Roshi started his Taisho this week by commenting about the American election.  This season really brings out the “US vs THEM” aspect of human nature.  It is almost like we are all forced to pick an identity and then associate with the RED team or the BLUE team.  Is this really the most skillful way to pick our representatives considering that there are so many material issues we really need to consider.

With this in mind, Roshi will take the next few weeks to explore the Sandokai poem which is commonly chanted in Soto temples.  (Suzuki’s book on the Sandokai linked HERE)

Sandokai is commonly translated as the “Harmony of Difference and Equality”.  It was written by Master Sekito Kisen who was born in in southern China in 700 CE and died in 790 CE.  Roshi pointed out that the passage is quite short at no more that a single page, but it would take a full semester college seminar to really do it justice.

Roshi next broke down the word ‘Sandokai”:

San: the idea of difference, duality, phenomena, samsara

Do: the idea of sameness, identity, origin, essence

Kai: mixture, fusion, interpenetration, harmony in a broad deep sense

It is interesting to note that when we consider “San” we are talking about Samsara, but not in the negative sense.  Samsara is simply our day-to-day reality.  We live in the reality of dualism and difference.  Nothing is ever the same and we experience constant change.  This is why we say that there is suffering in Samsara.

However, while there is “San”, there is also “Do”, which is the sameness of everything.  We could call this Nirvana.  As we practice and delve ever more deeply into reality, we start realizing the unity of everything.  Roshi noted that Mu is universal and never changes.  Mu is Mu everywhere and every time.

Great!  We live in a unified universe of sameness.  NO!  That would be attaching to Nirvana.  “Kai” is the fusion of sameness and difference.  The Zen master Daido Loori used to always say, “We are the same thing, but I am not you and you are not me.”  This is the “Kai” in Sandokai.  Roshi noted that Kai has also been likened to a handshake.  Two people approach, but the handshake is a single thing in of itself.  Another way to think about this is how contracts were done in ancient Japan.  There would be a clay tablet.  The tablet would be divided and, on each half, would be written the rights and responsibilities of each party.  The tablet would then be broken in half.  The contract would be “consummated” when the two halves were united again.

Roshi stopped here and remarked that we have spent the last 10 minutes just discussing the title!  There is so much more to go.  For this week, we will delve into the first three lines.  He started with the first line:

“The mind of the great sage of India is intimately transmitted from west to east.”

This line can be broken up into some simple pieces and some deeper pieces.  First, we understand that the great sage of India is the historical Buddha.  Moving from west to east is when the tradition spread from India in the west to China in the east.

The most interesting piece of this line is “The mind … is intimately transmitted”.  First, what is the mind that this line refers to.  Obviously enough, it is not Gautama’s physical brain.  However, it is not a set of sutras either.  This phrase “The mind of the great sage” forces us to contemplate what Buddhism actually is.  What is getting transmitted.  This is a major question in Zen.  When the teacher transmits – what is actually moving?  No knowledge is imparted in the Dokusan room – but the entirety of suchness is transmitted.

Roshi also asked the group what does master Sekito Kisen mean by the term intimately transmitted.  We do not think that the historical Buddha showed up in China and planted a big wet kiss on the emperor’s lips!  This phrase makes us really consider what intimacy means.  Is it simple proximity?  Does it automatically imply affection or love?  This word was not added by chance?  What does it mean when transmission is done intimately.  Roshi exhorted us to think about our own intimate moments.  What can we say about them?  They were not a common occurrence.  They came out of a deep connection.  They were not in any way trivial.  It is with this mindset we should consider the intimate transmission of the mind of the great sage.

Roshi moved onto the next line:

“While human faculties are sharp or dull, the way has no northern or southern ancestors.”

This line is stating that we are all different, but this does not matter.  It is also interesting to note, that master Sekito Kisen is also implying that the lineage or school of Buddhism also does not really matter when contemplating the main questions of reality.

The last line we discussed this week was:

“The spiritual source shines clear in the light; the branching streams flow on in the dark.”

Roshi noted that in the west, we typically conceive of the mind and the body as two very separate things.  Roshi asked his teacher, “How do you train a weak mind in a strong body?”  His teacher responded that this is the exact wrong question to ask.  We are not spiritual people – we are simply people who may, because of karma, be interested in things spiritual.  So, are the mind and the body different?  This is the question Buddhism keeps asking?  What are we after all?

Roshi wrapped up by asking us to consider the following two questions for next week:

1) What is your true mind?

2) What is the power of intimate transmission and what does it require?