勅修百丈清規 3.12

3.12

trations with unopened sitting cloth. The abbot replies with a single prostration. Thereupon, the abbot’s guest master notifies the dual order officials

and the retired officials (of the individual quarters), while the official delegate’s attendant visits the various quarters to notify the members of the temple community about the schedule of the special serving to be conducted by the guest delegate. A signboard announcing the special serving should also be posted in the practice hall. The abbot’s main seat should be placed in the practice hall; the guest delegate’s seat is prepared at the first place on the raised sitting platform on the west hall official’s side [of the practice hall]. Signboards announcing the serving of tea and sweet hot water must be posted on each side of the practice hall entrance.

At the time of the noon meal, the guest delegate waits for the abbot outside the hall. They enter the hall and the abbot reaches his place. The delegate requests him to take his seat, returns to mid-hall to bow, and after requesting the practitioners to take their seats he offers incense to the altar of the guardian bodhisattva. Next he burns incense facing the higher [right] and lower [left] positions on the raised platform of the inner hall, and then does the same in the outer hall. When he returns to the inner hall to bow, the serving of food begins, and when this is completed, he again offers incense and places monetary gifts on the altar, one for the abbot and another for the practitioners. He then returns to his seat for the meal.

At the time when the water left over from washing the bowls is collected from each practitioner, a drum signals the guest delegate to rise from his seat and proceed to burn incense for the serving of tea. The procedure is identical to that of the meal serving. When the serving of tea is completed and the attendants have left the hall, he bows as before [when requesting the abbot and the practitioners to drink tea]. When the abbot puts his cup down, [the guest delegate] performs the formal propriety of two prostrations with opened sitting cloth and three prostrations with unopened sitting cloth. At the first opening of his sitting cloth, he says:

I, So-and-so, have humbly offered this meal and have received your

compassionate presence. This is my greatest joy.

As he opens his sitting cloth for the second time, he makes polite enquiries [into the abbot’s health, the weather, and the like], and finishes with three prostrations with unopened sitting cloth. He accompanies the abbot as far as the hall entrance, returns to the inner hall to burn incense, performs three prostrations

with fully opened sitting cloth toward the altar of the guardian bodhisattva, and makes a round through the aisles of the practice hall, ending with bows in the outer hall as well as in the inner hall. When he retrieves the tea bowl from the altar, three drum rolls signal his departure from the practice hall. The guest delegate at once proceeds to the abbot’s office to express his gratitude. Next, he goes to the head administrative official to thank him for his management of the almsgiving. Once again he returns to the abbot to invite him to the evening meal. Later that evening, after the dinner, there should be a serving of sweet hot water and cake, for which the dual order officials and the retired officials are invited as participants.

5. The Host Temple’s Special Dinner Reception

for the New Appointee and Guest Delegate

The head administrative official convenes a meeting to prepare for a special dinner reception and discuss matters of offering monetary gifts, as is regularly done on such occasions. The day before the event, the head administrative official goes to the newly appointed abbot to formally invite him by burning incense and performing prostrations. Then he goes to the guest house to invite the official delegate to the reception. Monetary gifts must be made in appropriate amounts, and are not to be contemptuously meager. The wording [of invitations] and decorum to be used are identical to those of ordinary special servings.

The abbot’s high seat should be placed in the reception hall, with the seat of the guest delegate to its right. The seats of the dual order officials are at their usual places, facing each other from each side of the hall; the seats of the retired officials are across the hall, facing the high seat; and those of the [abbot’s] assistants are behind the administrative officials. The retinue of servants who accompanied the guest official should be provided with a monetary bonus along with the special reception.

It has happened practically everywhere that when an abbot is appointed to serve at another temple, there are always some practitioners and attendants [of his old temple] who tend to take vengeance upon him for past grudges, spreading rumors to government officials and patrons and among ordinary people. Simply because of a single ignorant person, a temple can fall into infamy. Well-established senior practitioners or lay protectors [of

the temple], or those of neighboring temples, must take heed of the possibility

of such occurrences. Whenever someone progresses to become the abbot of

another temple, it would be better to leave behind a feeling of love and respect.

6. Farewell Ascent to the Dharma Hall

and Reception of Tea and Sweet Hot Water

On the day of departure, the guest delegate visits all the quarters to bid

farewell. The newly appointed abbot ascends the rostrum seat of the Dharma

hall and expresses his thanks to the dual order officials, retired officials, and

practitioners. When [the abbot] descends from the high seat, he turns toward

the high seat at the signal of three drumrolls and performs three prostrations