Originally Posted by
Gregory Wonderwheel
AN AGREEMENT FOR PARTICIPATING TOGETHER
– CAN TONG QI (TS’AN-T’UNG-CH’I) (J. SANDOKAI)
By Shitou Xiqian (Shih-t’ou Hsi-ch’ien, J. Sekito Kisen)
(b.700 - d.790)
The mind of the great sage of the land of India
has been intimately and mutually handed down from west to east.
A person's roots are sharp or dull;
the Way has no Northern or Southern ancestors.
The mysterious source is shining and clean in the light;
the branching streams are flowing and pouring in the dark.
Grasping at primary phenomena is bewilderment;
agreeing with Principle is still not enlightenment.
Each and every gate corresponds to circumstances,
revolving with each other and not revolving with each other.
Revolving and alternating are mutually entangled,
they do not rely on remaining in place.
The root of form is distinguished by substance and appearance;
the primal sound is differentiated as joyful or painful.
High and middle words unite in the dark,
clean and dirty sentences, in the brightness.
The four great elements return to their natures
like a child to its mother.
The heat of the fire; the waving of the wind;
the wet of the water; the solidity of the earth.
The colors of the eye; the sounds of the ear;
the fragrances of the nose; the salt and sour of the tongue.
This is the way with each and every thing;
according to the roots the leaves separate and spread out.
Roots and branches necessarily return to the ancestral origin;
venerated and vulgar, these are used in speech.
Right in the middle of the light there is dark;
don’t use the mutuality of darkness to meet it.
Right in the middle of the dark there is light;
don’t use the mutuality of the light to see it.
Light and dark are mutual polarities,
for example, like front and back steps.
The ten thousand things naturally have their function,
and are regarded in the use and placement of words.
Phenomena exist like the joining of a box and lid.
Principle responds like the support of the sharp point of an arrow.
In receiving words you should meet the ancestors,
and not establish rules by yourself.
If your contacting eye does not meet the Way,
how do you know the path by using your feet?
Progress is not near or far;
bewilderment causes the distance from mountains and rivers.
Sincerely, I say to people who participate in the profound depths,
from brightness and shadow, there are none who have ferried across in vain.
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