Silent Retreat
Considering mountains and rivers
Dear Friends,
This week I’m away on a silent retreat with the Village Zendo. Instead of my usual postings, I encourage you to dip into our summer study text, the very beautiful “Mountains and Rivers Sutra,” also known as the “Mountains and Waters Discourse,” by the great 13th century Zen teacher, Eihei Dogen.
I won’t be able to reply to comments until I’m back—I’m scheduling this to go out in my absence, so that I can put away my phone and laptop and deeply enter the noble silence of sesshin.
See you next week!
—Sal
Mountains and Rivers
Here’s a taste of Dogen’s mountains and rivers:
There are mountains hidden in treasures. There are mountains hidden in swamps. There are mountains hidden in the sky. There are mountains hidden in mountains. There are mountains hidden in hiddenness. This is complete understanding. An ancient Buddha said, "Mountains are mountains, waters are waters." These words do not mean mountains are mountains; they mean mountains are mountains. Therefore investigate mountains thoroughly. When you investigate mountains thoroughly, this is the work of the mountains. Such mountains and waters of themselves become wise persons and sages.
The full text of Kazuaki Tanahashi’s translation can be found here.
If you’d like to follow along with our Zen retreat, you can hear the dharma talks on the Village Zendo’s Youtube channel, and the teacher and senior student podcasts.
You can also meditate with our online sitting group.
I’ll be back with more art next week.
Further adventures and new ways of seeing can be found in my book, The Uses of Art.
Artist Sal Randolph’s THE USES OF ART is a memoir of transformative encounters with works of art, inviting readers into new methods of looking that are both liberating and emboldening.
Dazzlingly original, ferociously intelligent.
— Michael Cunningham
A joyful, dazzling treasure-box of a book.
— Bonnie Friedman
Here’s a guide, to waking up, over and over again.
— Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara