勅修百丈清規 2.18

2.18

as Wangpan and others, under imperial edict.) In later years, the master was

given the following posthumous title:

The one [designated] “Above the Emperor” under the imperial heaven,

the great sage who assisted imperial governance by introducing reli-

gion and propagating letters, the spiritual ruler who, endowed with

supreme virtue, universal enlightenment, and true illumination, unfail-

ingly assisted the throne in ruling the nation, the Buddhist disciple

from the Western Heaven (Tibet) and the imperial counselor of the

great Yuan.

End of Chapter III: Discharging Religious Indebtedness

Honoring the Patriarchs

of the Zen Tradition

I. Preface to the Chapter

The reason that each person should enshrine his ancestors is to regard the beginning of his form and life as important. Form and life begin with love, and yet forms change in time, and so does love exhaust itself in time. Yet the spiritual aspect of the essential nature (i.e., Buddha-nature) is never obscured, because it neither depends on life nor does it disappear when life ends. Therefore, the Buddha taught that humans must acquire clear insight into this nature. And yet, misguided by words and statements, scholars of later periods cannot grasp the true meaning, as if a doctor were to adhere to the medical textbook too well and forsake actual treatment with medicine and acupuncture. What value is there in this? Only when the patriarch of our school, Bodhidharma (Puti Damo), came to China and taught the path of direct experience for the first time were people awakened clearly to neither search for the miraculous nature of the self through the use of words nor through its total rejection but to see why [the essential nature] must be realized beyond sounds of the voice and forms of expression. Thus, any one of us who succeeds in the lineage and hands it on to another must accomplish this just as fire naturally burns fuel or water takes the form of the vessel [into which it is poured].

There is no difference, not even as slight as a single hair, between past and present. Doesn’t this tradition emphasize the meaning of original form and life? In later days, Zen Master Baizhang Dazhi instituted the Zen monastic regulations so that the practitioners of our tradition could abide by their own standards, and this was, indeed, the origin of the Zen monastic community. The Venerable Shouduan of Haihuiyuan Temple advised that it is our duty to enshrine [a figure of] Bodhidharma in the center, Baizhang to his

right, and the founder of each temple to his left. Look for this information in the introductory chapter of the Regulatory Rules of the Patriarchal Hall (Zutanggangji).

II. The Memorial Day of Bodhidharma

1. The Memorial Rite for the

Patriarch Bodhidharma

Prior to the appointed day, the practice hall official is obliged to organize the memorial service by collecting contributions and see that word of tribute is composed and approved. (The procedure is identical to that of the Buddha’s nirvana day.) In the evening before the day [of the rite], the ceremonial place should be prepared in due manner in the Dharma hall, by enshrining solemnly the patriarch’s portrait on the rostrum seat, and arranging an incense burner, flower vases, and an incense table in front of it. At the right-hand side of the rear of the hall a meditation couch, a brush duster, and a clothes rack with robes hung upon it (it is not correct to set up a bed couch and fan) should be set up, and at the left-hand side of the rear of the hall a chair, desk, incense burner, vases, incense, and candles should be set up and some scriptures placed on the desk. The practice hall novice attendants notify the practitioners of the coming event and post the signboard indicating sutra chanting, and also announce to them:

There will be the memorial service with sutra chanting this evening,

and also another for fulfillment chanting tomorrow mid-morning. Please

be reminded of proper attire.

Before the evening Zen session, the practice hall bell is tolled to assemble the practitioners at the Dharma hall. Meanwhile, notified of the assembly, the abbot arrives at the hall. Drumming signals the special rite of offering sweet hot water. The abbot burns incense and performs three prostrations [with opened sitting cloth]. Without folding his sitting cloth, he proceeds to the altar to offer hot water, and, returning to his place, performs another three prostrations. Once again he proceeds toward the altar and salutes it with a gesture of offering the hot water. Then he returns to his seat, performs two

prostrations, and folds up his sitting cloth. A signal of three drumbeats is given, and immediately after the hand bell is struck by the novice attendant, the director of practitioners’ affairs steps forward from his east-order column and leads the prayer service, saying:

Ernestly reflecting upon the tradition, our religion transmits Zen expe-

rience in the manner of direct finger-pointing [by the patriarch Bodhi-

dharma] and gratefully depends on the reverberation of the subsequent

waves of descendants who transmit it. The ultimate Way is vast and dif-

ficult to name; we hesitate to enjoin this brilliant luster of the Way to

any of those remote future generations. May the practitioners pray for

the gracious assistance of the Buddhas by intoning their ten sacred names: