勅修百丈清規 1.30

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name and status [of each assignee] and their affixed signatures. By carefully

considering the number of practitioners, they should produce copies of [the shift] assignments based on ordination seniority and arranged in proper order of the particular days, and upon completion of one rotation proceed to the next, and so on. The tablets listing the sutra titles that are to be recited during the period are hung over the rear pillars of the Buddha hall.

Each day of [the rotating shift], the assignees conduct themselves with utmost seriousness, entering the hall after the large bell tolls. They are obliged to maintain proper attire and dignity, carry an incense case for venerating the Buddha, and recite the sutras at their assigned position. Every day the administrative official must prepare incense and candles without fail, and also a simple meal for the assignees. The director offers incense and sweet hot water and cleans the altar every day. When evening comes, the assignees toll the large bell and retire from the hall. The practice hall novice attendants as well as those of the Buddha hall must always be ready to serve the assignees so as to enable them to carry out the sutra chanting without slackening.

If government officials should happen to visit the temple to offer incense in commemoration of the imperial birthday, the bell should be tolled to assemble the practitioners to recite the sacred verses of Immeasurable Life Tathāgata (Amitābha; Wuliangshourulai) and invoke the name of the Great Medicine Buddha (Bhaiṣajyaguru; Yaoshirulai). The service is concluded with the following invocation of merit transference:

Such-and-such government official of such-and-such locality has vis-

ited the temple to offer incense and prayer. The practitioners have

completed the recitation of the sacred chapter of verses. We solemnly

dedicate the merit thereby accrued to the present imperial highness

for this day of festivity, well-being, and longevity. Veneration to

Adamantine Immeasurable Life Buddha, and so on.

5. The Prayer Service on the Days

Ending in Three and Eight

of the Month of Festivity

On the days ending in three and eight (i.e., the third, eighth, thirteenth, eighteenth, twenty-third, and twenty-eighth) during the month of the rite of the imperial birthday, regular prayer services must be conducted in the Buddha

hall [instead of the practice hall]. On these days, after the noon meal the practice hall attendants notify the abbot, as well as the offices of both the training faculty and the administration, of the time of the prayer service and post the tablet announcing the prayer service at the entrance of the practice hall to inform the practitioners. Before the evening session, the wooden sounding boards located in the various corridors of the temple are struck three times to assemble the practitioners at the Buddha hall, where they take their positions facing the Buddha’s altar. The abbot’s arrival is signaled by three strikes of the metal gong located at the kitchen hall. Next, at the sound of the large bell, the abbot offers incense and returns to his position. Immediately, the director steps forward from his east-order position and reads the prayer:

The imperial wind forever sends fresh air, and the imperial way for-

ever flourishes, while the Buddha’s sun shines ever more brightly and

the wheel of the Dharma perpetually turns.

For the sake of assisting the aforementioned causes, let us pray by

calling the [ten sacred names of the Buddhas]: Luminous Pure Dharma

Body Vairocana Buddha (Pariśuddhadharmakāyavairocanabuddha;

Qingjingfashenpilushenafo), and so on.

(Upon completion of the prayer of the ten sacred names of the Tathāgatas, the following invocation of merit transference is given:)

We solemnly dedicate the merit hereby accrued to the present impe-

rial highness for this day of festivity, well-being, and longevity. Ven-

eration to Adamantine Immeasurable Life Buddha, and so on.

After the practice hall bell is tolled three times the practitioners bow and leave the hall.

6. The Propriety for Welcoming

the Abbot’s Return

When the abbot returns from visiting temples in other districts, prefectures, cities, or provinces, it is customary for the resident practitioners to toll the large bell and assemble at the main gate to receive him and follow him to the abbot’s office, where all greet him with a bow.

7. Inauguration and Fulfillment of the Rite

of the Imperial Birthday Recorded

in the Ancient Regulations

The Ancient Regulations (i.e., the original Baizhang Zen Monastic Regulations) record that the practitioners who participated in the rite of the imperial birthday were given a certificate [commemorating their participation] from the director of the practice hall, while temporary visitors or recent arrivals were given a similar certificate from the guest reception official, in order to verify their status and career. This is because in olden days, Buddhist as well as Daoist practitioners were required to pay a tax for their exemption [on religious grounds] from levies of service. Upon payment, each received a government certificate verifying his status of exemption from physical labor. In those days, therefore, besides the required items [a practitioner takes with him when traveling] (see Chapter VII, part IV) and the certificate of ordination, an annual certificate was required to verify one’s status as exempt from government levies, to verify one’s participation in a particular temple’s summer retreat, and to verify one’s participation in a particular temple’s rite of the imperial birthday from inauguration through fulfillment. These certificates were a necessary precaution for avoiding any sort of criminal charge [for dereliction of civic duties]. Though such certificates are not in use today, mention is made here to show such bygone regulations.

III. Various Formats [for Signs]

1. Format of the Signboard with Yellow Paper

For the Festivity and Rite of the Imperial Birthday:

Respectfully meeting at Such-and-such Temple in such-and-such dis-

trict and province on such-and-such day and month

For the Day of Festivity of the Imperial Birthday

This temple will conduct the commemoration rite on such-and-such

day and month.

The inauguration of the rite is scheduled at the Buddha hall, in the place set up for the prayer rite to Adamantine Immeasurable Life Buddha, and practitioners are assigned to recite the sacred mantras and the sacred names of the Buddhas continually every day for the duration of a month.

We dedicate the great merit thereby accrued to the festivity of the imperial birthday and the promotion of imperial well-being for the sake of