Written in 1084 on the wall of Xilin Temple at the foot of
庐山. The first lines,
横看成岭侧成峰,
远近高低各不同, say the mountain looks different from every side; the last,
不识庐山真面目,
只缘身在此山中, say you cannot see it whole while you stand inside it. The couplet is now a saying about why insiders often see less clearly than outsiders.