法苑珠林 20.51

20.51

如俗中周禮有九品之拜。出自太祝之宮。斯非內教。然禮貴從俗故也。一曰稽首拜。謂臣拜君之拜也。稽訓為稽（計奚切）即文稽留停頭至地少久也。二曰頓首拜。謂平敵者。如諸侯相拜也。即以頭向下虛搖而不至地也。三曰空首拜。此君答臣下之一拜也。即以頭至手。所謂拜手也。四曰振動拜。謂敬重之顫慄動變之拜也。五曰吉拜。謂而後稽顙。謂齊縗不杖以下也。言吉者。此殷之凶拜也。周以其與吉拜頓首相近。故謂之吉拜。即先作稽首拜。後作稽顙。是額也。以額觸地無容儀也。六曰凶拜。謂稽顙而後頓首拜。謂三年服者拜也。七曰奇拜。謂先屈一膝。即今時所謂雅拜也。一說奇拜但一拜以答臣下之拜也。八曰褒拜。褒謂為報。報拜者再拜是也。又云。褒拜今時持節之拜也。即再拜於神與尸也。九曰。肅拜。謂但俯下手。今時揖者是也。亦指婦人拜。又肅拜或至三也。空首奇拜唯一。餘則再拜之也。上並俗禮正文。鄭康成依位釋之如此。今據內教以禮敬為初。大略為二。即身心也。佛法以心為其本。身為其末。故須菩提靜觀室內。如來嘆為禮見於法身。蓮華色尼初至寶階。如來毀為拜於化佛。故知靜處思微念念趣道。觀形鑒貌新新在俗。能所未免相見齊生我倒現前。即為障道。故佛約此而分身心敬也。如能即色緣空。觀境心造。紛紛集起不無染淨。知識妄念未可清澄。想倒空時緣念斯絕。今居凡地力極制御。止得如斯。念念自然漸能清淨。常起兩觀不得單行。謂知塵無境。是漸背俗。謂知識亦無心。是漸向真。如此策修長時不已。分分增明三祇方就也。

In secular tradition, for instance, the Rites of Zhou lists nine classes of bows, which originate from the office of the Grand Invocator. These are not internal [Buddhist] teachings; however, ritual values conforming to custom. The first is called the bow of knocking the head (jishou), which refers to a minister bowing to his ruler. The word ji (pronounced ji) means to linger: the head remains bowed to the ground for a short while. The second is called the bow of lowering the head (dunshou), which is for equals, like feudal lords bowing to each other; one merely nods the head downward into the air without touching the ground. The third is called the empty-head bow (kongshou), which is the ruler's single bow responding to a minister; the head is brought down to the hands, which is called 'bowing to the hands'. The fourth is called the vibrating bow (zhendong), which refers to trembling and shaking out of solemn veneration. The fifth is called the auspicious bow (jibai), in which one bows with the forehead to the ground afterwards, used by those mourning in untrimmed sackcloth without a cane or below. It is called 'auspicious' because it was the Yin dynasty's inauspicious bow; the Zhou dynasty considered it close to the auspicious bow of dunshou, so they called it an auspicious bow. That is, one first makes a jishou bow and then a tisang bow, which means knocking the forehead to the ground without formal composure. The sixth is called the inauspicious bow (xiongbai), which means knocking the forehead and then performing the dunshou bow, used by those observing three years of mourning. The seventh is called the singular bow (qibai), which means bending one knee first, what is now called the elegant bow (yabai); another explanation says the singular bow is just a single bow to respond to a minister's bow. The eighth is called the requiting bow (baobai); bao means to repay, and a requiting bow is bowing twice; it is also said that the baobai is what is now the bow made when holding an imperial tally, namely bowing twice to spirits and the impersonator of the dead. The ninth is called the solemn bow (subai), which means merely bowing down the hands, what is now called bowing with clasped hands (yi); it also refers to women's bowing, and the subai may sometimes be performed up to three times. The empty-head bow and singular bow are performed only once, while the others are performed twice. The above are all the orthodox texts of secular rites, which Zheng Kangcheng explained according to social ranks in this manner. Now, based on the internal [Buddhist] teaching, ritual veneration is the very beginning. Roughly speaking, there are two kinds: bodily and mental. The Buddhadharma takes the mind as its root and the body as its branch. Therefore, when Subhūti was meditating quietly in his room, the Tathāgata praised him for venerating and seeing the Dharmakāya. When the nun Utpalavarṇā was the first to arrive at the jeweled staircase, the Tathāgata criticized her for bowing to a transformation Buddha. Thus we know that contemplating subtlety in a quiet place directs the mind toward the Way from thought to thought, whereas gazing at forms and inspecting appearances keeps one moment by moment in the secular realm. When subject and object cannot be avoided, perception of signs arises simultaneously, and erroneous selfhood appears before one, which then obstructs the Way. For this reason, the Buddha divided veneration into bodily and mental based on this distinction. If one can recognize that form itself is empty, and contemplate that objects are created by the mind, then even though they arise in confusion and are not without defilement and purity, when one realizes that false thoughts cannot yet be settled and made clear, and when conceptual distortions are emptied, discursive thoughts will be cut off. Living as we do now on the ordinary plane, even with the utmost self-control, one can only achieve this much. If thought by thought one naturally becomes gradually capable of purity, one must always cultivate the two contemplations and not practice them in isolation: knowing that dust has no objective reality gradually turns one away from the worldly; knowing that consciousness itself has no mind gradually directs one toward the real. By exerting oneself in practice in this way for a long time without ceasing, brightness will increase step by step, and only after three asaṃkhyeya [kalpas] will it be accomplished.