With an Interpretive Clarification by Roshi Andrew Shugyo Daijo Bonnici, Ph.D.
The Sandokai is a poem written by Sekito Kisen Daiosho, a Zen Buddhist Priest who practiced and taught the True Body of Meditation in China during the first half of the Eighth Century. Dr. Bonnici is indebted to Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and many others who have translated and commented on the original Sandokai — their conscientious work provided the inspiration for his interpretation and clarification of Sekito Kisen's text.
The Original Sandokai by Zen Master Sekito Kisen
The mind of the Great Sage of India (Shakyamuni Buddha) was intimately transmitted from west to east. Among human beings, there are the wise and the foolish; but in the Great Way, there is no northern or southern Patriarch.
The Subtle Source is clear and bright; the tributary Streams flow through the darkness. To be attached to things is illusion; to encounter the Absolute is not yet enlightenment.
Each and all of the subjective and objective sense spheres are related, and at the same time, independent; related, yet working differently, though each keeps its own place.
Sights vary in quality and form; sounds differ as to pleasing or harsh. The Dark makes all words One. The Brightness distinguishes good and bad phrases.
The four elements return to their Nature like a child to its Mother. Fire is hot, wind moves, water is wet, earth is hard. Eyes see, ears hear, nose smells, tongue tastes the salt and the sour. Each is independent of the other.
Cause and effect must return to the Great Reality. The words high and low are used relatively. Within light there is darkness, but do not try to understand that darkness. Within darkness there is light, but do not look for that light.
Light and darkness are a pair, like the foot before and the foot behind in walking. Each thing has its own intrinsic value, and is related to everything else in function and position.
Ordinary life fits the Absolute as a box and its lid. The Absolute works together with the Relative, like two arrows meeting in mid-air.
Reading these words you should grasp the Great Reality. Do not judge by any standards. If you do not see the Way, you do not see it even as you walk on it. Progress is not a matter of far or near, but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.
I respectfully say to those who wish to be enlightened, do not waste your time by day or night.
An Interpretation and Clarification of the Sandokai by Roshi Andrew Shugyo Daijo Bonnici, Ph.D.
The heartmind of the Great Sage of India (Shakyamuni Buddha) has been intimately transmitted through his compassionately seated body and precious stream of breath. Deeply listening with blood, bones and marrow to everywhere wisdoming, he aroused his only moment body of original faith and sat down completely on the firm ground of impermanence, no-self, and no-beliefs.
Knowing this, trust that the path of universal Wisdoming and the authentic Buddha seal of original faith are exactly the sincere embodiment of Just This. Know that the bright vision of One World and One Humanity is Only This.
An infinite Source of Vast Wisdoming and Great Functioning shines beyond all human thoughts of clarity and dullness, enlightenment and ignorance, salvation and damnation, atheist and theist, believer and infidel. Even amidst this ageless truth, branching streams of world religions continue to stir the turbulent seas of species centricity, ethnic superiority, spiritual exclusiveness, righteous aggression and illusory historical dogmas.
Grasping and attaching to the exclusive nature of any religious symbol, scripture, word or dogma is surely delusion. Yet attaching to a perfect wisdom, supreme reason, transcendental being, sainthood, sageliness, or absolute Buddhahood is still mountains and rivers from the True Mark. Knowing this, arouse your courage to stand on no-ground, embody original Faith, and live the wisdoming of your only moment body that is before all scientific paradigms, religious beliefs, and spiritual views.
When practicing the body of original Faith, know that your five sense gates receive the five sense objects in One Bright Mirror. Though each sense and stimulus has its own identity, all exist independently with one another. Though the infinite forms and beings vary in their nature and function, One equanimity, integrity, and creativity pervades them all. Though worldly sounds may differ as to pleasing or harsh, their essence is exactly infinite silence at their core.
The Precious Mystery does not discriminate superior from inferior, sentience from insentience, animate from inanimate, good from bad. Yet the Bright Reflection clarifies through the duality of shadow and light, sinner and saint, beauty and beast, joy and suffering — all the while never leaving the original ground of One Vast Wisdoming Nature.
The four great elements — earth, water, fire, and wind — return to their unconditional nature as the original wisdoming of One vast functioning just as children naturally return to the wellspring of their mother's love. Even our human senses and sense objects return to their original wisdoming nature when we practice the Only Moment Body of meditation — seeing just this, hearing just this, tasting, smelling, and touching just this, thinking and feeling just this.
The law of cause and effect is this Only Moment Body of natural wisdoming functioning throughout time and space, just as IT is. The words high and low, light and dark, pleasure and pain are always relative to each other and never fundamentally separate in the Vast Wisdoming of One Great Functioning.
The Vast Wisdoming of One Great Functioning and our daily lived experience of life are fitting and harmonious just as a box and its lid. Our life practice of Vast Wisdoming and life's daily activities and relationships function together just as two arrows meeting in mid-air.
Embodying these teachings with your Only Moment Body, you should grasp the Great Reality of your life just as it is. Do not judge your practice by any standards. Do not judge your life by any standards. If you do not live your Only Moment Body as the Vast Wisdoming of One Great Functioning, you will not see it even as you walk on it in every moment of your life. The practice of living Vast Wisdoming is not a matter of far or near, but if you are confused by your egocentric attachments and false views, mountains and rivers will block your Way.
I respectfully say to all of you who earnestly wish to realize the peace, joy, and fullness of living enlightenment: do not waste a single moment of your precious life and do not waste your time by day or night.
Dr. Bonnici's counseling and teaching brings the Sandokai off the page and into the living texture of your relationships and practice.