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Opening the Mountain

from Opening the Mountain by West Riding

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"Opening the mountain" is Zen parlance for, what was in ancient China and Japan, a fairly notable occurrence - the times when a wandering Zen Master chose a particular mountain as the home for his new monastery. It was believed that in doing so, the Zen Master would incur either the favor or the wrath of the mountain itself, and be motivated to either build up the temples, or abandon them and move away. Once a Zen Master opened a mountain, that Master would then usually take the name of the mountain as his own - most famous Zen teachers in Buddhist history are known primarily by the name of the mountain on which they lived.

In this piece, I try to evoke the first careful and deliberate steps of the Zen Master as he climbs the mountain peak, finally coming to a resting spot where he will begin his teaching, with a roar of approval from the mountain itself.

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from Opening the Mountain, released August 30, 2023

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West Riding Portland, Oregon

West Riding (aka James M Gregg) produces ambient, neo-classical and cinematic music inspired by quiet mountains, intrepid journeys and Zen koans, as well as artists such as Olafur Arnalds, Phillip Glass, Max Richter, Arve Henriksen, Hans Zimmer, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Gustav Mahler and many more westriding.net ... more

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