北山錄 8.4.6

8.4.6

If it is like this, the prefectures and counties will soon destroy the temples; how could it merely be something to make the two Martial Emperors laugh? (The encroachments and wastes by prefectures and counties are no less than those of the two Martial Emperors.) Therefore, those who govern the people must understand people and bring peace to people; they should examine their words and deeds, and toward the good, offer the courtesy of bowing low and stepping off the dais, supporting them with all their might; while those who are not good should be demoted, so that gentlemen and petty men are not treated the same. If this is truly done, the hope for Jetavana to flourish with gold spread out can be awaited. Hence, the flourishing of temples is the flourishing of those who possess the Way. Therefore, when entering a realm, from a great state to a petty viscount or baron, if the banners and shrines are well-tended and the assembly of monks is solemn, this too is how one sees that the secular governance is pure. In the Western Regions, the permanent assets provide monks with food and clothing from the yield of fields and gardens, originating from donors; how could donations merely be discussed in terms of food and clothing? Monks dine at the designated time only after the bell is struck; leftovers must return to the Saṅgha and not be kept for oneself (leftovers mean remnants; eating leftover food from the previous night violates the precepts); even across different boundaries, things are shared according to the Dharma. The wealth of the Three Jewels is managed by appointed officers without stinginess (the wealth of the Three Jewels is managed by the cook/steward; there is no stingy hiding of it). When kings and ministers use force to demand supplies, one certainly cannot refuse them; when bandits and fierce men threaten with force beyond control, one cannot go against their demands. If a monk is sick and lacks medicine, give it according to what is available; if he is poor and lacks robes, provide for him according to available goods; the robes of the deceased are kept, and after the burial, returned to the Saṅgha (if there are permanent assets of the Three Jewels stored to guard against kings and thieves, and for poor or sick monks; if a poor monk lacks robes, supply them with robes; after death and burial, return them to the permanent assets of the Saṅgha). Those who labor diligently in managing monastic affairs are given double portions of clothing and food (like giving extra offerings and profits to monastery directors today); therefore, the vinaya refers to this as the category of multiplying merit. Yet those who undertake responsibilities must not decide every matter alone; in every undertaking, they must consult the assembly; if consulting the assembly is not always feasible, they should appoint someone who knows the Dharma; hence, the vinaya calls them 'authorized administrators' (like the monastery priors and directors of today). If they consider things as not belonging to themselves and indulge their minds in reckless dissipation, seeking their own ease, abandoning their duties and letting merit fall away, gathering laborers, calculating food rations, and using measuring cups and scales without rule (jiu means gathering; liang and heng mean dry measures and scales; having no rules for measurement), thereby damaging and wasting the wealth of the assembly, these duty-holders will return to sin! Long ago, Saṅgha[…]śā saw monks in a monastery on the ocean eating pus and blood and striking each other with vessels; this was because in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, dwelling in the same pure monastery, a guest monk arrived and out of anger they hid the food. In the Song dynasty, Fafeng died and became a hungry ghost that could not eat, circling the monastery making the sounds of a starving camel; this was because he monopolized monastery duties and acted with harsh stinginess. In Linqiong, the monk Sun saw his own body as a latrine, holding a bowl to eat filth; this was because during a famine year, he cut down the ladle and reduced the gruel. Zhiqui died and became a slave to the assembly; this was because he lent monastery cloth to others (for instance, the monk Qingxun of Shengshou Temple recited the Lotus Sūtra; whenever he was at funerals, he demanded wine and meat from the food servers and took them home; one day he suddenly lost his voice, for years could not take food, and gradually could not swallow water; he said of himself that he had entered the realm of hungry ghosts while still alive). Reflecting upon these unseen workings of karma, who would not take them as proof? The Biographies of Eminent Monks lists ten categories (first, translating scriptures; second, doctrinal explanation; third, practicing dhyāna; fourth, clarifying vinaya; fifth, protecting the Dharma; sixth, resonant responses; seventh, abandoning the body; eighth, recitation; ninth, promoting merit; tenth, miscellaneous); it takes maintaining the Dharma as promoting merit. Whenever I examine and carry out these practical deeds, there is indeed the generation of merit! Long ago, I heard from an Indian monk who asked my master: 'Crumbling walls and blood-stained foundation stones (pronounced xujin)—only those who burn with foul desires dwell there; while magnificent verandas and ornate windows (shu means window)—only those with minds pure as ice and snow dwell there.' Alas, when verified today, it is not false! He also said: 'Fotudeng established more than eight hundred and ninety temples, and Mount Tiantai has thirty-five; if I cannot now promote and expand one or two, then I am not a true man! (A true man means an eminent man.)' Speaking to you, his disciples, tears flowed down to his eyelashes. In my own folly and confusion, I am incapable of shouldering the burden (the Book of Documents says: 'If the father chops firewood, but the son cannot shoulder the load'); yet may this illuminate the legacy entrusted to us, accumulating good deeds amidst hardship, acting as a balance and support for the Dharma. Ashamed to look up at the clouds and the sun, I look back with sorrow and everlasting yearning.