勅修百丈清規 5.5

5.5

posture. The master of ceremonial instruction steps toward the ordination

master and performs three prostrations with fully opened sitting cloth, then

kneels with his right knee on the ground and his palms joined together. The

ordination master enquires of him, “Have all the practitioners assembled?”

The ceremonial master replies, “Yes, they have assembled, sir.”

The ordination master asks, “Are all the practitioners in accord and har-

monious?”

The ceremonial master replies, “Yes, they are, sir.”

The ordination master asks, “Being settled in full accord, what do they

expect to accomplish?”

The ceremonial master replies, “To participate in the rite of ordination

for the candidate novices who have shaved their heads and received the pre-

cepts under oath, sir.”

The ordination master concludes, “So be it.”

Thereupon, the master of ceremonial instruction folds his sitting cloth and escorts the novices who are to receive the rite of head-shaving into the hall, while ringing his hand-bell.

The novices perform three prostrations toward the altar of the guardian bodhisattva, three prostrations before the ordination master, and then kneel. Thereupon, the master of ceremonial chanting rings the large standing bell (daqing) and recites:

Endowed with the fivefold supernatural powers, the divine and immor-

tal person (i.e., the Buddha) restrained those who have no sense of

remorse or shame for the sake of those who strived for moral perfec-

tion motivated upon remorse and shame. The Perfected One (rulai)

thus established the rules of injunction and expounded them every half-

month in order to explain the benefit of those injunctions. Veneration

to all the Buddhas with a deep bow.

Having finished reciting this passage, the master of ceremonial chanting again speaks, asking: “What is Brahmā?”

(What is the meaning of this sacred scripture? The ultimate goal is the yonder shore. May the Buddha open the subtle and secret Way and preach it widely to the people of the world.)

Having completed his recitation, he once again speaks to the ordination master, requesting:

May your reverence exhort for the sake of those who have shaved their

heads and are ready to receive the precepts under oath.

The master rises from his seat and all the practitioners stand in unison after him. He then takes up the portable incense burner and says:

There is the incense of the moral precepts (śīla), the incense of med-

itative concentration (samādhi), the incense of transcendent insight

(prajñā), the incense of the resulting state of liberation (vimokṣa), and

the incense of the insight that recognizes the realization of this state

of liberation (vimukti-jñāna-darśana), all of which, as one, permeate

the entire world just as light illuminates from beyond the horizon of

the clouds. It is offered to the immeasurable numbers of Buddhas in

all directions, to the immeasurable numbers of Dharmas in all direc-

tions, and to the immeasurable numbers of Sanghas in all directions.

It perfumes the senses of seeing, hearing, and so on and transforms

them into ultimate quiescence. May all sentient beings also accom-

plish this quiescence as well.

Therefore, this morning, at the moment of inaugurating the meri-

torious rite of head-shaving and the conferment of the precepts, I shall

pray, foremost, for the imperial throne to enjoy an everlasting longevity

of ten thousand years and that his ministers and subjects live a long life

of a thousand years; for the sake of universal peace to prevail through-

out the land and for the Dharma wheel to perpetually turn; for the tem-

ple buildings and the grounds to increase their majestic influence and

protect the Dharma and the residents of the temple by warding off trou-

bles; for the patron donors of all regions to be adorned with fortune and

wisdom; for those who have been associated with this temple to be

assured of physical and mental health and peace; for the aged teachers

and parents to accumulate good karma ever higher in the practice of

virtues; for those who undergo the rite of head-shaving to have no dif-

ficult obstacles in their course of practice; for those who suffer in the

three hellish realms of existence and in the eight calamitous condi-

tions to be totally liberated from the cycle of suffering; and for those

who abide in the nine desirable states of existence and those who are

born of the four different modes to without fail reach the far shore.

I now request the practitioners to intone this prayer along with

me: “Veneration to the Luminous Pure Dharma Body Vairocana

Buddha, and so on.”

(The master and practitioners complete the prayer of calling the ten sacred names of the Buddhas.)

When the practitioners take their seats again, the master of ceremonial instruction takes the portable incense burner and instructs the candidate novices, saying:

You should request the master to grant you the rite of ordination in

your own words. If you cannot do so, follow along reciting the words

as I say them. In general, whenever “So-and-so” appears, you should

replace it with your own name.

The master of ceremonial instruction then recites the passage, [as the novices follow it]:

Venerable (name of the ordination master), may you record my request

in your mind. I, So-and-so novice, now request you to be the master on

my behalf to officiate in the rite of head-shaving and receiving the pre-

cepts. Venerable, I pray, as my master, may you officiate in the rite of

having my head shaved and receiving the precepts. As I depend on your

officiating, I may be able to accomplish the rite of head-shaving and

receiving the precepts. May your compassion be with me.

The entire group of candidate novices performs a prostration after the last passage, “May your compassion be with me”; they repeat this passage for a second time and perform a second prostration, and again repeat the passage and perform a third prostration. They then kneel before the master, left knee up and right one down, with palms joined together.

The ordination master then says:

O novices, sons of good families... (at this, the novice candidates mur-

mur a response), the fountainhead of the mind is totally quiescent and

the ocean of dharmas is profoundly deep. Whoever is astray in it will

forever sink down and be lost, whereas whoever is enlightened of it

will realize liberation outright. If one wishes to propagate the supreme

path to others, there is no better way than that of renunciation. The

path is vast and wide like empty space; it is clean and pure like the

moon brightly shining. When one’s practice of the path is assisted by

proper conditions, such as authorized with the rules of the precepts,

the goal of the path is not really far distant because such conditions

initially help each one overcome distracting thoughts and eventually

realize the state of transcendence. It was for this reason that Śākya-

muni Buddha, the Great Sage, renounced his princely status together

with his golden wheel, left the palace during the night, took off his

precious garment of universal rule, and cut off his hair in the forest.

Even as a bird made a nest upon his uncombed hair and a spider built

its web between his eye-brows, he [continued to] practice [the state

of] quiescence, experienced the everlasting truth, severed obstructive

impurity, and thereby realized supreme enlightenment.

No Buddha of the three periods [of past, present, and future] ever

has taught or will teach that a layperson can realize the ultimate path.

Nor could any of the past patriarchs, were they engaged in an ordinary

life of impurity, ever have succeeded in delivering others. Therefore,

[the state of ultimate realization] was directly transmitted from one

Buddha to another only through their own hands, and the patriarchs

transmit it only through patriarchs. Free from secular entanglements,

they have rightly become the vessel of the Dharma transmission. Hence,

no heavenly demon could do anything but look on with folded arms

and the heretics were eventually converted, and whosoever renounced

his secular life and received ordination could discharge the four kinds

of indebtedness toward his respective benefactors (i.e., rulers, parents,

teachers and associates, and patron donors) and carry out his task of

delivering sentient beings from suffering to liberation. Thus, it is said

that as one transmigrates through the three worlds, one cannot discard

the bond of indebtedness and attachment nor can one enter into the

state of transcendence unless he does it through decisively severing

himself from indebtedness. Whoever accomplishes this, however, is

truly one who pays his indebtedness. After renunciation, one’s con-

duct ought to be beyond the ordinary sense of obligation, subject nei-

ther to worshiping kings and rulers nor to worshiping one’s parents.

[Now] you may leave this place for a short while to reflect upon your

indebtedness to the rulers of the land as well as upon the parental virtue

by which you have been brought up. With utmost earnestness, you should

worship [your rulers and parents] and convey your farewell to them, as

you may not repeat this again after the moment of renunciation.

2. The Rite of Head-shaving and

Receiving the Precepts under Oath

The candidate novices perform a prostration to express their thanks. The master of ceremonial instruction signals by ringing his hand-bell and leads them out of the hall. Facing north, the novices in unison perform three prostrations

to express thanks to the ruler of the land and another three prostrations to express thanks to their parents. Immediately, they change into their practitioners’ garments, return to the altar of the guardian bodhisattva, and perform three prostrations. They then turn toward the ordination master, perform a prostration and kneel before him, left knee up and right one down, with palms joined together.

The ordination master takes up a pitcher, sprinkles water on the head [of each candidate], moistening the hair with his finger, and shaves it off with a knife. After this he calls for the practitioners to chant the verse in praise of renunciation in unison:

Well done, men of courage.

You have thoroughly understood that the world is impermanent.

Renouncing this secular world, you set your course toward the goal

of nirvana;

It is most extraordinary and inconceivable!

The verse is chanted three times, and the candidates step back and perform a prostration toward the master. Thereupon, the master of instruction leads them to before the sponsoring master (upādhyāya; in this case, the abbot) and all kneel before him, left knee up and right one down, with their palms joined together. The master takes up a knife and says:

The last remaining knot of hair is called cūḍā and can be cut off only

by the sponsoring master of the candidate novices. I shall now remove

the knot of hair on your behalf. Do you allow me to do so?

After the candidate novices answer, “Yes, sir,” the master speaks a word of insight to commemorate the event and recites the verse of head-shaving:

Though his original appearance has changed, he is resolute in

upholding his goal.

Severing himself from attachment and leaving his relations,

He is intent upon propagation of the holy path.

May he hold fast his resolution to help all people toward deliverance.

Three times the master chants the verse as the practitioners follow in unison. The candidates perform three prostrations toward the master and

kneel before him, left knee up and right one down, with palms joined together. The master, holding up the kaṣāya robes in his hand and uttering a word of insight, places a [folded] robe on the head of each candidate, and intones the verses to be recited when donning the robe:

How great is the robe that embodies liberation,

The robe that is a formless field of merit!

Wearing it and upholding the precepts authorized by the Tathāgata,

I am determined to assist all sentient beings to reach nirvana as

widely as I can.

This is repeated three times, with the practitioners following in unison. At the moment the chanting is over, the candidate novices, wearing the robe, perform three prostrations toward the sponsoring master, toward the image of the guardian bodhisattva, and then to the ordination master and immediately kneel before him, left knee up and right one down, with palms joined together.

The ordination master says:

O sons of good families, the Dharma is like a great ocean: the more you

dive into its depths, the deeper it becomes. You have already renounced

the secular world; hence, you must first accept the threefold refuge (san-

gui) and the five precepts (pañcaśīla; wujie). Qualified by these steps,

you may be allowed to approach and join the authentic sangha. Next, you

are obliged to accept the ten śrāmaṇera precepts (śrāmaṇera-saṃvara;

shamishijie), fit for the life of novices, through which you are entitled to

share in whatever benefit, material or spiritual, belongs to the sangha.

The crucial matter is singleminded sincerity and never being of inatten-

tive, lax nature. Now I shall call for the presence of the Three Treasures

on your behalf so that they may witness our ceremonial conduct.

The ordination master then takes up the portable incense burner to offer incense and continues:

I pray with my mind in full concentration and call for the boundless

Buddha treasure. May those enlightened ones who have accomplished

the ten final stages (daśabhūmi; shidi) and the three tenfold prelimi-

nary stages of the bodhisattva as prescribed in the sacred scriptures

brought back from the ocean storehouse (i.e., the Mahayana sutras,

such as the Flower Ornament Sutra, etc.), those who have attained the

five saintly fruits of discipleship (pañca-phalāṇi; wuguo) and those

who are advancing toward each of the four higher saintly states