勅修百丈清規 4.15

4.15

He is in charge of the scriptural canon and is also well versed in doctrinal study. Whenever sutra-readers first enter the sutra hall, they first inform the hall host and go together to the sutra library to meet him, who escorts them back to their assigned seats where they make a prostration touching the mat facing each other; this is the ancient rule. Nowadays, monks mostly read sutras in the communal dormitory, and the sutra hall has no desks set out. Nevertheless, filling the post, one must fulfill its duties: constantly check and collate the cases and catalogues, making up what is missing; dry and wipe what is damp; paste and mend what is torn or damaged. If the assembly reads through them, the librarian sets up a register, following the sutra roster arranged by the hall office to list names, handing them over case by case. When reading is finished, they are checked against the register and returned to the canon, so that none are scattered or lost. Tracing back the origins: since our school is called ‘a special transmission outside the teachings,’ why is a monk still appointed to specifically oversee the library? Because the Buddha's words and deeds constitute the teachings and vinaya; could monks fail to follow the Buddha's words and deeds? It is only that what we realize and attain is not drowned in words, but transcends the outward manifestation of words and deeds, in order to behold the marvel of our own nature. Furthermore, the ancestors' intention was for our followers to thoroughly investigate all collections and the hundred outside philosophical schools, expecting thereby to ward off external insults and adapt to boundless changes; this is what is meant by ‘neither clinging nor separating.’ Later, because the assembly was large, eastern and western libraries were established.