勅修百丈清規 3.40

3.40

incense and perform prostrations, followed by the other attendants led by the

ceremonial leader; they likewise burn incense and perform prostrations.

Finally, the business affairs workers, the transportation workers, the estate

foremen, the carpenters, the skilled workers, and the laborers all come to pay

their respects and perform prostrations.

After receiving all these congratulatory greetings, the abbot pays a visit

to the guest positions to thank the government officials and the representa-

tives of the neighboring temples. He then proceeds on rounds through vari-

ous quarters in due order. The resident practitioners of each quarter must pre-

pare a table with incense, an incense burner, and candle stands, as well as a

special seat. They are also obliged to wait for the abbot’s visit in proper dig-

nity and decorum outside the entrance of each quarter. The master of the

quarters waits at the lower end of the entrance, escorts the abbot into the

quarters, and requests him to take a seat. The master of the quarters burns

incense, reciprocated by the abbot’s offering of incense. [The abbot] makes

a polite enquiry into the well-being of the practitioners and expresses his

appreciation, and is then escorted out. The practitioners of the retirees’ quar-

ters, such as officials and assistants, and the members of the practitioners’

quarters are all required to line up at the entrance gates of their buildings to

both greet and see off the abbot.

4. The Temple Community’s Special Serving of

Tea and Sweet Hot Water for the New Abbot

Signboards announcing the special serving of tea and sweet hot water must be

posted on each side of the outer practice hall. The head administrative official

prepares the written invitation (format given below). He then visits the abbot’s office, accompanied by an attendant carrying a crepe-wrapped board with incense, a burner, and a candle stand, and burns incense to request the master’s presence on the occasion of the special serving. If full formality is excused, [the head administrative official] may simply greet the abbot with a prostration with unopened sitting cloth and say:

After the noon meal, a special serving of tea is scheduled at the prac-

tice hall in honor of your reverence. May you in your compassion grant

us the honor of your presence at that time.

He then presents the written invitation and asks the guest master to notify the dual order officials, the retired officials, and the practitioners to participate in the special serving of tea. The signboard announcing the serving of tea and sweet hot water should be posted to inform the practitioners. The abbot’s seat must be specially set up in the practice hall for this occasion.

(In recent times, it has become customary that when the metal gong located in the kitchen hall is struck at the time of the noon meal, the head administrative official enters the practice hall, burns incense, performs three prostrations with opened sitting cloth, and makes a round through the hall in order to invite the practitioners to such special proprieties. However, this occasion is exclusively for the sake of expressing congratulatory greetings to the abbot on the part of the temple community as a whole. In the Ancient Regulations, there was no rule about making a round in order to invite the practitioners to the occasion, and it is more appropriate to dismiss this custom, which was only recently created.)

Sometime after the noon meal, the drumming commences to assemble the practitioners at the practice hall. The administrative official escorts the abbot into the hall, requests him to take a seat, burns incense at the altar of the guardian bodhisattva, and then burns incense before the master. Going around behind the altar, he returns to the center of the hall and stands. When the serving of tea is completed throughout the hall, and as soon as the tea jars have been carried out, the administrative official once again goes to the abbot and invites him to drink tea. Returning to his former position, again going around behind the altar, he burns incense before the altar and performs three prostrations with opened sitting cloth. Thereupon, he and all the dual order officials go before the abbot

to perform the formal propriety of two prostrations with opened sitting cloth and three prostrations with unopened sitting cloth. They then escort the abbot from the hall. The administrative official once again returns to the hall, burns incense, bows toward both sections of the hall, and retrieves the tea bowl from the altar of the guardian bodhisattva before leaving. The serving of sweet hot water is to be conducted in the same manner. However, there is no rule that the host official should leave the hall to escort the abbot, as it is customary to serve the evening meal after the sweet hot water has been served.

Format of the Written Invitation

Bhikṣu So-and-so, head administrative official of this temple, respect-

fully extends an invitation to the abbot for a special serving of tea (and

sweet hot water) today, after the noon meal and toward the evening. It

is to be held at the practice hall in order to express our greetings and

congratulations. We earnestly wish that in your compassion you will

grant us the honor of your presence for this occasion.

Respectfully written on

Date, month, year

Format of the Envelope

The format for the envelope is identical to that of the previous invitation.

5. The Supplementary Session on the

First Evening of the Inauguration

After the noon meal, the abbot’s assistant reports to him, saying, “The supplementary session is scheduled for this evening, sir.”

The guest master must inform the practitioners and post the signboard indicating the session. He is obliged to note down the following names: the official delegate, the dual order officials, and the retired subfunctionary assistants, as well as the retired officials of various quarters; the managerial officers of the temple estates, storages, hermitages, and tower buildings; newly arrived practitioners; the new abbot’s assistants who accompanied him; and guests such as Zen experts and their associates. In addition, [the guest master] must record

in detail the names of those government officials and representatives of neighboring temples who remain at the host temple, including their whereabouts, on the basis of which he makes a list to present to the abbot.

When the evening bell sounds, the abbot’s assistant notifies the master and has the attendants strike the wooden sounding board and drum for one session. The practitioners assemble and the dual order officials take their respective places. The abbot then enters the hall, ascends the high seat, gives instruction, answers questions, preaches the essential doctrine, and finally thanks all participants in the session. The attendant carries a candle and the assistant presents the name list. It is desirable that all the names should be