{"product_id":"sandokai-seven-plates-ronald-allen-9798277396438","title":"Sando\u0026#772;kai Seven Plates: The Harmony of Difference and Equality","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Sandōkai: Seven Plates-A Contemporary Encounter with Shítóu Xīqiān's \"Harmony of Difference and Equality\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eSandōkai\u003c\/i\u003e (參同契), composed by Tang-dynasty Chan master Shítóu Xīqiān, has long stood as a central poetic expression of Eastern spirituality. For more than twelve centuries it has served as both doctrinal compass and living reflection of non-dual insight-the meeting of form and emptiness. Distinctions do not negate unity, and unity does not erase distinctions. Monastics have chanted it, scholars have studied it, and meditators have relied on it as a guide to the Middle Way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sandōkai: Seven Plates\u003c\/i\u003e offers a layered encounter with this classic. Instead of a single translation, it presents seven \"plates,\" each with its own tone and interpretive texture. This mirrors the poem's message: clarity emerges through multiple perspectives.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first five plates render the poem in modern Japanese, providing accessible entry points that ease the density of Classical Chinese while preserving contemplative rhythm. Plates Six and Seven shift into \u003ci\u003ebungotai\u003c\/i\u003e, the older literary Japanese used in sutras and pre-modern Zen, echoing how the poem resonated in monasteries for centuries. Together these versions show the poem's movement across languages and time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe original Classical Chinese text appears at the core of the book. As a refined literary idiom capable of profound compression, it conveys multiple dimensions-philosophical, meditative, sensory-within a single line. Including it allows readers to encounter Shítóu's exact phrasing and the poem's original texture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis edition seeks balance. Some translations lean toward doctrinal analysis, others toward poetic looseness, while still others sound like formal Zen instruction. This work aims for accessibility without flattening nuance. The plates invite comparison and contemplation, allowing readers to engage at their own pace.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUsing \"plates\" rather than \"chapters\" is intentional. Each plate is an impression of the same reality viewed through a different surface. As the poem teaches that phenomena interrelate without losing their own forms, the plates interrelate without collapsing into a single authoritative reading. Readers may explore linguistic shifts, use the plates as meditative companions, or examine them as examples of translation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book also speaks to modern concerns. In a time when difference easily becomes conflict, the \u003ci\u003eSandōkai\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that opposites are related, not hostile. Wisdom arises not by erasing distinctions but by perceiving the unity in which they appear. Its message remains timeless.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this sense, \u003ci\u003eSeven Plates\u003c\/i\u003e is a contemplative companion as much as a translation project. It encourages readers to slow down and treat the poem as a mirror for the mind's movement between unity and distinction. Repeated reading reveals new layers; simple lines open into insight. Shítóu warns against clinging-even to understanding-and this book honors that subtlety.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor practitioners, it offers a fresh resource for study and chanting. For students of East Asian religion, it presents a cross-linguistic view of a foundational Chan text. For translators and scholars, it demonstrates interpretive possibility. For general readers, it provides a welcoming doorway into a contemplative tradition that still speaks to contemporary life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUltimately, this book is an offering of devotion-an effort to honor the transmission of Shítóu's teaching and make it newly available without diminishing its depth. The Seven Plates are invitations to pause, breathe, and recognize the harmony present within experience. Standing between languages and eras, \u003ci\u003eThe Sandōkai: Seven Plates\u003c\/i\u003e opens this timeless insight for new generations.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ronald Allen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798277396438\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/05\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 284\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.66lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.25w x 0.60d","brand":"Ronald Allen","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48450392981759,"sku":"9798277396438","price":18.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_5d07e38c-b09a-402e-9100-890bd3e74f57.jpg?v=1777267517","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/sandokai-seven-plates-ronald-allen-9798277396438","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}