勅修百丈清規 8.1

8.1

大智壽聖禪寺住持臣僧德煇奉　勅重編

Fascicle Eight

The Monastic Sound Instruments

1. Preface to the Chapter

In ancient times, conversion [to Buddhism] was spontaneous and there was no need of [external] teaching. Only when conversion became less than perfect did the discipline of interpersonal propriety and of musical harmony become necessary. Even a peasant’s spontaneous singing accompanied by rhythmic striking of the ground is better than the most skilled performance of musical instruments, and better also is the taste of a wine fermented in a simple cask than those of wine products fermented in five different stages. Hence, a word born of spontaneous inner conversion is most valuable, because it has derived from that essential conversion.

The founding father of our religion in India initially revealed such spontaneous conversion in which, insofar as it is concerned with the wondrous enlightenment originally within each person, there is no difference whether one is saintly or worldly. Since actual things that are equally real rather have purity and defilement, the insight of nondifference does not depend on [the depth or shallowness of an individual’s] practice and realization, nor does it refer to [the superiority or inferiority of his] effcacy and usage. And yet those who have no insight are dazed and stupefied like someone who is deaf and dumb. Because of this, the Buddha set forth his teaching in compliance with the different capacities of individual disciples and introduced various sound signals to assemble them. His teaching became the literature of the three baskets (i.e., the Tripiṭaka: Sutra-piṭaka, Vinaya-piṭaka, and Abhidharma-piṭaka),

and his [principal] practice was meditation and concentration (dhyāna and samādhi). His career promoting the method of conversion continued for forty-nine years before [his parinirvāṇa).

The Sanskrit term ghaṇṭā ( jianzhu) means a bell, [an object,] whether made of clay, wood, copper, or iron, that when struck creates a sound—a metallic bell, a stone bell, a cymbal, a drum, a wooden post and mallet, a wooden sounding block, or a conch shell. Following the practice of the sound instruments used in Indian monastic temples, the Zen institution has continued to use various sound instruments after their fashion even today for the purpose of warning against confusion and idleness, encouraging compliance with the teachings and regulations, giving guidance for those who abide in dark subhuman states, and pleasing gods and humans.

If great concentration (dading) is always maintained and if transcendent function (dayong) always remains quiescent, while hearing one does not hear, and while being aware one has no awareness. Thinking thus, one strikes a sound object and the mysterious wind [of religion] should suddenly arise (i.e., spontaneous transformation). There is neither thinking (wusi), nor is there any orientation toward achieving a goal (wuwei), the Buddha’s spontaneous conversion in itself shines forth forever, and the world of his benevolent longevity opens limitlessly. Is this not the veritable capital city of purity and peace?

2. The Large Bell

The large bell (dazhong) has its origin in assisting commands in monastic temples. When tolled in the early morning, it breaks the long night and warns those who linger in sleep. When tolled in the evening, it creates awareness of dark ignorance and reveals the state of delusion. It is better to draw its wooden striker leisurely rather than hurriedly, because the longer the sound lasts the more desirable it is. When [the large bell is] tolled, there should be three cycles, each consisting of thirty-six tolls, altogether making one hundred and eight. In addition, there should be three rather rapid tolls to signal the beginning and ending.

When a novice attendant tolls the bell, he should mentally intone the following verse:

May the sound of this bell reach beyond the Dharma world, so that

it may be heard by all those who suffer, imprisoned in gloomy

darkness.

May their hearing and the sound be purified and may they realize

total comprehension.

May all sentient beings thus realize perfect enlightenment.

After chanting this, he should call the name of Guanyin Bodhisattva (Avalokiteśvara). If he calls the name before each time he tolls the bell, the benefit will be very great.

The large bell should be tolled eighteen times on other occasions: 1) on the day of the imperial birthday festivity, sutra chanting, and assembly at the Buddha hall and recess from it; 2) on the three days of each month ending in eight (the eighth, eighteenth, and twenty-eighth) to conduct the prayer chanting (sanbaniansong); 3) on the commemorative days of the Buddha’s birth-