勅修百丈清規 3.129

3.129

the due formality of offering incense and performing prostrations with opened

sitting cloth. After burning incense and drinking tea, the representing offi-

cial sits properly upright and states the purpose of his visit. After that, he or

the group is escorted to the guest house. Next he visits the primary seat official, the administrative official, the retirees’ individual quarters, and the retired officials to consult and determine the date of enshrinement. He is obliged to arrange offerings and prepare monetary gifts. After the rite of offerings and the service of sutra chanting at the Dharma hall, where the abbot conducts the proceedings with the proper word of tribute, the remainder of the proceeding is identical to that described above.

18. Special Dinner Reception for the Director of the

Funeral Rite, the Director of the Proceedings,

and the Manager of Funeral Affairs

The temple is obliged to prepare meals and monetary gifts in accordance with differences in rank. Both the dual order officials and the retired officials are invited to participate in these occasions. The primary seat official takes the main seat at the abbot’s office, the seat markers are set up to indicate the seating arrangement, and the head administrative official oversees the proceedings just as on any occasion of special reception. After tea, the practice hall bell is rung to assemble the practitioners, and the large bell is tolled to send off the master of the funeral rite at the temple gate.

VII. Appointing the New Abbot

The incumbent and retired dual order officials meet for tea at the office of the head administrative official to discuss the matter of selecting a prospective candidate for the position of abbot. They name every renowned virtuous person from all parts of the Zen world for the position; they must include the practitioners in the process of selecting finalists. It is customary to select a person who is well qualified by his authentic insight, virtue, seniority, integrity, and, most importantly, by his ability to fulfill the practitioners’ trust and expectations. It is also the norm to consider the consensus opinion of the abbots of the various temples. After reviewing all these qualifications, the officials list their names for petition, place their signatures on the letter of petition, and, after notifying the government agency, send an invitation to the candidate.

If an excellent master assumes the rank of abbot of the temple, it is most beneficial for the temple community, not only because more attention is given to the Dharma and Way but also because the temple’s prominence as a religious institution increases. Therefore, care must be taken to avoid corrupting influences from officials who sometimes organize as a cabal in order to retain their status by appointing someone who is from the same native province or is related in the Dharma lineage, rather that selecting a person of authentic insight and virtue. These people seek to monopolize the position of abbot through insidious methods of influence, bribery, and scheming. Such cases set a temple on the path of decline by further corrupting its system. It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that one must refrain from this kind of activity. To repeat, one must refrain from this kind of activity.

Zen Master Mingjiao said:

What does the term “zhuchi” (literally, “resident bearer of the Dharma,”

or abbot) in the Buddhist teaching mean? Zhuchi means “the person

through whom the Dharma is maintained and will not perish for a long

time.” The three divisions of practice, moral discipline (śīla), concen-

tration (samādhi), and transcendental insight (prajñā), are the instru-

ments for the maintenance of the Dharma. The monastic order and its

institutional structures are the material basis for maintaining the Dharma.

The Dharma means the path of the Great Sage (the Buddha). The mate-

rial basis and the instrument become meaningful only when practitioners

begin to put them to good use. It is inevitable that by improving the

instrument one improves the material basis; and that by improving the

material basis, one may improve the instrument. When both factors are

improved and become good, one is obliged to maintain their excellence

and abide in them.

In ancient times, the resident bearer of the Dharma at Vulture Peak

was Mahākāśyapa, while that of the Bamboo Forest was Śāriputra. Due

to the greatness of these masters, the Dharma of the Sage continued to

exist for a long time. Since the Sage entered nirvana so many genera-

tions have passed that we have long since become unable to trace them.

By fortunate coincidence, we in the Zen tradition have the name of

zhuchi and its authority and benefit. Throughout the land, however,

everything has become conventional, crowded, and confused. The institution of zhuchi appears little different from worldly convention. Unless the Sage were to reappear, who could rectify this state of affairs? Unless those of us in the position of guarding the institution are watchful and selective, it will be impossible to prevent the original spirit of the Sage and his Dharma from declining, no matter how earnestly we wish to maintain and uphold it. This would be most lamentable. What else can