鐔津文集 3.28

3.28

The death of parents is also a matter of sorrow. Sacking and hemp mourning garments are not appropriate [for a monk]; coarse cloth in the form of monastic robes is suitable. In all circumstances, one must sit in a place distinct from worldly sons. Once encoffining has passed, one goes to the family home at the proper times. When escorting the funeral procession, one may either help carry [the bier] or guide it. For three years one must observe inner mourning, dwelling in quietude to cultivate our Dharma, assisting one's parents in the unseen realm. Once the mourning period has passed, only on the anniversary of the parents' death and on the sixteenth day of the seventh month must one arrange a vegetarian feast, lecture, and recite [sutras] according to the Ullambana method—this can be called the completion of filial piety. In ancient times, the ancient sovereign teacher of India, when observing mourning for his father, stood with a solemn countenance before the funeral, using inner mourning to omit weeping and leaping in grief. He was indeed the Great Sage! When escorting him, he helped carry [the bier] or guided it. He was indeed the Great Sage! When Maudgalyāyana lost his mother, he wept bitterly for her and offered food to ghosts and spirits. Maudgalyāyana was also a sage, yet he still could not extinguish feelings; should our assembly wish to be unfeeling? Therefore, when a disciple of the Buddha is in mourning for parents, their sorrowful longing may be like that of Maudgalyāyana, and their inner mourning may take the Great Sage as a standard. When in mourning for a teacher, one must treat it like mourning for one's parents, though among the ten ordination preceptors the mourning period has gradations. Only for the master from whom one received the Dharma and precepts is inner mourning for three years appropriate. Fayun, when mourning his parents, grieved and yearned exceedingly, letting no food or drink pass his lips for successive days; Fayun was an eminent monk of antiquity. Was not Huiyue practically an extraordinary man? When his parents were on the verge of death, parting from them, he wailed and wept as if unable to bear his own existence. Yet, although our teaching omits weeping and wailing in mourning regulations, this is because it wishes people to extinguish love and hate and advance toward purity. If love and hate are not yet forgotten and one's mind roams among external things, yet in the presence of death one feels no sorrow, that is mere cold-heartedness. Therefore at the time of the Nirvāṇa, the assembly beat their breasts and cried out aloud, blood appearing like palāśa flowers—this was because they could not bear it. The Vinaya school says: 'Not expressing grief and distress is a common disgrace to both monks and laypeople.' In the face of death, can our assembly fail to mourn?