勅修百丈清規 6.38

6.38

When the funeral procession is to set out the next morning, the hall administration postulant informs the abbot and two ranks in the afternoon of the preceding day to notify the assembly, and hangs the recitation notice board. He notifies the monastery storehouse in advance to prepare memorial food, dispatch personnel, and set up the memorial feast. The townsmen and Dharma relatives draft a memorial eulogy and deliver money to the monastery storehouse to return the offering; they prepare three small pieces of incense for use in presenting the offering. If the deceased monk is an eminent and virtuous figure of great renown, a retired officer of the west hall or an individual dormitory, who has performed meritorious services for the monastery, the abbot and the two ranks hold a memorial offering, and the karmadāna reads the memorial eulogy. After the dismissal from evening meditation, the Sangha hall bell is struck to gather the assembly. For the recitation before the casket, the administrators first burn incense and offer tea and soup. The abbot arrives, burns incense, and stands at the head of the eastern rank. The karmadāna comes forward, burns incense, and requests the Buddhist rite for locking the casket. The one invited comes forward from his rank, burns incense, steps back, and greets with folded hands; next he greets the abbot with folded hands; he turns to greet the front of the eastern rank with folded hands, walks along to greet the end of the rank with folded hands, and next greets the front of the western rank with folded hands; then he makes a universal greeting with folded hands to the great assembly, and passes by the end of the western rank. If they are duty-holding prefects, each passes through the empty space according to his own position to stand on the right side of the casket. The hall administration postulant holds the lock on a tray and waits; when the recitation of the Buddhist rite is concluded, the postulant locks the casket with the lock. The abbot returns to his place. The karmadāna steps forward to the left of the table, bows to the abbot and two ranks, and burns incense; then, facing the casket, he recites: "Consider that life and death alternate, cold and heat change in turn; coming is like lightning striking the vast sky, going is like waves subsiding in the great ocean. On this day, there is the newly deceased Senior Monk So-and-so: his conditions for life have ended, his great dream has suddenly vanished; having realized that all conditioned phenomena are impermanent, he takes cessation and extinction as bliss. We respectfully assemble the great assembly to proceed solemnly to the casket curtain, recite the great names of all holy ones, and dedicate the pure spirit to the Pure Land. We rely upon the great assembly to recite: 'Pure Dharmakāya Vairocana...', etc." He leads the chanting of the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī and dedicates the merit, saying: "May the merit of the recitation and chanting just performed be dedicated on behalf of the newly deceased Senior Monk So-and-so. We humbly pray that his spirit may transcend to the pure realm, his karma may dissolve from the dust of toil, the lotus flower of the highest grade may bloom, and the Buddha may bestow upon him the prophecy of one lifetime to Buddhahood. Again we trouble the great assembly to recite: 'To the ten directions, the three times, all...', etc." The guest master evenly chants the Śūraṅgama Dhāraṇī and dedicates the merit, saying: "The merit of the chanting just performed is dedicated on behalf of the newly deceased Senior Monk So-and-so, to adorn his realm of reward; to the ten directions and the three times, etc." The abbot returns to stand at the head of the eastern rank. The acquaintances from the rivers and lakes, townsmen, and Dharma relatives set out memorial offerings in succession. At the end, the Great Compassion Dhāraṇī is chanted, with the dedication of merit being the same as the guest master's.