勅修百丈清規 3.109

3.109

When the funeral reaches the Nirvāṇa Platform, the funeral office karmadāna waits for the rector to offer incense and tea, then steps forward to burn incense and leads the junior disciples in bowing to request the rite of lighting the pyre. The monastery karmadāna recites, "On this day, the newly deceased hall head upādhyāya, his teaching affinity having ended, suddenly returns to the true and eternal. The spirit coffin fully circumambulated Kuśinagara; the fire of intrinsic nature burns of itself on this day. We rely upon the great assembly to assist the awakened spirit: Namo Amitābha Buddha of Great Compassion and Great Sympathy in the Western Realm of Ultimate Bliss." After the ten recitations and the assembly's choral response are concluded: "The above praise of the sacred name reverently extols the ritual of conversion. Embodying the pattern of the ancestral school, his lofty dynamic allowed no entry even to Buddhas and patriarchs. In opening the path for future students, his compassionate mind gathered both humans and devas. Gathering the hundred bones of illusory transformation, he enters the samādhi of fiery radiance. Tea is poured in three libations; incense is burned in one brazier. Reverently upholding and practicing, we bow in reverence to the holy assembly." He recites the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī. The dedication is: "The merit of the above chanting and sutra recitation is dedicated to the hall head upādhyāya on the occasion of cremation, to elevate his rank: All Buddhas of the ten directions and the three times... and so forth." The monastery guest master recites the Śūraṅgama Mantra, with dedication as before. Next, fellows from the same home prefecture recite sutras, and the great assembly chants together. When finished, the head seat leads the assembly back to the monastery for the meal. The junior disciples, fellows from the same home prefecture, and Dharma relatives stay by the cremation pyre to collect the bones. After the meal, the Sangha hall bell is rung to assemble the assembly. With the ceremonial retinue prepared as before, they welcome the relics back to the inner quarters to enshrine them. The rite of enshrining the relics is requested. The portrait is hung, offerings are made, and sutras are chanted. Twice daily, congee and rice are presented; thrice daily, tea and hot decoction are presented. For ten days or half a month, the great assembly chants sutras until the spirit bones enter the stupa, whereupon it ceases.