Sandokai (The Harmony of Difference and Equality) by Sekito Kisen
The mind of the great sage of India
is intimately transmitted from west to east.
While human faculties are sharp or dull,
the Way has no northern or southern ancestors.
The spiritual source shines clear in the light;
the branching streams flow on in the dark.
Grasping at things is surely delusion;
according with sameness is still not enlightenment.
All the objects of the senses
interact and yet do not.
Interacting brings involvement.
Otherwise, each keeps its place.
Sights vary in quality and form,
sounds differ as pleasing or harsh.
Refined and common speech come together in the dark,
clear and murky phrases are distinguished in the light.
The four elements return to their natures
just as a child turns to its mother;
Fire heats, wind moves,
water wets, earth is solid.
Eye and sights, ear and sounds,
nose and smells, tongue and tastes;
Thus with each and every thing,
depending on these roots, the leaves spread forth.
Trunk and branches share the essence;
revered and common, each has its speech.
In the light there is darkness,
but don’t take it as darkness;
In the dark there is light,
but don’t see it as light.
Light and dark oppose one another
like the front and back foot in walking.
Each of the myriad things has its merit,
expressed according to function and place.
Phenomena exist; box and lid fit.
principle responds; arrow points meet.
Hearing the words, understand the meaning;
don’t set up standards of your own.
If you don’t understand the Way right before you,
how will you know the path as you walk?
Progress is not a matter of far or near,
but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.
I respectfully urge you who study the mystery,
do not pass your days and nights in vain.
-1997 Soto-Shu liturgy conference translation
A few closing remarks on the Sandokai. First and foremost, I think it is a worthwhile study. When I first scanned the lines of the poems and the first few pages of Suzuki’s Branching Streams I felt as though I was reading gibberish. I’ve mentioned on these pages before that I can be stupid when it comes to seeing past the obvious, and sometimes I can be stupid by making the obvious overly complicated. I think lots of us may suffer from this a bit! My only bit of advice is to stick with it. Read it in small bites, and reread it if you must, but don’t dwell on a single passage too long. Take a break, but never for more than a few days. Longer breaks lead to excuses not to pick up the book!
The Sandokai gives just a brief glimpse of a very important point in the history of Zen, but it also gives a basic guideline for our daily practice. This lends to the timeless quality of Sekito’s words. Zen split, there was arguing, even though there was no need to argue. A similar split has been occurring for the past half century (longer really). DT Suzuki may have started, but it really became apparent during Shunryu Suzuki’s time. Now the mind of the sage has traveled west again, not just to the US and Canada, but to Europe and the UK. While we are not arguing over zen, there are some who see it as a ‘funeral business’ when they look to Japan, while in the west zen has become not just the religion of priests and monks but lay people as well. The great sage of India’s teaching are still being transmitted, and while each new receiver of the dharma may feel as an innovator, we are just reinventing the wheel. The true dharma and the methods of realizing it are unchanged.
No matter how excited we get about zen, about the dharma, we must remember to just practice. Talk is talk is talk, but there comes a time when the reading and talking and studying and debating and planning must all come to a stop and we just sit. Sitting is the act of enlightenment, there is nothing to attain, we have already done so and continue to do so.
If you feel the urge to study the Sandokai, I highly recommend the following:
Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness by Shunryo Suzuki
The free talks and resources offered by Norman Fischer over at Everyday Zen.
