Sandokai is an ancient teaching poem composed by Chinese Zen master Sekito Kisen (Shitou Xiqian, 700-790). It's recited daily in Soto Zen temples throughout the world and deals with an issue of paramount importance in Zen: the relationship between the relative and absolute dimensions of reality.

Absolute and relative are terms that describe two profoundly different aspects of reality – the relative aspect, in which everything is defined by difference and particularity, and the absolute aspect, in which everything is part of a seamless whole. Both aspects are simultaneously true, even though they may appear contradictory, just as a finger is a thing unto itself, defined by its separateness from other fingers, but is also simply part of a hand.

In Week 5 we examine the lines

"Light and dark oppose one another like the front and back foot in walking. Each of the myriad things has its merit, expressed according to function and place. Phenomena exist; box and lid fit. Principle responds; arrow points meet."