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Author
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Topic: Sandokai
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Mannu
Knowflake Posts: 3206
From:
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted July 15, 2008 12:39 PM
 
quote:
Harmonious Song of Difference and Sameness
of Sekito Kisen Daiosho The mind of the great sage of India
is intimately communicated 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 darkness oppose one another
like 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 your who study the mystery,
do not pass your days and nights in vain.
Truly this Sekito was enlightened 
IP: Logged |
TINK
Knowflake Posts: 4037
From: New England
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted July 15, 2008 12:55 PM
Oh wow! Wonderful!!Thank you, mannu.  IP: Logged |
Mannu
Knowflake Posts: 3206
From:
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted July 15, 2008 01:20 PM
TINK 
If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it,
You turn away from it all the more.
- Linji
IP: Logged |
Mannu
Knowflake Posts: 3206
From:
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted July 15, 2008 01:30 PM
What is the Sandokai?
The first so-called patriarch, or ancestor, of Zen Buddhism was Bodhidharma, the Indian master who introduced Zen into China. You may remember the story of the sixth patriarch, Hui-neng.
According to legend, Hui-neng was born in southern China. He was an uneducated youth when he heard someone reciting the Diamond Sutra, and he was so awed with the words that he made his way to the Yellow Plum Buddhist community.
As was the custom, the reigning master gave Hui-neng a hard time to make sure the lad wasn’t some frivolous dabbler in religion.
“Southerners have no Buddha-nature,” the master said,
Hui-neng answered, “There may be southerners and there may be northerners, but Buddha-nature makes no distinction.”
I won’t repeat the entire story of how Hui-neng came to be Zen Buddhism’s sixth patriarch. I will remind you that after eight months as a monastery kitchen helper he displayed his wisdom by refuting a monk’s declaration that one’s body is like the Bodhi-tree, and one’s soul is like a bright mirror that should not be allowed to collect dust.
Hui-neng responded with his verse:There is no Bodhi tree,
Nor is there a clear mirror.
From the beginning not one thing exists,
So where is a speck of dust to cling? The master recognized that Hui-neng had become conscious of his own Buddha-nature, so he passed on to him the robe that supposedly had been handed down from Bodhidharma.
This act confirmed Hui-neng as Zen’s sixth patriarch in China.
Some time after, the Yellow Plum Zen school split into two factions over differences in whether awakening was a gradual process or a sudden occurrence.
It was a disagreement that has been carried down to this day.
This brings us to the Sandokai.
The Sandokai is a poem that was written in the eighth century by a Chinese master, Sekito Kisen, who sat zazen on a large rock. The poem was intended to ease the “gradual” versus “sudden” separation of Zen, in addition to clarifying other oppositions such as good and bad, light and dark.
One of Sekito’s Dharma heirs was Yakusan Igen, and there were many verbal exchanges between the two that illustrate the relationship of teacher and student.
Once Sekito came upon Yakusan, who was sitting in zazen.
“What are you doing?” Sekito asked.
Yakusan said, “I’m not doing anything.”
Sekito said, “Well, then you are sitting idly.”
Yakusan answered, “If I were sitting idly, I would be doing something.”
Sekito asked, “So you say you are not doing anything. What is this not doing?”
Yakusan said, “Not even the ten thousand sages know.”
In almost all Soto Zen temples around the world a version of the Sandokai is chanted daily, and it is invariably chanted at the memorial service of a deceased master.
We won’t be chanting, but several of my forthcoming talks will be on the Sandokai as adapted from a series of lectures given by Shunryu Suzuki, late head of San Francisco Zen Center.
IP: Logged |
NosiS
Moderator Posts: 1277
From: )
Registered: Apr 2004
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posted July 15, 2008 04:08 PM
Way cool!IP: Logged |
TINK
Knowflake Posts: 4037
From: New England
Registered: Mar 2003
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posted July 16, 2008 02:43 PM
good stuff, mannuwhere did you find it?
If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it,
You turn away from it all the more.
- Linji
Beautiful! I needed to hear that today. IP: Logged |
Mannu
Knowflake Posts: 3206
From:
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted July 16, 2008 03:13 PM
Tink , I am glad you liked that Haiku/Poem  http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/resources/zen_poems.html
IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 26004
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted July 21, 2008 03:19 PM
 ------------------
"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia." Charles Schultz IP: Logged |
Mannu
Knowflake Posts: 3206
From:
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted July 23, 2008 06:05 AM
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen IP: Logged | |
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