"MOUNTAIN IS NON-MOUNTAIN"
(An addendum to the third day’s teaching of An Overview of the Buddhadharma, given by Grand Master Lu at the True Buddha Tantric Quarter on May 14, 1993.)
“Mountain is mountain, water is water.” Then, “mountain is non-mountain, and water is non-water.” At the end “mountain is mountain, and water is water.” After listening to the third day’s teaching, some of you are still puzzled about this riddle. Therefore, I will use another analogy to illustrate it, so that is may be more easily understood.
This riddle describes spiritual development in terms of three stages. The first stage is when one is still an ordinary being; the second stage is when one is in the midst of spiritual practice; and the third stage is when one has attained Enlightenment. Talking about mountains and waters all the time may not be very clear to you; a better analogy might be one using the example of a practitioner and a beautiful lady. This is an analogy I like to use, and one I hope you will respond to immediately, with a clear understanding.
At the first stage, before his entrance into Buddhism, when a man sees a very beautiful lady, he feels that the beautiful lady he sees is a beautiful lady. He is enthralled by her. This is the phase of “seeing mountain as mountain and water as water.” A beautiful lady is just a beautiful lady and one is instantly entranced by her beauty.
At the second stage, one has already started practicing and is practicing the Skeleton Visualization. In this second phase of “seeing mountain as non-mountain and water as non-water,” a practitioner sees a beautiful lady and feels that she is just a skeleton. This second stage signifies a segregation between him and the lady. In his eyes, a mountain is non-mountain, and water is non-water—they have all turned into skeletons.
At the third stage of Enlightenment, “mountain becomes mountain again and water is water again.” What does this mean? In this phase, when a man sees a beautiful lady, he still sees the lady as beautiful, but his heart remains totally unmoved. It is true that the lady is beautiful, but one is already beyond enthrallment. This is “seeing mountain as mountain and water as water” again. [audience applause]
Because I was using the symbols of mountain and water, some of you could not make head nor tail of the analogy and are unable to get the meaning of this riddle. However, when I use the analogy between a practitioner and a beautiful lady, you get a clear picture right away! At first, you are completely enthralled when you see the beautiful lady. Then, after entrance through the door of the Buddhadharma and practicing the Skeleton Visualization, a woman is not a woman anymore but a skeleton appearing to be a woman. When you become Enlightened, you will still appreciate the lady’s beauty but will not be influenced by her or her beauty. From these three simple examples, you can understand the three phases of spiritual development.
Actually, in the first stage or condition, one’s heart is being enslaved by one’s environment. Ordinary beings are easily influenced by the environment. If today’s sky is dim and gray and it starts to rain, one will be in a bad mood. When it is bright and sunny, one lights up. This is a condition wherein one is entirely under the influence of one’s environment. One has allowed oneself to be enslaved by one's surroundings.
In the second stage or condition, after one embarks on the path, there is a distancing between one’s heart and the surroundings. One tries one’s best to avoid being disturbed by the sights and sounds of one’s environment by hiding deep in the mountain to do cultivation. This is a segregation between one’s heart and one’s surroundings.
In the third stage or condition, one’s heart has risen above one’s environment. Regardless of the environment, of whether it is a good day or bad day, rainy day or sunny day, one’s mind is always open and cheerful. [audience applause]
When you reach the third stage, no matter how great the external pressure is, how much cheering there is outside for you, or how much slandering exists, you abide in the same state of mind. This is the condition of an Enlightened person who has transcended his environment.
First, there is the enslavement of an ordinary person’s heart by his environment. Second, there is the separation of heart and environment during the process of cultivation. Third, one’s cultivated heart can totally decimate the influence exerted by one’s surroundings. These are the three stages of “seeing mountain as mountain and water as water,” “seeing mountain as non-mountain and water as non-water,” “seeing mountain as mountain and water as water again.”
This should be very clear now. Since some of you told me that you could not understand the analogy of the mountain and water, I have used the analogy of a man and a woman. This is the simplest explanation; do you understand now?
It is the same with the practice of the Buddhadharma. When you truly arrive at the condition of pure awareness, freedom, and sovereignty, every word and action exemplifies that of a Buddha. What shines through then is not a conventional light, but a kind of natural luminosity. It has nothing to do with: “Whose temple is the biggest?” “Who has the most students?” “Who is the wealthiest?” “How many people can one control?” It is a realm of the Buddhas and Immortals which completely transcends the conventional world.
Amituofo
Lotuschef
Pure Karma
True Buddha School
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