Mountain Writings

John Muir
(1838-1914) Mountain Writings
Edited by Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

Paul Brunton
(1898-1981)

Mountains of California
(Published 1894) John Muir: The Mountains of California
Dorset Press, New York, 1988 (originally published 1894)

Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in sight,
charming and glorifying every landscape. Yet so simple and massive is the
topography of the State in general views, that the main central portion displays
only one valley, and two chains of mountains which seem almost perfectly
regular in trend and height: the Coast Range on the west side, the Sierra
Nevada on the east. (p. 3).

— John Muir (1838-1914)

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Sacred Summits
(Published 1999) Graham White (Ed.), Sacred Summits: John Muir's Greatest Climbs
Canongate Books, Edinburgh, UK, 1999, 164 pp.

Mountains holy as Sinai. No mountains I know of are so alluring. None so hospitable,
kindly, tenderly inspiring. It seems strange that everybody does not come at their call.
They are given, like the Gospel, without money and without price. 'Tis heaven alone
that is given away. Here is calm so deep, grasses cease waving... We are not to go to
the mountains, and on the mountains we care not to go to the plains. But as soon as we
are absorbed in the harmony, plain, mountain, calm, storm, lilies, and sequoias, forests
and meads are only different strands of many-colored Light are one in the sunbeam!
What wonders lie in every mountain day! (p. 80)

— John Muir (1838-1914), John of the Mountains (1938)

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François Cheng
Empty and Full
(Published 1994) Shih-Tao on Mountain and Sea

But me, I see it! The mountain is the sea and the sea is the mountain.
Mountain and sea know the truth of my perception... Nothing less is necessary
than to have recourse to mountain in order to see the breadth of the world.
Nothing less is necessary than to have recourse to water to see the immensity
of the world. It is necessary for mountain to work on water in order for the
universal flow to be revealed. It is necessary for water to work on mountain
in order for the universal embracing to be revealed.

— Shih-Tao (1642-1707)
Empty and Full (1994), p. 86

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Paul Brunton
Hermit in the Himalayas
(Published 1937) Paul Brunton, Hermit in the Himalayas

Why do I love these mountains? Is it not partly because they tangibly reflect something
of that stillness, that beauty, which I find in my intangible meditations? Thus it is that
to look out of my window each morning becomes for me a veritable act of worship.
With each glance I give my matututinal homage to Himalaya andenter into a mood
of reverent adoration. These mountains stand in symbolic relation to our race.
These snow-covered colossi, like stupendous pointing fingers, indicate for me
the lofty aspirations which must ever keep man from sinking into the grovelling
existence of the gutter, whilst their unsullied whiteness beckon him to a purity
which he has yet to attain.

— Paul Brunton (1898-1981)
Hermit in the Himalayas (1937), p. 174

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Dag Hammarsjöld
(1905-1961)
Hammarskjold on Mountaineering

Arriving in NY in 1953, he was asked if he liked mountain climbing.
Dag Hammarskjöld said: "This much I know of the sport, that the qualities
it requires are just those which I feel we all need today: perseverance and patience,
a firm grip on realities, careful but imaginative planning, a clear awareness of the
dangers but also of the fact that fate is what we make it and that the safest climber
is he who never questions his ability to overcome all difficulties."

— Dag Hammarskjöld (1908-1983)
Dag Hammarskjöld interview with biographer Roger Lipsey
(By David P. Gushee, Read the Spirit, 6-9-2013)

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Edmund Hillary
View from the Summit

Edmund Hillary: View from the Summit

I looked up to the right and there was a rounded snowy dome. It must be the summit!
We drew closer together as Tenzing brought in the slack on the rope. I continued
cutting a line of steps upward. Next moment I had moved onto a flattish exposed
area of snow with nothing but space in every direction. Tenzing quickly joined me
and we looked around in wonder. To our immense satisfaction, we realized we had
reached the top of the world! It was 11:30 am on 29th May 1953... The view was
most spectacular to the east, for here the giants Makalu and Kangchenjunga
dominated the horizon and gave some idea of the vast scale of the Himalayas.

— Edmund Hillary (1919-2008)
View from the Summit (2000), p. 14