Introduction
✨ In this concise yet deeply philosophical writing, Master Woo Myung expresses a core realization: Truth is simply things as they are.
“The green mountains are mountains, and the blue water is water.” 🌿
This statement points to a state of perception where reality is no longer distorted by thoughts, concepts, or self-centered interpretations.
According to Master Woo Myung, people are unable to see reality clearly because they live inside their own constructed minds, filled with judgments, attachments, and illusions. As a result, they misunderstand life, death, and existence itself.
This teaching invites us to return to a state of pure seeing, beyond illusion—where everything is recognized as Truth, just as it is.
Original Writing by Master Woo Myung
The Green Mountains Are Mountains
The green mountains are mountains,
and the blue water is water.
A river is a river,
a cow is a cow,
and a pig is a pig.
All things, as they are, are Truth.
People are unable to see things as they are;
they are all insane.
Man is fooled by existence and non-existence,
and he lives inside a mind that is centered around himself.
Man lives without knowing the true meaning
behind dying and disappearing.
A rainstorm is blowing,
and it wets my whole body.
There was joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure
in this futile life.
Now that I have lost everything,
I can reflect back on myself.
What is it to be human,
and what is life,
that people do not know
they live inside a dream
and then pass away into the dream.
When they come to their senses,
it is already too late,
and they depart having given up on themselves.
They pass on to the next world,
without knowing where they go
and only the living finds this pitiful.
– Woo Myung
Reflect at Santa Clara Meditation
🌿 The teaching of Master Woo Myung highlights a fundamental problem: people do not see reality as it is, but instead see it through the lens of their own minds and accumulated thoughts.
This writing suggests that life, as commonly lived, is like a dream within a dream—filled with emotional ups and downs, yet ultimately empty and fleeting. Only when one lets go of all attachments and illusions can one begin to see Truth directly.
At Santa Clara Meditation, practitioners are guided to cleanse the mind and discard false perceptions. Through the teachings of Master Woo Myung, one can reflect on reality, illusion, life, and awakening, and move toward a state where one sees clearly that “mountains are mountains, and water is water”—living in Truth as it is. ✨
