My personal understanding of “Mountains are mountains” Zen thought

The famous saying of Ch’ing-yüan Wei-hsin (Seigen Ishin):
老僧三十年前未參禪時、見山是山、見水是水、及至後夾親見知識、有箇入處、見山不是山、見水不是水、而今得箇體歇處、依然見山秪是山、見水秪是水。
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains, and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw that mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it’s just that I see mountains once again as mountains, and waters once again as waters.

There are already many explanations of the Zen thought, here I would like to share mine:

My personal view

People are selfish. We always differentiate between you and me. This is my thing. I own it. This is my property. I have more than you. People compare. All conflicts and disputes start from here. This is level 1, the sentient beings’ level.

When we understand further, when we become more generous, we start to share. We are all human beings. God loves us equally. We help each other. Sharing and caring elevates us to level 2. However, we may over-emphasize the equality and fairness elements in our standpoint. We blame those who are not willing to share. We hate those who are selfish and do not contribute/sacrifice to the society as much as we do. That’s why we need to discuss about level 3.

In level 3, mountains are mountains and waters are waters again. Understanding and forgiveness are the core elements of the thought. Although we are all humans, not all of us are at same Zen level. Some people are selfish because they are not enlightened. Some people just do not contribute that much. We should understand and forgive. Only will forgiveness and understanding, we can achieve internal calmness.

Be a vegetarian

Taking vegetarianism as an example. Before becoming vegetarian, we think all animals are just our food. We can eat them whenever we like. Even worse, we may kill them for leather. This is level 1. Killing and personal desire are our core values.

Once we elevate ourselves to level 2, we see animals as our friends. We are all creation of God. We shall not kill them and eat them. However, we still cage them. We destroy their natural habitat. We enforce civilization rules onto them.

At the ultimate level, we understand that animals are still animals. They should live with their own usual ways. Human and animals should live in harmony.