勅修百丈清規 6.9

6.9

cloth. This is called the propriety of “giving thanks for causes and conditions” (xieyinyuan). If the full formality is excused, he should perform prostrations with unopened sitting cloth. The practitioner is also obliged to drop in at the assistant official’s office to thank him.

6. The Propriety of Partaking of the

Morning Rice Gruel and the Noon Meal

In the early morning, after the metal gong located at the kitchen hall has been struck to signal the release from morning silence, and later, at mealtime while awaiting the sound of the kitchen hall metal gong, the practitioners go to their respective places in the practice hall where their almsbowls are kept and take them down. They then enter the practice hall, bow before the altar of the guardian bodhisattva, and proceed, with palms joined together, to their respective seats. At the moment of ascending the raised sitting platform, they are obliged to greet their neighbors [on each side and across the aisle with a bow]. With your back to the raised sitting platform, first use your right hand to pull up your left sleeve and hold it by the left armpit, and then use your left hand to pull up the right sleeve and hold it by the right armpit. Then, supporting your weight on both hands placed on the board behind you, shove your sandals below the board [with your foot] and then first bend in your left foot and pull in the right foot next, proceeding to carry your whole body backward a foot or so across the wooden board. Then sit cross-legged, spread the kaṣāya robe to cover the knees, neither revealing the undergarment nor letting it hang down over the platform. (Details of this process are given below in section VII, part 3.)

The administrative head, the director of practitioners’ affairs, the maintenance official, the assistant official, and so on have their seats on the raised sitting platform of the higher section of the outer hall, whereas the training officials of guest reception, of the bath hall, of the Buddha hall, of the fundraising

preacher, of the infirmary, and so on have their seats on the raised sitting platform of the lower section of the outer hall. In the Ancient Regulations, the abbot came to the practice hall every day. At breakfast, he first sits in the outer hall, and when the practice hall bell is rung, he enters the hall. All the practitioners at once descend from the raised sitting platform and greet him with a bow in unison before taking their seats again. Nowadays, the abbots of many monastic temples enter the hall to take their seats while the large bell is still being tolled, and when the practice hall bell is rung, they descend from their seats in order to bow in unison with the practitioners. By simply encountering the ceremonial acts of the first day of the month or of the midmonth day, or of the Zen lecture session of every fifth day of the month, it would be difficult for new arrivals at the monastic temples to know anything about ceremonial protocol in their early training. Before our time, our predecessors discussed why all must descend to the floor to bow in unison, and concluded that it was meant to be the time of each day when the officials of various quarters and the practitioners all exchange bows in unison. On the basis of this interpretation, it follows that wherever Zen practitioners live together, it is necessarily the norm that each day early in the morning all members descend from the raised sitting platform to exchange greetings with a bow in unison.

7. Attending the Special Tea and

Sweet Hot Water Reception

The propriety involved in the tea and sweet hot water reception by the abbot and the dual order officials is a rather serious matter for a number of reasons. One must not be negligent about it. Once invited, one must be on time to attend the event. First, you must observe the tablet indicating the seating places carefully and memorize the seating order so as to avoid the possibility of embarrassing confusion. If you are sick or pressed by nature and unable to attend such a reception, you must convey through a colleague your apology and reason to the hosting official. It is, however, inexcusable to not attend a reception hosted by the abbot. Anyone who does not attend [such a reception] due to negligence is certainly not entitled to live under the same roof.

8. The Request for Universal Participation

in Tasks of Labor

The rule of “universal participation in the task of labor” is meant to equalize the work contribution of individuals, whether higher or lower in rank. In general, wherever a number of people live together, there should necessarily be things accomplished on the basis of all members’ cooperative effort. Should such a necessity arise, the administrative head must first notify the abbot, then send an attendant to report the matter to the primary seat official and the director of practitioners’ affairs, and assign the practice hall attendants to distribute the tasks among all the practitioners and post the tablet that indicates “all-out work for all members.” A small piece of paper [indi-