Soul Mountain

Translated from the Chinese by Mable Lee

" Engaging and elegant ... His first work." New is in York Times Book Review

Soul Mountain is a literary response to the devastation of the self of the individual by the primitive human urge for the warmth and security of an other, or others, in other words by socialized life. Page vi

You asked him where he was going. "Lingshan"

"What?"

"Lingshan, Ling meaning Spirit or soul, and shan meaning Mountain." Page 2

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Today, you can't know what traumas tomorrow will bring. You've learned through experience everything you need to know. what else you are looking for? when a man gets to middle age shouldn't he look for a peaceful and stable existence, find a not-too-demanding sort of a job, stay in a mediocre position become a husband and a father, set up and comfortable home, put money in the bank and add to it every month so there'll be something for old age and little left over for the next generation? Page 9

A victim of mountain black magic won't be able to find his way out of the mountains. Page 11

In those contaminated surroundings I was taught that life was the source of literature, that literature had to be faithful to life, faithful to real life. My mistake was that I had alienated myself from life and ended up turning my back on real life. Life is not the same as manifestations of life. Real life, or in other words the basic substance of life, should be the former and not the latter. I had gone against real life because I was simply stringing together life's manifestations, so of course I wasn't able to accurately portray life and in the end only succeed in distorting reality. Page 12

I believe in science but I also believe in fate. Page 13

The pavilion has been painted recently and under the eaves the dragon and Phoenix design has been repainted and the two principal columns at the front are inscribed with the couplet:

Sitting at rest know not to discuss the shortcomings of other people.

Setting out on a journey fully appreciate the beauty of the Dragon River. Page 21

"Man follows earth, earth follows sky, sky follows the way, the way follows nature," he proclaims loudly. " Don't commit actions which go against the basic character of nature, don't commit acts which should not be committed. Page 48

Too much analytical thinking, too much logic, too many meanings! Life has no logic, so why does there have to be logic to explain what it means? Also, what is logic? I think I need to break away from analytical thinking, this is the cause of all my anxieties. Page 50

For me, however, what I had to ponder was this: how should I change this life for which I had just won a reprieve? Page 74

Are you saying that this Lingyan is just an insensate Rock? If I don't say that. what should I say? If I do that say that, is it because I shouldn't say it or because I can't say it? That is entirely up to you she will be what you want her to be if you think she is beautiful she will be beautiful if there is evil in your heart you will only see demons. Page 93

When the moon is out,

Don't take a torch with you,

If you take a torch with you,

The moon will be heartbroken.

When vegetables are in flower,

Don't take a basket to cut vegetables,

If you shoulder a basket to cut vegetables,

The vegetable flowers will be heartbroken.

If you are pledged to a girl who loves you,

Don't fancy another,

If you fancy another,

The girl will be heartbroken.

Page 117

A pigeon and a chicken search for food together,

The chicken has an owner but the pigeon does not,

If the owner of the chicken takes the chicken home,

The pigeon is left all alone.

A girl and a boy play together,

The girl has an owner but the boy does not,

If the owner of the girl takes her home,

The boy is left all alone.

Page 118

I asked him whether in the past clan classifications of Yi society were very strict, for example, if men and women of the same clan married or had a sexual relationship were both parties put to death? If maternal cousins married or had a sexual relationship were they punished by death? If a white Yi slave and a woman of the black YI aristocracy had a sexual relationship, was the man put to death and the woman forced to suicide? Page 123

The tops of the mountains on this high plateau are like voluptuous breasts, but close up, they are huge and somewhat oppressive. Page 132

Shaking up and down in the speeding bus on the Mountain road induces a sense of loss of gravity. I seem to levitate. I don't know where I am drifting, and I don't know what it is that I am searching for. Page 136

On the other hand, if I were a woman and living with a man, this would also be a worry. The problem is the awakening self in the inner mind, this is the monster which torments me no end. People love the self yet mutilate the self. Arrogance, pride, complacency or anxiety, jealousy and hatred, all sprung from this. the self is in fact the source of mankind's mystery. So does this unhappy conclusion mean that the awakened self should therefore be killed?

This Buddha told the boddhisatva: the myriad phenomena are vanity, the absence of phenomena is also vanity. Page 152

Suicide has to be for someone or for something but she no longer exists for any person or thing, and she no longer has the energy to kill herself. Her heart has been numbed by all the humiliation and pain she has experienced. Page 258

Fuxi and Nuwa. Page 307

The two conjoined figures are Fuxi and Nuwa, a brother and sister who, according to a Chinese foundation myth, were the only survivors of a great flood. Charged with repopulating the world, Fuxi and Nuwa created vast numbers of clay figures, which they were able to bring to life with some divine assistance.

You know that I am just talking to myself to alleviate my loneliness. You know that this loneliness of mine is incurable, that no- one can save me and that I can only talk with myself as the partner of my conversation. Page 312

Fiction is different from philosophy because it is the product of sensory perceptions. If a futile self-made signifier is saturated in a solution of lust and at a practical time transforms into a living cell capable of multiplying and growing, it is much more interesting than games of the intellect. Furthermore, It is the game as life and does not have an ultimate goal. Page 315

Often career and ambition are inseparable. To say a man has ambition is to say he has a career. Ambition is the basis of a career, with ambition one invariably wants to be outstanding. Page 339

When Nuwa created humans she also created their sufferings. Humans are created from the interior of Nuwa and born in the bloody fluids of women and so they can never be washed clean. Page 350

Language is like a blob of paste which can only be broken up by sentence. If you abandon sentences, it will be like falling into a quagmire and you will flounder about helplessly. Page 351

Dragging weighty thoughts you crawl about in language, trying all the time to grab a thread to pull yourself up, becoming more and more weary, entangled in floating stands of language, like a silkworm spitting out silk, weaving a net for yourself, wrapping yourself in thicker and thicker darkness, the faint glimmer of light in your heart becoming weaker and weaker until finally the net is a totality of chaos. Page 351

How is it possible to find a clear language with an indestructible sound which is larger than a Melody, transcends limitations of phrases and sentences, does not distinguish between subject and object, transcends pronounce, discards logic, simply sprawls, and is not bound by images, metaphors, associations of symbols? will it be able to give expression to the suffering of life and the fear of death, distress and joy, loneliness and consolation, perplexity and expectations, hesitation and resolve, weakness and courage, jealousy and remorse, calm and impatience and self-confidence, generosity and constraint, kindness and hatred, pity and despair, as well as lack of ambition and placidity humility and wickedness, nobility and viciousness, cruelty and benevolence, fervour and indifference, and aloofness, and admiration, and promiscuousness, and vanity, and greed, as well as scorn and respect, certainty and uncertainty, modesty and arrogance, obstinacy and chagrin, resentment and shame, surprise and amazement, lethargy, muddle-headedness, sudden enlightenment, never comprehending failing to comprehend, as well as just allowing whatever will happen to happen. Page 352

Man follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the way, the way follows Nature.

This is the source of what I had heard from the old botanist in the primitive forest. The inner couplet is:

Invisible and an inaudible, mystical indeed is its imperceptibility, joining the trinity of jade purity, superior purity and supreme purity.

Know its workings, observe its profundity, pure indeed is its tranquility, forming the principal of the way of heaven, the Way of earth and the Way of man. Page 402

The old head Daoist tells me about the two couples. "the way is both the source and the law of the myriad things, when there is mutual respect of both subject and object there is oneness. this source gives birth to existence from non-existence, and to non-existence from existence. The union of the two is innate and with the Union of heaven and the man there is the attainment of unity in one's view of the cosmos and of human life. For Daoists, purity is the principal, non-action the essence and spontaneity the application; it is a life of truth and a life requiring absence of self. To put it simply, this is the general meaning of Daoist." Page 403

You go on climbing mountains. As you near the peak and are feeling exhausted you always think it is the last time but when the exhilaration of reaching the peak subsides you feel the urge again. This feeling grows as your weariness vanishes and looking at the rising and falling lines of the peaks in the hazy distance your desire to climb mountains resurges. but once you climb a mountain you lose interest in it and invariably think the mountain beyond will have things you haven't encountered. When you eventually get to that peak the wonders you hoped for aren't there, and once again there is just the lonely mountain wind.Page 435

Xu Wei's couplet, "The world is a false illusion created by others, what is original and authentic is what I propose." seems to be more penetrating.

However, if it is a false illusion why is it created by others? And whether or not it is false is irrelevant, but is it necessary to allow others to create it? Also, as for what is original and authentic, at issue is not its authenticity but whether or not it can be proposed. Page 448

He goes up and politely asks "Venerable elder can you tell me the location of Lingshan?"

“Where have you come from?” the old man asked instead.

He says from Wuyizhen. Page 478

…

He says " The road is not wrong, it is the traveller who is wrong." Page 478

He really can't make up his mind and can only think of an old proverb dating back a thousand years: "Existence is returning, non-existence is returning, so don't stay by the river getting blown about by the cold wind." Page 479

These are all memories, this tinkling which sticks in your mind seems to be a sound in your brain. there is an agonizing, searing pain in your lungs and stomach, your heart pulsates wildly, chaotically, and your brain is about to explode. When it explodes, the blood will clot, it will be a soundless explosion. life is fragile, yet to obstinately struggle is natural. page 503 You fall into an even deeper darkness and again feel your heart pulsating, discern physical pain. The fear of death of the living body is concrete like this, the physical body you failed to abandon recovers its sensitivity. in the darkness, in the corner of the room, the line of bright red lights on your tape recorder is flashing. page 504

Snow is falling soundlessly. I am surprised by this tranquility. In Heaven it is peaceful like this.

And there is no joy. joy is related to anxiety.

Snow is falling.

I don't know where I am at this moment, I don't know where this realm of Heaven comes from. I look all around.

I don't know that I don't understand anything and still think I know anything.

Things just happen behind me and there is always a mysterious eye, so it is best for me just to pretend that I understand even if I don't.

While pretending to understand, I still don't understand.

The fact of the matter is I comprehend nothing, I understand nothing.

This is how it is. page 506