Zen on the Trail by Christopher Ives

Author:Christopher Ives
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisdom Publications

SEVEN

Vistas and Visions

The expansive sky does not obstruct the floating white clouds.

— SEKITŌ91

Heaven and earth have the same root, myriad things are one body.

— SENGZHAO92

I came to realize clearly, that mind is no other than mountains and rivers and the great earth.

— DŌGEN93

I PAUSE AT THE JUNCTION where the Crawford Path joins the Appalachian Trail after winding up along Gibbs Creek from the Notch. Straight ahead, Mount Washington presents itself to me, massive and unmoving.

Many of us hike for views like this, regardless of whether we summit. We seek grand vistas — and photographs of them — as a reward for our pilgrimages into nature. Anticipating the view, we may feel excitement as we start to emerge above tree line. When we step out of the trees and look out over the krummholz, our spirits get lifted by the expanse, or we feel disappointed to find the peak shrouded in fog.

Out on the trail, however, some of the most powerful visions are not across a rugged landscape, and to experience them we don’t need to reach a summit or possess youthful courage (or risky stupidity). Nor do we have to drive — or fly — long distances to trailheads. These visions can be achieved closer to home. If Emerson’s Oversoul permeates all things, qi moves through all of nature, and kami are scattered across the landscape (or, better yet, life-scape), can I sense these facts in the old oak lording over the saplings in the woods on Palfrey Hill above my semi-urban neighborhood? Do I need to climb remote mountains to trigger the mysterium tremendum? As a boy the Buddha got a foretaste of enlightenment while sitting under a rose apple tree watching his father plow a field. Later in life his great awakening happened on the edge of a village, not up in a cave on the side of a Himalayan peak (even though Zen artists portray him as “descending the mountain” after his enlightenment experience). His preferred lecture hall was not a backcountry tent site or base camp beside a glacier but a manicured garden.

Simply put, remote wilderness is not required for religious experiences. The rocky spot where Allah spoke to Muhammad overlooked the crossroad markets of Mecca. Bernadette was out collecting firewood with two other girls on the edge of Lourdes when she saw the lady in white. Buddha was sitting under a tree near a village in northern India when he broke free from suffering. St. Francis was in the chapel of San Damiano near Assisi when he saw Christ, and Julian had her visions while mortared off in a cell on the outside wall of the cathedral in Norwich.

But impactful encounters and visions, whether in the wild or on the edge of human habitation, are not the last word in transformative experiences. Subtler vistas open up all the time on the trail. The approach to hiking I’ve been sketching here helps us cultivate a way of paying attention, of being in the woods, that diverges from the desire to prove something or add a summit to our list of exploits.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.