The Voices of the River-Valley and the Form of the Mountains
Kei means “river-valley,” sei means “sound” or “voice,” san means “mountain,” and shiki means “form” or “color.” So keisei-sanshiki means voices of river-valleys and forms of mountains – that is, Nature. In Buddhism, this world is the truth itself, so Nature is a face of the truth. Nature is the material side of the real world, so it is always speaking the truth, and manifesting the law of the Universe every day. This is why it has been said since ancient time that sounds of rivers are the preaching of Gautama Buddha and forms of mountains are the body of Gautama Buddha. In this chapter, Master Dogen preached to us the meaning of Nature in Buddhism.