勅修百丈清規 4.35

4.35

Buddha himself) should allow only two kinds of people to be in charge

of the things that belong to the Three Treasures: 1) arhat (alohan;

saint) [one who has realized the final state of transcendence], 2) srota-

āpanna (xutuoxuan; stream-enterer), one who has reached the initial

state of transcendence, and this is further twofold: a) one who holds

fast the moral and religious rules and disciplines (vinaya and śīla) and

knows karmic retribution; and b) one who adheres to repentance [of

all his actions], fearing that he might be still subjected to some offense

after this life.

2. The Director of Practitioners’ Affairs

As the director of a monastic community, this official accommodates himself to all circumstances in order to maintain the harmony of the sangha. He must determine whether or not the ordination certificate that each practitioner presents when applying for residency is authentic. When discord occurs among the practitioners, or when items have been lost, he is obliged to resolve the cause of such problems and restore the harmonious flow of community life. There is hardly anything he does not deal with as far as practitioners’

affairs are concerned, within and without the practice hall; namely, their ordination age, seniority order, monastic career, and the chart of assigned spaces of their residency in the hall. Through his vocal performance he calls the names of the sacred scriptures for chanting, leads the rite of prayer, and concludes it with the invocation of merit transference. He must direct his mind with utmost care toward the sick and the deceased.

The ceremonial conduct of the director of practitioners’ affairs (weina) at mealtimes is as follows: Twice each day he goes to the practice hall for meals. Upon hearing the sound of the bell located in front of the practice hall, he leaves his seat in the outer hall, enters the inner hall, offers incense before the altar of the guardian bodhisattva using his left hand, and stepping back two and a half steps, bows toward the altar. He then stands with palms joined to the side of the [octagonal] wooden post equipped with its mallet. First, he looks at the prayer invocation of the day and the names and the localities of the deities to whom it is addressed. When the sound of the bell and drum end, he makes the first strike on the octagonal post with the mallet, whereupon the practitioners open their almsbowls. When the practitioners have completed opening their almsbowls, he makes the second strike, then with palms joined prays toward the deities of the day in silence. Stabilizing the octagonal wooden post with his left hand, he then intones the names of the Buddhas:

May all the members of the hall intone the ten sacred names in unison:

the Luminous Pure Dharma Body Vairocana Buddha, the Buddha with

the Perfect Reward Body, and so on.

As each name is intoned, he strikes the post with the mallet with his right hand, which should not be raised more than five inches from the post. Each strike should be made as soon as the sound of the name intoned has totally died out, with an adequate time interval, neither too quickly nor too slowly.

At the moment when the primary seat official finishes reciting the third verse of the “almsgiving prayer” (shishi), he turns and goes to stand by the head position of the raised platform at the back of the rear hall. When the first serving is completed throughout the hall, he steps forward and strikes the wooden post with the mallet once again, goes with palms joined before

the altar of the guardian bodhisattva, and bows. He then goes out and takes his seat in the outer hall. If the meal has been donated by a patron through a monetary gift, after striking the post with the mallet at the completion of the first serving he turns left, goes around behind the altar, bows before the primary seat official, and once again strikes the post with the mallet, then leaves the hall. This gesture conveys that the sangha has received the alms gift from the donor.

If the director has unavoidable business elsewhere or has to take a temporary leave of absence, he must himself transfer the record book of ordination ages, the record of temporary leaves, and the detailed record of the practice hall to the guest reception office and request them to take charge of these record books.

According to A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas (Nanhaijiguichuan, by Yijing [635–713]), the term weina is explained as a compound of Chinese and Sanskrit terms; wei means gangwei in Chinese, and na in Sanskrit. Both together render the word jiemotuona (Sanskrit: karmadāna). The abbreviation weina is a compound meaning “pleasing the practitioners” (yuezhong).

Also, in the Vinaya in Ten Chapters (Sarvāstivāda-vinaya; Shisonglü), it is said that because no one in the monks’ hall knew the time, the practice of indicating the time by striking the wooden sounding board was instituted. And it is further said that the Buddha established the position of weina as the director of the monastic residence, since no one prepared or cleaned the lecture and dining halls, nor did anyone cover the floor with cloth, nor did anyone try to subdue discord created by undisciplined monks, and so forth. Also, in the Treatise on Vocal Sound (Shenglun), [the name of this office] is interpreted as “the order” or “proceedings,” namely, one who knows the proceedings of the monastic events.

3. The Treasury Official

In the Ancient Regulations, this position was called kutou, “kitchen storage master.” Today, in many temples it is still called “cupboard master” (guitou), while in the northern region it is called “wealth holder” (caibo). In actuality, these are all the same position. This position was probably created initially in order to reduce the burden of the administrative head’s duties by