Phenomenal Forms and Transcendental Shadows (3): Prior to Perception

Translated by AI

You see a mountain: majestic, steady, rooted in the earth, wrapped in mist. You say, “This is a mountain.”

Later, you begin to read, reflect, and question. You notice that under sunlight, the mountain glows gold; on rainy days, it turns gray. In the painter’s eye, it may be emerald green or just a stroke of ink. You learn from geology that it was once a seabed rock layer, slowly uplifted over hundreds of millions of years, weathered, eroded, and perhaps destined to disappear. So you begin to wonder, “Is it merely a mountain?”

Later still, you no longer cling to its form or get entangled in its changes. It remains a mountain. Change or permanence, both are true. You come to see that the scene before you is just a moment in time, a matter of perspective — but it remains what it is. And so, you say, “This is the mountain.”

In Zen, there is a saying: “At first, the mountain is a mountain; then, the mountain is no longer a mountain; finally, the mountain is once again a mountain.” This describes not just stages of thought, but stages of seeing. At first, we naturally accept the world’s surface appearances — the mountain is a mountain. Later, we start breaking things down, doubting, realizing that what we see may just be shaped by perspective, symbols, language — the mountain is no longer a mountain. Finally, we transcend doubt and embrace the world’s multiple layers of truth — the mountain is once again a mountain.

A cylinder, under light, can cast a square shadow or a circular one. At first, we assume the shadow reveals the object’s nature — the mountain is a mountain. Then, we realize the shadow is shaped by light and angle — the mountain is no longer a mountain. Finally, we understand: both the square and the circle are valid; they are part of the whole truth — the mountain is once again a mountain.

This is more than just a change in how we look; it’s a transformation in how we think. So how can we practice this shift in daily life — learning to step back from rigid judgments and see beyond the shadows?

One day, a friend arrives late, and you feel upset, thinking they don’t respect your time. But maybe they were helping an elderly person who fell on the subway — and you didn’t know. You’ve worked hard but haven’t yet seen the results you hoped for, so you feel like a failure. But perhaps this is only part of the journey; the road isn’t over, and where you stand now may be the shadow cast by a future success. Someone seems cold toward you, and you assume they dislike you. But maybe they’ve just received bad news, or perhaps they simply express themselves inwardly.

We are used to seeing the world in a particular way, convinced that our view is correct because it aligns with our past experiences and intuition. But the world is fluid; it has no single, fixed shape.

Shifting perspective doesn’t mean rejecting what we know; it means recognizing that other possibilities always exist.