Seijo and Her Soul Separated, by Subhana Barzahi, Roshi

　　The story: During the T”ang dynasty, there lived a man called Chokan. He had two daughters. When the elder girl died, he devoted himself to the younger, Seijo. As she grew up he turned his attention to the question of a suitable husband for her and eventually selected a good and strong young man. But Seijo had already taken her cousin Ochu as her lover. She had grown up with him in a union blessed since childhood, and she considered herself betrothed to him. When Chokan announced that his choice of a suitor was to arrive in the village, Seijo became cast down and sad. Ochu, unable to bear the prospect of witnessing the betrayal, left the village without saying farewell. He took his boat and rowed into the night. As he rowed he noticed the outline of a figure running along the bank. He put into the shore to see who it was; and there was Seijo, tear stained and adamant. Together they travelled to a distant land where they lived as man and wife. Five years went by. Seijo gave birth to two girls. But though she loved Ochu and the children, she was weighed down by the dishonour she”d done to her father. All this she told to Ochu. And he admitted that he too longed for his homeland. "Let us go back and beg forgiveness," he said.

　　And so they returned. At the port, Ochu left Seijo and the girls while he walked to the village. He went directly to Chokan”s house, confessed the whole story and bowed his head at their ungrateful behaviour. Chokan received him kindly. "Which girl do you mean

　　" he asked. "Your daughter Seijo," Ochu replied. "That is not possible," Chokan said. "Seijo is here in the house with me. Since you left the village without bidding her farewell she has lain here; she lies here now."

　　Mystified, Chokan refused Ochu”s invitation to go with him to the port. Instead he sent a servant to check the boat. When the servant returned, reporting that it was indeed Seijo who waited there, Chokan took Ochu into the house. "She has not spoken since you left," he said. "It is as if she has been absent in mind, or drugged. Now I see that her soul left to follow you." So saying, he showed Ochu into Seijo”s room. Hearing the story, Seijo rose from her bed, still without speaking, and walked out into the village just as Seijo and her children stepped from the cart that had brought them from the port. The silent Seijo moved forward to greet her, and as she did, the two were united.

　　Chokan spoke to Seijo. "Ever since Ochu left this village, you have not uttered a word, and you have always been absent in mind as if you were drugged. Now I see that your soul left your body and has been with Ochu." To this Seijo replied, "I did not know that I was sick in bed at home. When I learned that Ochu had left this village in distress, I followed his boat that night, feeling as if it were a dream. I myself am not sure which was the real me - the one with you, sick in bed, or the one with Ochu as his wife."

　　This story is a useful metaphor for each of our lives and also highlights a process of realisation. How I would like to approach it is to go beyond the content of the story and focus on the process. The first part of the process being separation, the illusion of duality, the second part the sense of longing, being the turning point; and the third part, reunion and transformation. Our koan study here requires us to take up the point, which is the real Seijo

　　 It”s not enough to say they were one from the beginning. We must seek the true Seijo here and now.

　　The first aspect that I want to address is Seijo”s spirit separated. If we take this story as our own story, how often do we separate ourselves, live our lives in a fragmented way, disconnected from the environment and unresponsive the the …

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