandabonium said…
Thanks for the wisdom and the video. I enjoyed visiting there in 1987 with a friend from Fukui City. Beautiful place that transforms one's state of mind just by being there.
5:43 pm, September 24, 2008
Martin J Frid said…
1987, nice. You go way back, don't we all have karmic connections way beyond our (young) years.

Glad you liked the post!
1:36 am, September 26, 2008
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