勅修百丈清規 4.121

4.121

phenomenal configuration, understand the true nature of psychophysical elements (dharmas), and thus realized the highest state of wondrous enlightenment. Accordingly, the Buddha enabled all sentient beings, human and non-human, to participate in his realization of the highest good and taught them how to become one like himself. Because of this, people have served the Buddha’s disciples just as they served the [original] master.

Jostling one another with their shoulders and following toe to heel, practitioners quite frequently arrive, yet people continue to serve them, concerned only that their service might not be sufficient. Despite the numbers of resident practitioners, [lay supporters] rarely fall into indolence. If this were not the case, many a legal dispute would have been raised over a square foot of

land or a peck of grain. How could it be otherwise, other than foolishness on their part, that [the people] donate plots of land for us to expand our residential quarters, or that they sacrifice their suppers in order to feed more of us? We practitioners are fed here and reside here. But for what reason? Indeed, for what reason?

End of Fascicle Four

Fascicle Five

II. The Proceedings for the

Rite of Śrāmaṇera Ordination

1. Ordination Procedure:

The Rite of Head-shaving and

Receiving the Precepts under Oath

In general, a novice attendant must first obtain his ordination permit (dudie). He then takes the certificate and a crepe-wrapped board to the sponsoring master (upādhyāya; benshi; here identical with the abbot), and also to the dual order officials for their review. At each office he burns incense and performs three prostrations. After the date of ordination has been set, he prepares [a set of] offerings and prepares himself for the rite of head-shaving (titou).

(The ancient Vinaya prescribed that [the ordination place was to be set up in] a seven-foot-square area enclosed with screens, sprinkled with scented water, and where seats were arranged. Today, however, [the ordination place] is usually set up in the Buddha hall facing the Buddha statue, or the seats are arranged to face each other. If the [ordination is to take place] in the Dharma hall, a Buddha image, fragrant flowers, incense, and candles should be placed there in due accordance with the tradition. Now, the following section refers to the case of the event taking place in the practice hall, simply because it is more convenient to accommodate seating space for a larger number of practitioners.)

The candidates for the rite of ordination must first request the director of practitioners’ affairs to determine: 1) the ordination master (jieshi), 2) the master of ceremonial chanting (zuofansheli), and 3) the master of ceremonial instruction (yinqingsheli). The evening before the day of ordination, the candidates have their heads shaved; a small knot of hair is left on the top of

the head. (This small topknot is called cūḍā in Sanskrit and zhouluo in Chi-

nese, meaning “a little knot.”)

A seat and table for the ordination master should be placed symmetri-

cally a little distance away from the abbot’s seat (here the abbot serves as

preceptor), and on the table are incense, candles, a portable incense burner,

and a pair of sound-making ferrules (jiechi). The chair and table of the mas-

ter of ceremonial chanting should be placed to the right of the guardian bodhi-

sattva’s altar, opposite the seat of the ordination master. On this table there

should be a stand-set bell (qing). The robe (kaṣāya; jiasha), the garment

(zhiduo), and the ordination certificate [of each candidate] are placed on the

table before the altar of the guardian bodhisattva.

The master of ceremonial instruction escorts the candidate novices, whose

heads have been shaved, from the novice attendants’ hall as cymbals are

played [to accompany the procession]. The group stops at the shrine of local

spirits, the patriarchs’ hall, and the Buddha hall to offer incense and perform

three prostrations at each place. On coming to the practice hall, they stand in

line outside. The hall bell is tolled to assemble the practitioners. The west

order training officials and the abbot enter the hall, one after another. Only

then do the ordination master and the other two ceremonial masters enter the

hall, where they perform three prostrations with fully opened sitting cloth

before the altar of the guardian bodhisattva and then take their respective

places. At the same time, the practitioners settle themselves in meditation