勅修百丈清規 4.81

4.81

寮舍交割什物

quarters. After that, they visit the abbot’s office, burn incense, and thank him with a prostration.

The appointment of the assistant of the guardian bodhisattva is made by the director of practitioners’ affairs, who is obliged to select a candidate, meet him, and appoint him to the post. The director of practitioners’ affairs then escorts him to the office of the abbot, where the new appointee offers thanks with a prostration. As usual, he is given a reception with tea, sweet hot water, and a small snack.

4. Inventory of the Temple’s Public Household

Items in Each of the Quarters

The household items for the quarters are supplied from the temple’s funds and are not transferable. Quite often, however, some practitioners who resided there in charge of a particular function regarded the quarters as a wayside inn, and when receiving a new appointment elsewhere or resigning from their old post, they carry away household items with the help of those from the same native region, emptying the quarters completely overnight and leaving new residents totally at a loss. Since some items are indispensable, new residents are often unable to find them despite a new request to the administrative office. Thus, there is no peace among the top officials or lowly workmen from reasoning about the cause of such an unsatisfactory state of affairs. Even if the missing items can be resupplied, this necessarily causes an expenditure of the temple’s funds.

In order to solve this problem, it is necessary for the treasury office to keep a central inventory book, in which household items and amounts from all the quarters are recorded, and the records must be examined from time to time by the abbot and administrative head. Besides this central book, a smaller record book should be kept at each quarter, so that at the time of a new appointment or that of a transfer of official duties it will be possible to compare recorded items in both books with reference to the designated items that are supposed to be in each quarter. Anything damaged must be repaired, through the temple’s funds, but missing items must be compensated for by the [residents of that] quarter.

A few days before the day of the transfer of official duties between new and old officials, the treasury official is obliged to visit each quarter, accompanied by his attendant carrying the central record book, and each item is checked and identified, comparing it with the written record. Thus, it is possible to clarify what is missing. The responsibility for losses lies with the workmen of each quarter. What is lost need not be sought for, however. If any discovered difference is compensated by them [according to the appropriate monetary value of the item or otherwise,] that is the end of the matter. If there are additional items, these must also be recorded in both books. It is hoped that this matter should be given careful scrutiny.

VII. The Proprieties of Special Servings

at Various Quarters

1. The Abbot’s Special Serving of Sweet Hot Water

for the New and Former Dual Order Officials

The abbot’s guest reception assistant instructs the guest reception attendant to prepare the crepe-wrapped board with an incense burner and candle stands, and goes to the primary seat official’s quarters to convey the invitation to both the former and new training faculty officials. After burning incense and performing a prostration with unopened sitting cloth, he says:

The abbot wishes to invite both your reverences for a special serving

of sweet hot water at the reception hall.

Next, he visits the administrative office, and after burning incense, conveys the same invitation to both the former and new administrative heads (here, incense is offered but no prostration is required). The statement is identical to the above. The guest reception assistant must visit all the other dual order officials, new and former, to convey the same invitation. He should also extend the invitation to participate in the special serving to the retired officials of the temple.

Curtains should be hung around the interior of the reception hall, and all the seating arrangements must be indicated on the floor. The main participant is seated to the abbot’s left, with a space between them. The new training faculty members should be seated in the first section of the hall (i.e., the front right half), while the new administrative officials are to be seated in the second section (i.e., the front left). The former training faculty and administrative officials are seated in the third section (i.e., the middle right of the hall) and in the fourth section (i.e., the middle left of the hall), respectively, facing each other. The rest of the retired officials of the east and west orders who are participating in this special reception are seated at the right and left ends of the main section, respectively. The incense offering assistant sets up the seat name tablets beforehand, and at the appointed time, begins to drum. When the guests assemble, the guest reception assistant leads

the propriety of the special serving. (The ceremonial propriety is identical

to that of serving sweet hot water for a small number of participants

[xiaozuotang]).

Late in the evening, sweet hot water and cake will be served. Next day,

after the morning rice gruel, the abbot invites the former and new officials

for tea, and later the administrative head also invites them for the same.

Although the invited individuals may be excused from the latter function,

they are obliged to attend the serving of tea at the abbot’s office, and after-

ward to visit the administrative office to offer thanks for the occasion. At

mid-morning, the administrative office prepares a snack for them, and there-

after for the next three days the office continues to have rice gruel and rice

meals delivered to the former officials at their quarters.

2. The Practice Hall Office’s Special Serving

of Tea and Sweet Hot Water for the

Former and New Practitioner Assistants

After a meal of rice mixed with sprouts (caofan) is served at the abbot’s

office, the director of practitioners’ affairs sends his attendant to invite both

the former and new practitioner assistants for tea. At the same time, he