勅修百丈清規 4.8

4.8

祖庭事苑云。首座即古之上座。梵語悉替那。此云上座。一耆年。二貴族。三先受戒。及證道果　今禪門所謂首座者。必擇其己事已辦眾所服從德業兼修者。充之。

and position are of primary importance, one should not act casually in appoint-

ing a person to [this post], should one?

It is said in the Collection of Records of the Patriarchal Courtyard (Zutingshiyuan):

The shouzuo is the “foremost elder” in the ancient tradition. It is

“sthavira” in Sanskrit, meaning exactly “the foremost seat holder”

here. 1) He must be advanced in ordination age, 2) he must be of noble

nature in all conduct of his life, and 3) he must be one who has been

fully compliant with the rules and precepts he initially received and

has realized the saintly state of transcendence (arhatship) resulting

from the practice of the path.

In the Zen tradition today, the person elected as the primary seat official should necessarily be one who has already achieved the Buddhist insight regarding the nature of self, and is able to command his fellow practitioners’ respect and obedience in terms of his excellence in both moral virtue and religious training.

2. The Primary Seat Official of the

Rear Part of the Practice Hall

Holding a seat on the rear raised platform, the primary seat official of the back part of the hall assists the primary seat official of the front part of the hall in upholding community morale for the pursuit of the goal. His manner of conduct ornaments the rules and regulations as the model for the practitioners. Perhaps this division of the front and rear officials of the practice hall may have resulted from the increase in the number of monastic residents. Twice a day, at the time of the morning rice gruel and the rice meal at noon, and also at the time of zazen practice, he must enter and depart from the hall through the rear exit. If the position of the primary seat official [of the front part of the hall] is vacated, the abbot must inform the practitioners of this. Ascending the rostrum seat in the Dharma hall on a special day, he invites the official of the rear part of the hall to move to the front part of the hall. The primary seat official should use this proceeding to settle in the designated space at the front part of the hall, and intone a verse of invocation at every meal to symbolize the merit of almsgiving. For zazen practice and for the period of zazen preceding the evening session, he must enter the hall at the time of the third strike of the wooden sounding block located at the

practitioners’ quarters. It is not necessary to strike the wooden sounding block located at his quarters on each occasion. The rest is identical with the duties of the front hall primary seat official.

3. The Head Secretarial Official

In the Ancient Regulations this office was called “shuzhuang,” and its function was to be in charge of all literary composition, including nearly all the signboard announcements to be posted at the temple gate, letters of correspondence, and verses of prayers and invocations. In olden days, many renowned practitioners were invited to the imperial court for an audience. Whoever became the abbot of a renowned large temple would have likely been so appointed under the edict of the imperial court, and he had to carry with him a written form of thanks [in response to such an appointment]. Before the time of death, the written form of a will must be prepared. Upon receipt of imperial gifts or enquiries, doctrinal or otherwise, a written form of reply must be composed to express the temple’s gratitude or to answer the questions. Yet the abbot must be fully in charge of the great Dharma and cannot divert his attention to literary composition. Originally this particular position was adopted from military headquarters, where generals had a secretarial office in charge of recording the names of soldiers, their duties, and so on. In Zen temples, the secretarial office was especially institutionalized to deal with similar tasks. Besides this secretarial office, there is a position called “shuzuang” in each temple, to which a practitioner is appointed as one of the abbot’s assistants in handling more private letters of his correspondence. This is called the private secretarial function (neiji) of the abbot’s office.

A renowned case of secretarial office activity was exemplified by Huinan (1002–1069) of Mount Huanglong. Again, another known example was Qingyuan (i.e., Zen Master Foyan [1067–1120]), who was appointed to this position under Zen Master Fayan of Mount Dongshan (i.e., Mount Wuzishan). The latter wished to glorify the title of the secretarial position by having Qingyuan, who was well versed in non-Buddhist literature, assist him in disseminating Zen in the religious world. Moreover, Dahui Zonggao (1089- –1163) also previously held a similar position. In general, it is satisfactory if the holder of this position tries to follow these three major figures as models of conduct.

4. The Tripiṭaka Hall Official

This official should handle the library of sacred scriptures (i.e., the Tripiṭaka sutra building) and must also be an expert in the scholarship of scriptural interpretation. According to the Ancient Regulations, when someone wishes to read a scripture and enters the library hall, he first notifies the hall master, [who is in charge of recording] his intent, and goes with him to the Tripiṭaka office. The Tripiṭaka hall official then escorts him to a desk and seat and greets him with an informal prostration with unopened sitting cloth. Today, however, practitioners read scriptures at the practitioners’ quarters, hence no table or chair is set up in the scriptural hall. Nevertheless, when an official is appointed to this office he is obliged to do his best in checking the cases that hold the texts and their catalogues, supplying whatever texts are lost or missing, drying and wiping any item that is moist and wet, and patching and rebinding any item that has a torn and broken binding. If practitioners come to read the scriptures, the Tripiṭaka hall master sets out the catalogue book, looks