Light and Darkness

"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."

These verses from the Sandokai (Identity of Relative and Absolute)—a poem by the eighth century Zen Master Seikito Kisen, are chanted during the morning service in the Zendo/meditation hall.

There is a natural functioning of knowing and not knowing, of light and dark.  It is as natural as the foot before and the foot behind in walking. When it’s the time to know, it’s just knowing. When it’s the time to not know, it’s just not knowing. 

Whether we realize it or not, we are functioning perfectly as human beings.  That’s not to say, that there aren’t difficulties, it’s just that within the difficulties, there is also perfect functioning. When our life is sometimes difficult, we just acknowledge, right now this is difficult. That is just realizing what is. That is functioning perfectly. When life is not so difficult, and we acknowledge it, that is life functioning perfectly. In either case, difficult or not so, there is just recognition of what is.

A dog functions perfectly as a dog, it doesn’t think about functioning in any other way. Imagine if the dog knew what we think?

At times, we become dissatisfied and want our lives to be other than they are. Then we create suffering for ourselves and those around us. The historical Buddha teaches in the Eight Fold Path of the Four Noble Truths that knowing how to be satisfied is one of the keys to ending suffering. This kind of knowing how to be satisfied arises out of our intrinsic wisdom of knowing when to let go of our clinging to wanting things be other than they are. Knowing how to be satisfied is not resignation, but rather choosing what is. When we realize that we are perfect, whole and complete as we are, and yet there is always more to do to refine ourselves, we liberate ourselves from our own suffering.