勅修百丈清規 4.77

4.77

掛鉢時請知事

All the new officials and the former officials together, carrying incense in

their sleeves, visit the abbot’s office to express their thanks. The incense offered

by the new appointees is prepared by the treasury office. After expressing thanks,

they are obliged to make a round through the various quarters. The abbot then invites all appointees to his office for a small mid-morning snack. There will also be a meal reception at the abbot’s office, for which a meal of rice mixed with sprouts is prepared, and the west hall ranking official as well as the retired officials are invited to participate. Those functionaries in the lesser posts of miscellaneous duties (liezhizawu) visit the office of the practice hall on a different day after the new dual order officials are settled, and express their wish to retire from their respective posts. Upon the selection of appropriate candidates one by one, the transfer of duties must be conducted for the new appointees.

2. Appointment of the Administrative Officials

after the Morning Meal

In some cases, the abbot does not speak about new appointments but keeps silent until all selections are completed. He gives the copy of the list of the appointees’ names to the attendant of the practice hall office. After the morning gruel, before the time when the practitioners hang up their almsbowls at their respective spaces in the practice hall, the practice hall attendant announces:

May the practitioners stay awhile at your positions. The new admin-

istrative appointees will be introduced.

The director of practitioners’ affairs goes before the altar of the guardian bodhisattva, burns incense, makes a round through the hall, returns to the abbot, and, after bowing, stands at his side. The abbot gives him the list of the new appointees’ names, and he in turn goes around behind the altar, strikes the wooden post with its mallet once, and announces:

According to the will of the compassionate abbot, I invite the follow-

ing members to the respective administrative posts as follows.

The director of practitioners’ affairs then reads the names and offices, and the assistant escorts each designated official before the abbot to receive his appointment. The remaining proceedings are identical as before. Later, the new officials are invited to a tea reception at the abbot’s office. The manner of appointing the training faculty officials is identical to that of administrative officials.

3. Appointment and Resignation of the

Practitioner Assistants

After the appointment of the dual order officials is completed, the abbot’s assistants follow him to his office and express their intent to resign:

We, So-and-so and others, have assisted you, our master, for some

time. Now we are obliged to express our intent to resign, wishing to

pursue the practice of the path with the practitioners. We earnestly

wish that in your compassion you grant us relief, sir.

They burn incense, perform three prostrations with fully opened sitting cloth, and withdraw. The abbot then sends his authorization to the practice hall official to appoint the designated persons as his assistants. The official has his novice attendant identify the appointees in reference to the name list and invite the head of the practitioners’ quarters and other appointees to his office for a serving of tea. The director of practitioners’ affairs burns incense and serves tea. After they finish drinking tea, he stands, burns incense again, and says:

Just now, on behalf of the abbot, I have invited you, Venerable So-and-

so, to be in charge of the post of the abbot’s assistant.

Going through the list of names and positions one by one, the director of practitioners’ affairs greets each appointee, steps forward to perform a prostration with unopened sitting cloth toward them as a group, and shifts his position. He conducts the serving of sweet hot water himself, and after burning incense requests the appointees to be seated and drink, then returns to his seat. After the serving of sweet hot water is over, he escorts the appointees to the abbot’s office. Upon the abbot’s appearance, the director of practitioners’ affairs steps forward and says:

In compliance with the compassion of the Venerable Master of the

temple, I have just now led the designated appointees here with me as

they have accepted the assistant posts. I shall now request them to burn

incense and perform prostrations, sir.

When the abbot takes his seat, the new appointees burn incense and perform in unison three prostrations with fully opened sitting cloth. Thereupon,

the director of practitioners’ affairs escorts them to their new quarters, where they meet with the former assistants and mutually perform a prostration with unopened sitting cloth. After seeing off the director of practitioners’ affairs, the new and old assistants exchange their positions for the transfer of the duties. The procedure is identical to that of the appointment of the training faculty officials.

(In the Xianshun Regulations, a unique case is mentioned, in which the abbot himself escorts the appointed practitioner assistants to their quarters, and they are in turn obliged to see off the master after performing a prostration with unopened sitting cloth. The Zhida Regulations gives a variation, in which if a new appointee is a renowned, virtuous person, the abbot himself escorts him to his quarters and exchanges a prostration with unopened sitting cloth, and the director of practitioners’ affairs only expresses congratulations. This, however, should not be regarded as a norm.)

The novice attendants of the abbot’s office, the office workers of extratemple affairs (zhiting) and the sedan chair bearers come to congratulate the new assistants. The novice attendant of the practice hall office leads both the new and former abbot’s assistants on a round through the practitioners’ quarters. After this, the new practitioner assistants once again go to the abbot’s office, burn incense, and thank him with a prostration. The old members return to the abbot’s office early in the evening and together with the new members perform a prostration to thank their master. After three days, the abbot sends a note to the practice hall office to let the former assistants return to the practitioners’ quarters. They meet the director of practitioners’ affairs, and after mutually performing a prostration with unopened sitting cloth, they see the director off. Next, they exchange a bow with the head official of the