勅修百丈清規 5.53

5.53

9. The (Zen) Dusting Brush

According to the Vinaya scriptures, the disciples (bhikṣus) suffered from

insects and hence were allowed to make dusting brushes (fuzi). According

to the Mahāsaṃghika-vinaya, the Buddha is said to have permitted his dis-

ciples to make brushes out of thread, torn cloth, grass, and bark. But they

were prohibited to use any brush made of animal hide, such as that of a cat,

cow, or horse, as well as one decorated with a gold or silver handle.

10. The Prayer Beads

In the Sage Mandala Sutra (Munimaṇḍala-sūtra*; Mounimantuoluojing) the

prayer beads are called bosaimo, or shuzhu in the Liang Chinese dialect.

They are a “a tool that assists the concentration of the mind and the discipline of practice.” In the Soapberry Tree Sutra (Ariṣṭaka-sūtra*; Muhuanzijing), the following story is related:

Once upon a time there was a ruler named Boliuli. He said to the

Buddha, “Since my country is small and located in a remote region, I

have always felt insecure. The Dharma storehouse is so deep and wide

that it is impossible for a person to practice everything. Please, teach

me the essentials of the Dharma.”

The Buddha replied, “If you want to annihilate your mental defile-

ments, make a set of prayer beads by piercing a hole through one hun-

dred and eight soapberry tree seeds, string them together with a thread,

and carry this with you at all times. Recollect the names of the Three

Treasures: ‘Namo Buddha, Namo Dharma, Namo Sangha,’ and upon

completing each repetition of this phrase, move one of the beads from

one side of your finger to the other, and in this way you will gradually

reach one thousand times and even ten thousand times. And if you feel

no mental and bodily disturbance, then you will be able to leave your

life and be reborn in the Yāma Heaven, [which is filled with supreme

light]. When you reach the number of one million times, you should

be able to remove the one hundred and eight delusion-bound karmas

and thereby realize the fruit of eternal bliss.”

The king replied that he would practice as instructed.

11. The Water Jar

This is called kuṇḍikā (junzhijia) in Sanskrit, and ping (“jar” or “bottle”) in Chinese. One ought to always keep a clean jar filled with water wherever one goes, to use for washing one’s hands. According to Yijing’s travelogue, A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas, two kinds of water pitchers (kuṇḍi) are recorded: one of earthenware, which holds drinking water, and a second made of either copper or iron, which holds water for washing.

12. The Water Filter

In the Record of the Rising Splendor of the Tradition it is said that although this is a small tool, the benefit it provides is exceedingly great because it protects

lives. In China, however, Buddhist practitioners seldom carry such an item. The frequent use of this is also attested to in the Vinaya literature. According to the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya, the One Hundred and One Formal Acts of Resolution (Genbenbaiyijiemo) mentions five kinds of water filters (lüshuinang):

1. A square filter (fangluo). (This is made of silk cloth three by three feet or three by two feet, and usable in flexible sizes, smaller or larger, in different circumstances. The cloth must be made of the finest silk threads closely woven, so that it does not [let through] tiny insects. A [less closely] woven silk cloth or coarse hempcloth, if used, does not serve the purpose of protecting life.)

2. A jar for mendicancy, faping (i.e., yinyangping, “magic bottle”).

3. A jar filter (junchi). (The mouth of this jar is covered with silk cloth, and one uses it by immersing it into flowing water with a rope and retrieving it when it is filled.)

4. A dipper filter (zhuoshuiluo).

5. A cloth filter (yijiaoluo). (Yijiao here does not mean a corner of the kaṣāya robe but simply a thickly woven silk cloth that is picked up by its corner. It is used by placing it over the mouth of a jar or over a bowl into which water is poured, thereby filtering the water.)

The Venerable Zongze, Cijiao Dashi (author of the Monastic Regulations of the Zen Garden) collected the sources about water filters from sutras and Vinaya texts and composed thirty-one verses on the subject. Because of the abundance of descriptions he did not record them all, but in the end concluded that the so-called filter cloth (lüluo) could not [produce an ample enough quantity of filtered water] for the use of a multitude of people.

In the first year of Chongning (1102), the Venerable Zongze built a large washbasin by the side of the well in front of the kitchen hall of Hongjiyuan Monastery. Above this basin, close to its upper edge, was set another smaller basin, from which water was made to drop through a passage on its corner through a filter cloth placed beneath. Even when [a large quantity of] water was poured into the upper basin [from buckets dipped in the well], no overflow occurred, and as many as five practitioners could easily wash their feet [at the same time]. A similar system was built for the rear room of the bath hall. It is essential for all monastic residents, practitioners as well as novice attendants,

to use filtered water [in order to avoid injuring living beings], by setting up a filtering system in the lavatory. When the Venerable Zongze later on resided at Changlusi, he installed a similar water-filtering system at the side of each well in that temple, in more than twenty places.

Unless water is filtered at a temple at all times, the transgression [of “killing tiny insects” by the resident practitioners] comes to be the responsibility of the head of the temple. Therefore, it is earnestly hoped that effort be exercised toward the installation of water-filtering systems as widely as necessary.

13. The Precept Knife

In the Outline of the History of Zen Practitioners, it is said that a small knife, called a “moral preservation knife” ( jiedao), is also a tool necessary for the