Some of you may be familiar with the “A mountain is a mountain” teaching.

In this teaching, the student learns that on the path to enlightenment they will learn in three stages.

First stage: A mountain is a mountain

Second stage: A mountain is not a mountain

Third, final stage: A mountain is a mountain again

The teaching can be interpreted differently; as a student, I would like to offer my own interpretation as well as how this can be applied to learning anything in a more heightened sense.

• Anyone can understand the first stage: A mountain is a mountain, just like water is water and a monkey is a monkey.

This is simple. We are able to perceive the world in a simple way, each thing is just a thing.

• The second stage requires both knowledge and a willingness to learn: A mountain is not a mountain.

This stage is about studying a single entity in every imaginable way, physically, scientifically, logically, metaphorically, artistically, theoretically, symbolically, et cetera.

This stage requires much study and thought. The student will struggle with concepts and fight with ideas, but may eventually come out of the second stage with more knowledge than he previously had.

• The third stage requires wisdom: A mountain is a mountain again

Notice that the third stage is much different than the first, even though it has almost identical wording. You now know that the mountain is a mountain, but you know it for all of the right reasons.

You do not just know that it is a mountain because someone told you it is a mountain; you know it is a mountain because you understand the mountain.

Image Credit: CNN