Sandōkai (Harmony of Difference and Equality)

Text

Shitou Xiqian's short Tang-dynasty verse on the interpenetration of the relative and the absolute — "the spiritual source shines clear in the light; the branching streams flow on in the dark." Forty-four lines, chanted daily in Sōtō zendos along with Dongshan's Jewel Mirror Samādhi, and one of the doctrinal seeds of the Caodong/Sōtō "five ranks."

tr. Sōtōshū Shūmuchō, Sōtō Zen Text Project — Sandōkai

license: public_domain

Original language

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Shitou Xiqian

Lineage: Qingyuan line

By Shitou Xiqian

• Sandokai (Harmony of Difference and Equality)verse
• Song of the Grass Hutproverb
• Merging of Difference and Samenessproverb
• Stone Headproverb
• Do Not Think About the Roofproverb

From Sandokai

• Sandokai (Harmony of Difference and Equality)

Sources

• contentSōtōshū — Global Sōtō Zen Network

  Sōtōshū Shūmuchō

  Sōtōshū canonical texts index

  Sandōkai, by Shitou Xiqian, is one of the classical Chan verses chanted in Sōtō Zen liturgy and a doctrinal source for the five ranks teaching.