勅修百丈清規 1.71

1.71

6. The Festivity for the Birthday

of the Crown Prince

On the evening before the appointed day, the practice hall novice attendants

should notify the practitioners of the scheduled sutra chanting by posting a

tablet. Next morning, they toll the practice hall bell to assemble the practi-

tioners at the Buddha hall. The director recites the Śūraṃgama-dhāraṇīs and

invokes the name of Medicine Buddha. (This is identical to the rite of the four

monthly commemorative days.) The director concludes the service with the

following invocation of merit transference:

Such-and-such Temple in such-and-such district and province respect-

fully acknowledges the felicitous birthday of the Crown Prince. All the

practitioners of this temple have assembled at the Buddha hall and rev-

erently chanted the Śūraṃgama-dhāraṇīs and praised the sacred name

of Medicine Buddha. The merit accrued thereby is dedicated to the

festivity of the birthday of the Crown Prince, divine heir-apparent.

Before the Buddha’s shrine we humbly pray: May the wheel of the sun

be turned many more times and the brightness of the moon be increased

manyfold, so that they will be able to illuminate the whole ocean under

heaven. May the mountain be like sandstone and the river like a gir-

dle so that the foundation of the nation can be strengthened. Venera-

tion to Adamantine Immeasurable Life Buddha, and so on.

7. The Prayer Invocation for the

Months of Benevolence

The first, the fifth, and ninth months are called “months of benevolence.” The day before the first day of each of these months, the director of the practice hall instructs his novice attendants to notify the abbot and the head administrative official, post the signboard at the entrance of the Buddha hall, and prepare the tablets of sutra titles and the list of names with assignments for rotating shifts. Each day, the large bell is tolled before sutra chanting begins, and the scheduled sutras are recited in the Buddha hall. The end of the day is concluded with a word of praise. This continues for the duration of the month.

The origin of this practice can be traced to the third year of Kaihuang of the Sui dynasty, when a decree was issued throughout the land that during the designated months (i.e., the first, fifth, and ninth) as well as on the six specific days of religious austerity, each temple was required to set up a place of practice for prayer and invocation and no life should be taken or injured. According to a sutra, the deity Vaiśravaṇa (Pishamentian), who is said to have conducted inspection tours every year over the four great continents, happened to regulate the southern continent and prohibited the slaughter of animals during the first, fifth, and ninth months. When Tang provincial governors received their appointments to their respective territories, they customarily used to [celebrate the occasion] by sponsoring a feast for their victorious soldiers, whose number was never less than several ten-thousands, thus increasing the slaughter of animals for food. Since animal slaughter was prohibited in those months, a system was developed to the effect that new governors were not appointed during the first, fifth, or ninth months. Popular belief, however, wrongly attributed this custom to superstitious fear.

End of Chapter I: Festivities and the Observance of Rites

Discharging Indebtedness

to the State

I. Preface to the Chapter

The state has the duty of conducting the sacrificial rite for the supreme, for the imperial ancestors, and the rite for the four seasons. This is to clarify the merits of these rites, to promote the original spirit, and thereby ensure the continuity of successive rulers. The present dynastic court reveres the Buddha, and from the founding Emperor Shizu onward each reign has erected temples. Each emperor is said to govern the realm of heaven and earth as an incarnate Buddha body (nirmāṇakāya), and upon completing his task of transforming the realm returns to the state of Buddhahood. Thus, in those temples in the capital that are supported by the government, the imperial portrait is placed in the Buddha’s altar. Five times a month, the portrait is enshrined with offerings and words of reverence as though for a living person and is venerated with a kind of nurturing protective thought.

We can observe generally that wherever the imperial power of spiritual transformation flows, it has spread along with the teachings of the Buddha with no obstruction. Thus, Buddhist followers have been bathed in the benevolent waves and marshlands. Shouldn’t we find a way to repay our debt for that to which we are indebted?

II. State Memorial Days

As the memorial day of the emperor’s demise approaches, the head administrative official is obliged, the evening before, to notify the practice hall