The poem's title, "參同契", is pronounced Sandōkai in Japanese or Cāntóngqì in Mandarin Chinese.
The characters, in particular the first, 參 (san or cān), can have several quite different meanings, and therefore the poem's title is susceptible to a variety of interpretations and translations.
Form makes the character and appearance different; Sounds distinguish comfort and discomfort.
Eyes see, ears hear, nose smells, tongue tastes the salt and sour.
Master Jiyu-Kennett: From west to east, unseen, flowed out the mind of India's greatest Sage And to the source kept true as an unsullied stream is clear.
Here born we clutch at things And then compound delusion, later on, by following ideals; Each sense gate and its object all together enter thus in mutual relations And yet stand apart in a uniqueness of their own, depending and yet non-depending both.
In form and feel component things are seen to differ deeply; Thus are voices, in inherent isolation, soft or harsh.
Such words as high and middle darkness match; Light separates the murky from the pure.
And yet, in each related thing, as leaves grow from the roots, End and beginning here return unto the source and "high" and "low" are used respectively.
Light goes with darkness As the sequence does of steps in walking; All things have inherent, great potentiality, Both function, rest, reside within.
Toward the end of his life Shunryu Suzuki Roshi gave a series of lectures on the Sandokai.