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Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai
When Shunryu Suzuki Roshi's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1972, it was enthusiastically embraced by Westerners eager for spiritual insight and knowledge of Zen. The book became the most successful treatise on Buddhism in English, selling more than one million copies to date. Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness is the first follow-up volume to Suzuki Roshi's important work. Like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind , it is a collection of lectures that reveal the insight, humor, and intimacy with Zen that made Suzuki Roshi so influential as a teacher.
The Sandokai ―a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Ch. Shitou Xiqian)―is the subject of these lectures. Given in 1970 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the lectures are an example of a Zen teacher in his prime elucidating a venerated, ancient, and difficult work to his Western students. The poem addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist (or, as Suzuki Roshi expresses it, "things-as-it-is"). Included with the lectures are his students' questions and his direct answers to them, along with a meditation instruction. Suzuki Roshi's teachings are valuable not only for those with a general interest in Buddhism but also for students of Zen practice wanting an example of how a modern master in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition understands this core text today.
The Sandokai ―a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Ch. Shitou Xiqian)―is the subject of these lectures. Given in 1970 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the lectures are an example of a Zen teacher in his prime elucidating a venerated, ancient, and difficult work to his Western students. The poem addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist (or, as Suzuki Roshi expresses it, "things-as-it-is"). Included with the lectures are his students' questions and his direct answers to them, along with a meditation instruction. Suzuki Roshi's teachings are valuable not only for those with a general interest in Buddhism but also for students of Zen practice wanting an example of how a modern master in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition understands this core text today.
199 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1999
25 people are currently reading
708 people want to read
About the author
Shunryu Suzuki
42 books686 followersSuzuki Roshi was a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, and is renowned for founding the first Buddhist monastery outside Asia (Tassajara Zen Mountain Center). Suzuki founded San Francisco Zen Center, which along with its affiliate temples, comprises one of the most influential Zen organizations in the United States. A book of his teachings, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, is one of the most popular books on Zen and Buddhism in the West
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 22, 2023
Spitting out what has only barely been chewed on in his better known Zen Mind Beginners Mind, Suzuki Roshi’s teisho’s on the lovely poem named Sandokai shows us truth in light. I was moved by the amount of love radiating from his willingness to destruct his personal experience of dark, or absolute, by pointing at it with words. To me this is a bodhisattva at work, without being able to explain even one single thing. Knowing how he is bound to form, fully limited, still finding cracks for the dark to shine in.
Breaking his tongue,
saving beings.
Trying to understand,
Students fight, fight, fight.
Many chapters include a description of dialogue between Suzuki Roshi and his students. Students that are understandably pushing for clarity, for conceptual understanding, grasping for something to hold on to. Hearing the teaching providing hold after hold, going so far as to explicitly not agree with a viewpoint or even deny friendship. Attentive, honest answers and strict, tough reply’s, all within minutes. Fully natural, only responding to what is needed. For me, both his teisho’s and his reply’s to questions express a deep and open caring for all beings. I recommend reading this book to anyone that is willing to let go of conceptual understanding, even if it is just a for just couple of minutes at a time.
Breaking his tongue,
saving beings.
Trying to understand,
Students fight, fight, fight.
Many chapters include a description of dialogue between Suzuki Roshi and his students. Students that are understandably pushing for clarity, for conceptual understanding, grasping for something to hold on to. Hearing the teaching providing hold after hold, going so far as to explicitly not agree with a viewpoint or even deny friendship. Attentive, honest answers and strict, tough reply’s, all within minutes. Fully natural, only responding to what is needed. For me, both his teisho’s and his reply’s to questions express a deep and open caring for all beings. I recommend reading this book to anyone that is willing to let go of conceptual understanding, even if it is just a for just couple of minutes at a time.
Want to read
November 29, 2018...
Within all light is darkness
But explained it cannot be by darkness that one-sided is alone.
In darkness there is light
But, here again, by light one-sided it is not explained.
Light goes with darkness
As the sequence does of steps in walking;
All things have inherent, great potentiality,
Both function, rest, reside within.
Nov 29, 18
Within all light is darkness
But explained it cannot be by darkness that one-sided is alone.
In darkness there is light
But, here again, by light one-sided it is not explained.
Light goes with darkness
As the sequence does of steps in walking;
All things have inherent, great potentiality,
Both function, rest, reside within.
Nov 29, 18
June 25, 2023
Vuur is heet, wind blaast
Water is nat, en aarde is vast.
(Gelezen in het Nederlands)
Water is nat, en aarde is vast.
(Gelezen in het Nederlands)
April 10, 2021
If you are looking for a sharp and helpful book about how to practice Zen Buddhism then, Shunryu Suzuki’s few transcripts are a great place to start.
The first book he released titled “Zen Mind, Beginners Mind”, may be seen as an invaluable resource. “Branching Streams...” is undoubtedly a great exercise in Buddhist thought, but I believe it falls short of “Zen Mind...” for several reasons. The most important is that it is made up of heavily edited transcripts, especially compared to “Zen Mind”. You can immediately tell that the style and language is very different. And if you read the transcribers/editors preface, they admit that they took liberty with his language. This is even more apparent when compared to recorded talks and direct transcripts compiled online of Suzuki’s talks.
Suzuki when unedited speaks in an intentional and direct way that is intended to be instructive as to how to practice Zen and Zazen. This book gives his tone a more American English friendly and philosophical language that I believe takes away from Suzuki’s genius.
That being said, the idea of a line by line breakdown of a poem integral to Zen Buddhism and its history is a great
idea for a book/lecture series. I think if you read this with the understanding that there is paraphrasing, you can learn a lot. Maybe it is even better this way. After all, you should look at the other side of the page when reading Zen anyway.
The first book he released titled “Zen Mind, Beginners Mind”, may be seen as an invaluable resource. “Branching Streams...” is undoubtedly a great exercise in Buddhist thought, but I believe it falls short of “Zen Mind...” for several reasons. The most important is that it is made up of heavily edited transcripts, especially compared to “Zen Mind”. You can immediately tell that the style and language is very different. And if you read the transcribers/editors preface, they admit that they took liberty with his language. This is even more apparent when compared to recorded talks and direct transcripts compiled online of Suzuki’s talks.
Suzuki when unedited speaks in an intentional and direct way that is intended to be instructive as to how to practice Zen and Zazen. This book gives his tone a more American English friendly and philosophical language that I believe takes away from Suzuki’s genius.
That being said, the idea of a line by line breakdown of a poem integral to Zen Buddhism and its history is a great
idea for a book/lecture series. I think if you read this with the understanding that there is paraphrasing, you can learn a lot. Maybe it is even better this way. After all, you should look at the other side of the page when reading Zen anyway.
October 17, 2013
The problem with this book is that it consists of transcripts of lectures given by Suzuki Roshi and even the dialogue between him and students. For this reason, because it is a transcript of face-to-face talks, the content sometimes goes in circles or rambles. Had it been originally meant to be in book form, I'm sure more editing would have been done.
That's the main reason I give it only 3 stars--the rambling/talking in circles got rather tedious.
That's the main reason I give it only 3 stars--the rambling/talking in circles got rather tedious.
August 25, 2019
Delicious. If you’ve read Zen Mind, this will give you an even more intimate insight into Suzuki’s teaching. It is the first exegesis of a poem that I fully appreciated, as it gave me a deeper, richer understanding of not only the Sandokai but of Buddhism generally. The style, tone, and approach of Suzuki are marvelous.
April 19, 2013
This is some talks by Suzuki Roshi on the Sandokai a poem written by Shitou Xiqian a Chinese Ch'an master in the 8th century. The Sandokai is a poem revered by the Soto school of Zen Buddhism. It is a beautiful poem and Suzuki Roshi's talks about this poem are a worthwhile read.
August 17, 2010
Of the three Suzuki books, this one is the most complex. As always, these teachings are best served over and over again through reading and rereading, thinking and rethinking.
May 21, 2025
It was Suziki Roshi's now classic collection of short talks on Zen practice, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, falling from an upper shelf onto my head as I scrounged on the floor looking at books on the bottom shelf at a bookstore in Jamaica, NYC that brought me to practice. So, though I never met him or studied directly with him, I've always thought of him as a primary teacher, the one who lit the fuse, so to speak, and motivated me to move from merely reading about Buddhism to actually practicing the teachings.
Here, with this volume, we have 12 talks on the Sandokai written by the Chinese Chan Master, Shitou Xiqian (700-790 CE) known as Sekito Kisen in Japanese. Variously translated as "Oneness of One and Many", "Merging of Difference and Unity", my preferred translation of "Sandokai" is "The Identity of Relative and Absolute". This refers to the fundamental root concept of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy as promulgated by Nagarjuna (~150-250 CE).
The context and background story of this poem, chanted daily in Soto Zen centers, is the sectarianism that was beginning to arise in China between what was referred to as the "Northern" and "Southern" schools with the Northern school teaching a doctrine of "gradual awakening" and the Southern school teaching that enlightenment is sudden and immediate. It was basically propaganda for an alleged "authentic" lineage and is most evident in the so-called "Platform Sutra".
Starting with this dichotomy between "Northern" and "Southern", the "Sandokai" addresses various "dualities" such as one and many, light and dark, and sameness and difference. The structure mostly follows a pattern of distinguishing discontinuity, then continuity, followed by complementarity. It's a kind of dialectic seen again and again in Mahayana Buddhism, especially in such texts as "The Diamond Sutra."
It's a text that emphasizes the identity of emptiness and form, the one and the many. While "The Heart Sutra" has the well-known formulation "form is emptiness; emptiness is form" it emphasizes the empty nature of all phenomena. The Sandokai more evenly stresses the unity in the multiplicity and multiplicity in unity. It's about reality! And considering that there is a tendency to prioritize the absolute (emptiness) over the relative (form), it serves as a needed corrective even today. Suzuki points out that we have difficulty in truly understanding the two truths that all phenomena are interdependent AND independent and that in reality it has to be that way. As the poem says:
Light and dark work as a pair
Like one foot before and one foot behind
Everything fits together
Like a box and its lid
Everything is related
Though each keeps to its own place.
Here, with this volume, we have 12 talks on the Sandokai written by the Chinese Chan Master, Shitou Xiqian (700-790 CE) known as Sekito Kisen in Japanese. Variously translated as "Oneness of One and Many", "Merging of Difference and Unity", my preferred translation of "Sandokai" is "The Identity of Relative and Absolute". This refers to the fundamental root concept of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy as promulgated by Nagarjuna (~150-250 CE).
The context and background story of this poem, chanted daily in Soto Zen centers, is the sectarianism that was beginning to arise in China between what was referred to as the "Northern" and "Southern" schools with the Northern school teaching a doctrine of "gradual awakening" and the Southern school teaching that enlightenment is sudden and immediate. It was basically propaganda for an alleged "authentic" lineage and is most evident in the so-called "Platform Sutra".
Starting with this dichotomy between "Northern" and "Southern", the "Sandokai" addresses various "dualities" such as one and many, light and dark, and sameness and difference. The structure mostly follows a pattern of distinguishing discontinuity, then continuity, followed by complementarity. It's a kind of dialectic seen again and again in Mahayana Buddhism, especially in such texts as "The Diamond Sutra."
It's a text that emphasizes the identity of emptiness and form, the one and the many. While "The Heart Sutra" has the well-known formulation "form is emptiness; emptiness is form" it emphasizes the empty nature of all phenomena. The Sandokai more evenly stresses the unity in the multiplicity and multiplicity in unity. It's about reality! And considering that there is a tendency to prioritize the absolute (emptiness) over the relative (form), it serves as a needed corrective even today. Suzuki points out that we have difficulty in truly understanding the two truths that all phenomena are interdependent AND independent and that in reality it has to be that way. As the poem says:
Light and dark work as a pair
Like one foot before and one foot behind
Everything fits together
Like a box and its lid
Everything is related
Though each keeps to its own place.
March 19, 2024
The Sandokai is a fundamental text of Zen Buddhism. Students all over the world chant it as part of practice either in Japanese or translated.
Culled from a series of lectures Suzuki gave on it at the San Francisco Zen Center, each chapter of this book breaks down and examines a small set of lines. Suzuki illuminates the direct meaning of the Japanese original and describes how and why each character is translated as it is.
He is particularly skilled at taking the universal meaning and applying it to practice for both adepts and lay students. Perhaps most impressively, he draws the theme and underlying teachings of light and darkness through each of the verses, giving insight into how the text is densely layered.
This is a book that, like the Sandokai itself can be read over and over, taken piecemeal, or consumed all at once. It will meet the reader where they are in their own practice or understanding of Buddha’s teachings.
Culled from a series of lectures Suzuki gave on it at the San Francisco Zen Center, each chapter of this book breaks down and examines a small set of lines. Suzuki illuminates the direct meaning of the Japanese original and describes how and why each character is translated as it is.
He is particularly skilled at taking the universal meaning and applying it to practice for both adepts and lay students. Perhaps most impressively, he draws the theme and underlying teachings of light and darkness through each of the verses, giving insight into how the text is densely layered.
This is a book that, like the Sandokai itself can be read over and over, taken piecemeal, or consumed all at once. It will meet the reader where they are in their own practice or understanding of Buddha’s teachings.
August 16, 2023
Super insightful and well written. There are a lot of great points that could be applied not only to study Zen but also to study other things.
In my opinion, obviously could be wrong, but I saw some similarity in the oneness/one whole being ideology among the teaching of Sandokai, Torah and Bible.
I really love one of the points the author brough up, “If you stick to the finger pointing at the moon, you cannot see the moon.”
And some of my favorite lines from the Sandokai poem:
“In the light there is darkness,
but don’t take it as darkness.
In the darkness there is light,
but don’t see it as light.”
“Practice is not a matter of far or near,
but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.”
“Interacting brings involvement.”
In my opinion, obviously could be wrong, but I saw some similarity in the oneness/one whole being ideology among the teaching of Sandokai, Torah and Bible.
I really love one of the points the author brough up, “If you stick to the finger pointing at the moon, you cannot see the moon.”
And some of my favorite lines from the Sandokai poem:
“In the light there is darkness,
but don’t take it as darkness.
In the darkness there is light,
but don’t see it as light.”
“Practice is not a matter of far or near,
but if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.”
“Interacting brings involvement.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2020
As with all Zen books, each of them have multiple gems that stick to you, your mind, and lights the path of layman's (in my case) meditation / zen practice. This is a collection of Zen talks around Sandokai poem, explaining the poem line by line and how it provides guidance to practitioners. Questions from students provide yet additional angle and from time to time cover the questions that one person might exactly have while listening to these talks. The deeper meaning or symbolism of darkness and light was perhaps one of the main topics that stuck to me and I'm still contemplating that. Definitely recommended.
December 28, 2025
A very good, natural follow-up to Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. Branching Streams Flow In Darkness is a fascinating and thought-provoking series of Suzuki’s talks analyzing the Sandokai, an 8th century poem foundational to Zen Buddhism. The ideas and concepts discussed within these pages will stick with me, and I enjoyed learning more about Zazen and Buddhism from Suzuki. A great read, I recommend it!
July 24, 2020
Another great book from Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. This book is perplexing for the mind and that’s exactly how it works. Like a teisho, this book encourages us to do the actual practice of meditation, not clinging to an understanding of what exactly is Zen, or Buddhism. There’s nothing as such, just pure experience of Life. Then, we understand.
January 12, 2022
Gentle and steadfast, wise, warm and funny—I can't imagine a better teacher for anyone wishing to begin or deepen their relationship with zen. Suzuki-rōshi has the rare great gift of making the reader feel truly seen, as if you were right there with him at Tassajara.
March 30, 2023
What a beautiful poem and a beautiful book! Filled with so much useful life advice and soothing words. It can be a bit techinical sometimes, but it's a small price to pay for the bountiful joy this book could bring to you! :)
February 5, 2024
Interesting perspectives of the interrelationship of beings, the root of suffering in attachment to dualistic thinking, and the importance of practice in addition to study. Read for a class, but enjoyed nonetheless!
November 8, 2017
“According to Buddhist understanding, things that look like they exist outside are actually existing inside ourselves. You create the river and the mountain for yourself. They don’t exist.”
February 8, 2019
Great read for every Zen practitioner! It comes with plenty of dialogue between Suzuki and his students, which are very funny.
July 21, 2020
helpful for meditation.
March 8, 2024
I like this book. There is a lot of things that Suzuki Roshi says that are good to understand.
April 11, 2024
Absolutely love this book. It says it’s about the Sandokai but in reality it’s about everything that Zen Buddhism is. Suzuki Roshi’s message feels close and clear in this book. It’s probably my favorite book about Zen Buddhism
January 12, 2022
Lectures on the "Sandokai," an ageless Buddhist poem addressing divisions within Zen between two schools of thought. Suzuki Roshi, as does the "Sandokai," shows the way out: see all teachings as relative, a finger pointing to the moon, while seeing the absolute as the background of all teaching - all that appears.
Suzuki holds together the absolute and relative in unity. Often nondual teachers so stress the absolute as to make the relative appear unreal. Some of these teachers appeal to the word "illusion." In English, "illusion" is unreal, not so in its basic sense in Eastern teachings. So, in the Soto Zen Buddhist sense - Suzuki's path-, the relative is the real illusion, not a mere fantasy. The reality of the relative is honored as actual in its own right, and this must be honored step-by-step, says Suzuki. If we do not deal with the world as it appears to us, we cannot work with the world that does not appear to us, and vice versa. Suzuki does not try to resolve the tension for us, rather he invites us into the embrace of both as one while one, two, three, four, ... He says the differentiation, what he calls "independency," exists within the absolute. And the unity of both is "things-as-it-is," not "things-as-they-are."
This is a challenging read, being more technical than Suzuki's other writings, and I would not recommend this for persons not already familiar with Zen Buddhism. Yet, Suzuki's serious casualness, including humor, assists in working with the challenges to the mind. Suzuki is gracious in observing how we cannot get this thing called life or spiritual practice right, rather getting it wrong is getting it right. He says that to demand we get it right is selfish.
Suzuki leaves us with the paradox of the one-and-many, to be taken with lightheartedness. Elsewhere, in fact, Suzuki is recorded to have said, "If it's not paradoxical, it's not true" (David Chadwick, Ed. Zen is Right Here).
I appreciate Suzuki's stress on aimlessness. Just live. Just do your zazen. Just walk. You know the whole path by knowing here. In fact, he says, to practice to become enlightened is not true practice. Practice is enlightenment, while enlightenment is before you practice - that is why you practice.
Last, in an era of pronounced divisiveness, this poem and this book share wisdom that can guide us to live in lovingkindness toward those who differ from us. By embracing the absolute and relative, we become more tolerable of what differs from our life and thought, realizing that everything in thought, word, and custom is relative. Recognizing the absolute inspires unity amid our differences. Hence, the Sandokai and Suzuki invite us through the duality - not in denial, however - to find the truth shrouded in manifoldness.
Suzuki holds together the absolute and relative in unity. Often nondual teachers so stress the absolute as to make the relative appear unreal. Some of these teachers appeal to the word "illusion." In English, "illusion" is unreal, not so in its basic sense in Eastern teachings. So, in the Soto Zen Buddhist sense - Suzuki's path-, the relative is the real illusion, not a mere fantasy. The reality of the relative is honored as actual in its own right, and this must be honored step-by-step, says Suzuki. If we do not deal with the world as it appears to us, we cannot work with the world that does not appear to us, and vice versa. Suzuki does not try to resolve the tension for us, rather he invites us into the embrace of both as one while one, two, three, four, ... He says the differentiation, what he calls "independency," exists within the absolute. And the unity of both is "things-as-it-is," not "things-as-they-are."
This is a challenging read, being more technical than Suzuki's other writings, and I would not recommend this for persons not already familiar with Zen Buddhism. Yet, Suzuki's serious casualness, including humor, assists in working with the challenges to the mind. Suzuki is gracious in observing how we cannot get this thing called life or spiritual practice right, rather getting it wrong is getting it right. He says that to demand we get it right is selfish.
Suzuki leaves us with the paradox of the one-and-many, to be taken with lightheartedness. Elsewhere, in fact, Suzuki is recorded to have said, "If it's not paradoxical, it's not true" (David Chadwick, Ed. Zen is Right Here).
I appreciate Suzuki's stress on aimlessness. Just live. Just do your zazen. Just walk. You know the whole path by knowing here. In fact, he says, to practice to become enlightened is not true practice. Practice is enlightenment, while enlightenment is before you practice - that is why you practice.
Last, in an era of pronounced divisiveness, this poem and this book share wisdom that can guide us to live in lovingkindness toward those who differ from us. By embracing the absolute and relative, we become more tolerable of what differs from our life and thought, realizing that everything in thought, word, and custom is relative. Recognizing the absolute inspires unity amid our differences. Hence, the Sandokai and Suzuki invite us through the duality - not in denial, however - to find the truth shrouded in manifoldness.
September 29, 2019
2.5 stars
This book really isn't lying---it's a collection of talks. Nothing more, nothing less. Probably its greatest strength in this area (and what sets it apart from so many others) is also what I see as its greatest weakness: each "essay" is transcribed directly from Suzuki's mouth, seemingly without filtering or editing. This allows you to really soak up the kinds of topics you need in order to understand the Sandokai more thoroughly, but it also by necessity restrains the content from more in-depth areas. At times, it can also start to seem stale and repetitive---I loved what he had to say, but man, he really could've said it in so many fewer words. A great introduction to Zen Buddhism, but unfortunately not too much more.
This book really isn't lying---it's a collection of talks. Nothing more, nothing less. Probably its greatest strength in this area (and what sets it apart from so many others) is also what I see as its greatest weakness: each "essay" is transcribed directly from Suzuki's mouth, seemingly without filtering or editing. This allows you to really soak up the kinds of topics you need in order to understand the Sandokai more thoroughly, but it also by necessity restrains the content from more in-depth areas. At times, it can also start to seem stale and repetitive---I loved what he had to say, but man, he really could've said it in so many fewer words. A great introduction to Zen Buddhism, but unfortunately not too much more.
July 3, 2007
Great info about the Sandokai from one of the modern Zen Masters. Also is great for getting further inside the view of Zen.
March 16, 2008
excellent simple talks and commentaries on the Sandokai by shunryu suzuki given at tassajara in 1970. deep and beautiful thoughts by a zen master.
February 9, 2026
Good dharma.
Masterful talks on an important Zen poem.
Masterful talks on an important Zen poem.
Read
July 24, 2015I went over my head. I read this when i had a zen fetish.
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February 24, 2018When Shunryu Suzuki Roshi's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1972, it was enthusiastically embraced by Westerners eager for spiritual insight and knowledge of Zen. The book became the most successful treatise on Buddhism in English, selling more than one million copies to date. Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness is the first follow-up volume to Suzuki Roshi's important work. Like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, it is a collection of lectures that reveal the insight, humor, and intimacy with Zen that made Suzuki Roshi so influential as a teacher.
The Sandokai—a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Ch. Shitou Xiqian)—is the subject of these lectures. Given in 1970 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the lectures are an example of a Zen teacher in his prime elucidating a venerated, ancient, and difficult work to his Western students. The poem addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist (or, as Suzuki Roshi expresses it, "things-as-it-is"). Included with the lectures are his students' questions and his direct answers to them, along with a meditation instruction. Suzuki Roshi's teachings are valuable not only for those with a general interest in Buddhism but also for students of Zen practice wanting an example of how a modern master in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition understands this core text today.
The Sandokai—a poem by the eighth-century Zen master Sekito Kisen (Ch. Shitou Xiqian)—is the subject of these lectures. Given in 1970 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the lectures are an example of a Zen teacher in his prime elucidating a venerated, ancient, and difficult work to his Western students. The poem addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist (or, as Suzuki Roshi expresses it, "things-as-it-is"). Included with the lectures are his students' questions and his direct answers to them, along with a meditation instruction. Suzuki Roshi's teachings are valuable not only for those with a general interest in Buddhism but also for students of Zen practice wanting an example of how a modern master in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition understands this core text today.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews