An Endless Trail - Ascending Cold Mountain to Sit Amongst White Clouds

Cold Mountain Path

A poem for contemplation:

"Clambering up the Cold Mountain path,
The Cold Mountain trail goes on and on:
The long gorge choked with scree and boulders,
The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass.
The moss is slippery, though there’s been no rain
The pine sings, but there’s no wind.
Who can leap the world’s ties
And sit with me among the white clouds?"
(Trans. Gary Snyder)

Hanshan, c. 700s (C.E.)



This poem by Hanshan (寒山), the "Cold Mountain" poet-recluse of Tang dynasty China whose recorded work spans Daoist and Chan (Zen) Buddhist realms, serves as an analogy of sorts for contemplative practice. Indeed, various traditions throughout history employ the metaphor of the "path" to convey the long and winding road of spiritual cultivation. Perhaps more saliently than anywhere else, such path-based imagery consistently weaves its way into East Asian literature and poetry.

Given the migratory nature and often uncertain trajectory of peoples of the past (and many of the present as well), the "path" came to symbolize the profound transformations undergone while in the constant process of going in nomadic transience. Such imagery of the nomad became especially prominent on the Silk Road, where cultures interfaced and contemplatives exchanged insights.

In Hanshan's poem, such traversal of the contemplative path is given a rugged depiction. The imagery of the first line — “clambering up the Cold Mountain path” — already tells of the path's arduous incline. Taking his pen-name from this very mountain, Hanshan ("Cold Mountain") clambers upward, using both hands and feet, perhaps mis-grasping or mis-stepping at several points, stumbling along the way while climbing the mountain's face.



Immediately, the reader can sense the challenge faced by the mountain-climber, whose journey is both literally and figuratively uphill. If undertaken sincerely, the contemplative path is initially an uphill journey, requiring strength in perseverance and stamina in order to progress and ascend. Obstacles fall upon us like rocks in an avalanche. Rather than completely smooth sailing, such mountaineering is often a bumpy ride replete with injury, leaving the aspirant with the feeling of “clambering up” a desolate, barren “Cold Mountain path.”

Endless Trail

Traversing the contemplative path is no easy feat. Adding to these challenges, the second line of Hanshan's poem suggests that the trail is limitless, reflecting how the contemplative path is without end, infinitely extending into the horizon. One question immediately arises, namely: How can a finite being ever reach the top of the mountain if the trail is infinite? Perhaps the poet may have a similar question at the beginning of his spiritual path. On an endless trail, is there any hope? Can one ever reach the top?

Perhaps the endless trail signifies that the path continuously unfolds without final destination. Attaching to a fixed end point is fruitless. Things don't always go according to plan. That doesn't make plans useless. Rather, one can make plans yet hold them lightly, adjusting for detours.



Perhaps the trail is so extensive that it contains no constrictions imposed by an ego whose tendency is to chart its progress, taking pride in its successes and shame in its failures. Both are equally part of the path yet without inherent substance. Bad day? Keep going. Good day? Keep going. While ascending the mountain, don't be fooled or blown about by these "worldly winds."

The trail may further symbolize humanity's unbounded nature, suggesting vastness of potential. Caution ahead: Rather than mistaking such an unbounded nature as inherently "me," such vastness hints at a dissolution of "self"-imposed boundaries. Tread carefully along this bend, a precariously perched pathway where the risk of falling is especially high. Medicinally, "not-self" (non-identification) opens new ways of navigating experienced reality. If we identify with our successes or failures, we risk getting tripped up on the ascent. If we realize that there is no ego-identity or separate self that exists apart from others and the world, nothing is perceived as an obstacle on the path.

Choked With Weeds

As the poem and path wear on, we find ourselves immersed in vivid references to nature. Take the middle lines, “The long gorge choked with scree and boulders... The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass. The moss is slippery, though there’s been no rain... The pine sings, but there’s no wind.”

When Hanshan describes the long gorge as being “choked with scree and boulders,” we are reminded of a poem by Tao Yuanming, another contemplative poet of China.

Similar to Hanshan yet referencing another sort of landscape, Tao Yuanming reflects, “My fields and gardens are choked with weeds,” perhaps suggesting that spiritual cultivation has long been neglected. Hanshan, however, references “scree and boulders,” painting an even more desolate, desert landscape. If there ever was a garden in its place, all life is now long-gone, leaving only barren wasteland in its wake.



Such barrenness reflects the cultivator's struggle in starting at ground zero, having absolutely no experience, not even the tiniest of seedlings to nurture. As any beginning gardener may reflect, there is immense difficulty in nourishing sprouts to maturity without the proper conditions.

In our own small-scale farming experience, during a period of absence, the farm where we had previously seen plants flourish and bear fruits instead fell into complete disarray, choked with its own form of “scree.” It took many weeks of labor to nurse it back to life.

Such imagery perhaps allows one to empathize with the cultivator who encounters “The long gorge choked with scree and boulders.”

Despite No Rain

The next lines lend a sense of hope and inspiration. Hanshan keenly observes, “The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass/ The moss is slippery, though there’s been no rain.” Suddenly, the landscape is enlivened.



When the path is abandoned, all that was previously cultivated wilts through neglect. Under drought, the creek narrows, grass grows jagged and loses its color, while moss dries out. The mountain trail grows stark and barren.

Yet here Hanshan characterizes the creek as wide, the grass as mist-blurred, and the moss as slippery. All seems just as alive as ever.



All of this, despite no rain. Relative to the beginning of the poem, which described a desolate mountainside, here a contrast is apparent.

Typically, when the land's resources are sapped, such beauty and potential appears to fade. When conditions degrade, it seems there's no hope. Yet if one acts soon enough, vitality may be recovered. The potential remains alive, only dormant.



Alternating between hope and fear, the line “The pine sings, but there’s no wind” reads as an eerie reference. If there is no wind blowing through it, then how does the pine sing? Where is the voice coming from? Perhaps this line functions as a sort of huatou, like the question, “Who recites the Buddha’s name?” or “Who drags this corpse around?” The contrast between “The pine sings” and “but there’s no wind” helps shake us free of dualistic thinking, thus preparing us for the final lines.

Amongst White Clouds

The concluding lines of this poem strike us the strongest. They feature in the opening scene to the film “Amongst White Clouds” documenting the contemplative paths undertaken by the Zhongnan Mountain hermits of China. Such lines convey the search for freedom from bondage by embarking upon the contemplative path.



In asking, “Who can leap the world’s ties/ And sit with me among the white clouds?” the poet invites his readers to contemplate if they are willing to undertake the arduous journey described in the earlier lines of the poem for the sake of ultimate liberation.



Despite all the toil it takes to ascend the mountain, despite the arduous nature of the path, despite the risk, the effort is worth it.



To have the company of a companion in the process allows for a collaborative journey that culminates in sitting together amongst white clouds. Such a collaborative undertaking makes the path easier to walk, the mountain easier to climb. Indeed, this is why we join together in community to support each other on the path. "Who can transcend this tiresome world...and sit with me amongst white clouds?"