Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Even when we have the eyes [to see mountains as] the appearance of grass and trees, earth and stone, fences and walls, this is nothing to doubt, nothing to be moved by; it is not the complete appearance [of the mountains]… Even when they appear to us as the realm of the practice as the way of the buddhas, this is not necessarily something to be desired.’ (Shobogenzo Sansuikyo)

Today I head down to Tassajara to teach in and on the mountains – it is something I have been deeply looking forward to, for the last few weeks especially, and I will try not to make assumptions about what I see or know…

The last time I saw the mountains. I do not expect them to be the same.