Chapter 21 Section 2 Passing on the Mantle and the Six Things of the Bhikkhu

The primitive Buddhist groups learned a style of asceticism from some sects formed earlier than Buddhism in the ancient South Asian subcontinent. .According to the legend of the Buddha, when Sakyamuni first became a monk, he exchanged clothes with the poor people he met on the road, and changed his gorgeous princely clothes into rags, which later developed into the monk uniform "cassock" formulated by Buddhism.As we mentioned earlier, the initial production of cassock is only "three garments".Coupled with a "bowl" used for begging, food and clothing are enough.Therefore, Shakyamuni Buddha formulated "three robes and one bowl" as the minimum necessities for monks.It is a necessary condition for a monk to become a monk to have three robes and one bowl.Until now, it is one of the prerequisites for Sinicized Buddhist monks to become ordained monks.The two are collectively called "mantle bowl", which is a free translation of Sanskrit Patra-civara.Because the mantle and bowl are indispensable for monks, the Chinese Zen Buddhism uses the mantle and bowl as a keepsake, which is called "the mantle and bowl".Passing on the mantle is of great significance, which symbolizes that the teacher has passed on the profound meaning of Buddhism that he understands to his successors.Zen sometimes makes this matter both important and mysterious. The famous story of "passing on clothes in the middle of the night" is often seen in Chinese classics: the fifth patriarch Hongren went to Huineng who was pounding rice in the milling workshop, and hit the pestle three times with his staff.Hui Neng understood it, entered the room at midnight, and got the true meaning of Buddhism and the mantle of Dharma from Bodhidharma. Before everyone knew it, he went out and ran to the south.This story just shows that in the feudal society, among all walks of life and families, including Buddhism, there was a secret and intense scene of learning the true skills of untold secrets and competing for the successor's right to inherit.Li Shangyin learned the art of parallel prose from Linghu Chu, and quickly wrote a poem to thank him: "Since Meng Midnight passed on the clothes, I don't envy Wang Xiang for getting the sword!" It is named after one of the ten great disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha) To learn the seventy-two changes, you have to enter the room in the middle of the night.It is also a clear example that Buddhist biographies become allusions and influence poetry and novels.

Because the mantle and bowl can represent everything a monk owns, and monks generally cannot store private property, so an interesting extended meaning of the word appeared later, that is, in Sinicized Buddhism, the personal possessions and use of monks are instead Money is also euphemistically called a "mantle".Furthermore, the monk who is in charge of the monastery’s money (often deposited in the name of the abbot) is called the “mantle attendant”. In fact, he is roughly equivalent to the financial department of the Buddhist temple plus the person in charge of the warehouse.The warehouse and the room where he is in charge of saving money are called "clothes pavilion (or "room")", and his general ledger is called "clothes book".

Volume 17 of "The Fundamentals of Everything Has Bu Vinaya Miscellaneous Things" translated by Yijing, a famous monk and translator who studied in the South Asian subcontinent in the Tang Dynasty: Fated to be in Shivara City, Upananda saved one of his disciples, and there was no alms bowl to give.When everyone eats, they wash their bowls, put them in a clean place, and go out to worship the tower.When a new monk sees the bowl, he reads: "If you have a bowl, I will go now and return it after eating."Yu people reported: "Gu Shou: This is the bowl of the venerable, you should not use it!" After taking the bowls of the venerable Yu Ma Sheng, Xianshan, etc., he must ask, "You don't have a bowl?" The answer: "I None." "Who is the first to become a monk without a bowl?" He replied: "Upataya, Upa Nanda, and I became a monk." He must be ashamed: "To get rid of his evil deeds, who will not make him a monk with a bowl! The Buddha said: "You should not let him become a monk without a bowl. The author has committed a crime of transgressing the law! Anyone who wants to become a monk with him must first get the six things he needs: three clothes, dressing utensils, bowl and water Luo."

Here, Shakyamuni Buddha proposed that the necessary preparations for becoming a monk include two kinds of dressing tools and water bags in addition to the robe and bowl.Later, it was customary to collectively refer to these six kinds as "six things". The dressing tool is the "seat tool" we mentioned in the previous article on etiquette.It is the free translation of Sanskrit Nisidana, also translated as "bedding", "sitting and bedding", referred to as "tool".The transliteration is often used as "Nishitan". This transliteration word is easy to cause some yellow associations. Some people in modern times advocate not using it, or creating a new transliteration word to replace it, or uniformly use the free translation word "seat" (or "seat"). The author agrees very much.Its function and usage, we have already talked about it in another article, so we won't go into details.This section is devoted to Shuiluo.

The general name of Shuiluo is "water bag", which is the free translation of Sanskrit Paris-ravana, and it is also translated as water filter bag, water bag, water filter, water filter, water bag, filter bag and so on.The transliteration is "Bali Sarovana".The ancient South Asian subcontinent was in the subtropical zone, and there were quite a lot of small creatures in the water.Buddhism advocates non-killing. Therefore, when using water, you must first filter it with this object to filter out the creatures in it, and release them to return them to the water.This is also the commandment established by Buddha Sakyamuni, which is often mentioned in Buddhist scriptures, especially the Vinaya.First try to cite the representative volume 52 of "Four Parts Law" (translated by Yao Qin·Buddha Yashe Gong Zhu Fo Nian, etc.):

At that time, the World Honored One was in the country of Savatthi.Six groups of monks use miscellaneous insect water.When all the laymen saw it, they all ridiculed: "The Shamen Shizi has no compassion, and he cuts off all lives! He claims to say, 'I know the correct law'. If so, how can there be the correct law?" Listen to it as a water bag." "I don't know how to make it?" The Buddha said: "It looks like a spoon, it looks like a triangle, it looks like a crucible, it looks like a water bottle. If there are fine insects coming out, listen to the sand bag." He thought Miscellaneous insects abandoned the land, and the Buddha said: "No! Listen to the water."

There were two bhikkhus fighting together: in the country of Kosala, one bhikkhu held a water bag to drink water, and the other bhikkhu borrowed a bag, but he refused to give it, so he was not able to drink water, and suffered a lot.All the bhikkhus praised the Buddha, and the Buddha said, "Give it to those who have it! A bhikkhu should not walk without a water bag—even half a yojana. If there is no water, you should use the Sangha pear horn to soak in water." Add a few sentences: "You Xun" is a transliteration of Sanskrit Yojana, and it is also translated as "Yoyan", "Yushana" and so on.Free translations include "Yicheng", "Yi", "Ying", "Limited", "Hehe" and so on.The original meaning is "to yoke and yoke an ox", and it is extended to "to yoke a ox for a journey".There is no definite length. According to various calculations, it is about 10-20 kilometers. "Half yojana" is roughly equivalent to the saying "half a day's journey". "Sanghali" is the "coat" in the cassock we mentioned earlier.

Regarding the regulations on bringing this thing when going out, it is stated in Volume 26 of "Misha Saibu and Wufen Law" (translated by Liu Song, Buddha Shigong, Zhu Daosheng, etc.): There are two bhikkhus walking together in the same way, and there is no wet bag.Thirst to drink water, see insects.One bhikkhu drinks, one bhikkhu dies without drinking.The water-drinking bhikkhu went to the place of the Buddha and praised the Buddha. The Buddha said: "The bhikkhu is ashamed, but he can keep the precepts and die. From now on, if you don't listen to the practice without a water bag, the offender will be Tujiluo!" If you walk nearby, if you don't have a water bag, you dare not go.The Buddha said: "Listen, there is no water bag for half a yojana." There are two monks walking together, one monk has a water bag, and the other monk does not.He was very thirsty and tired, so he whitened the Buddha. The Buddha said: "I will not make a water bag for half a yojana! If there is no water bag, and there is a corner of the clothes to soak water, listen! When you want to walk I also listen to the water storage tube." The monks then used gold and silver treasures to make it, and the Buddha said: "No! Listen to it with copper, iron, bamboo, wood, tile and stone, and clothe it with ten kinds of households—fine Those who talk nonchalantly, do not listen to sweeping clothes with dung. The offender is Tujiluo!"

I also add a few sentences: "Tujiluo" is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word Duskrta, and its free translation includes evil deeds, minor demerits, minor demerits, etc. It is a very light misdemeanor in the Buddhist rules and regulations.If you make a mistake that falls within the scope of this crime, if you do it on purpose, you must confess to another person (preferably a monk); if you do it unintentionally, you can blame yourself.Regarding the definition of treasure in "gold and silver treasure", according to the eighteenth volume of "Sangye Law", it says: "The treasure is already a tool." If so, treasures are made into utensils." He also said that "famous treasures" include "gold, silver, real pearls, colored glaze, coral, amber" and so on.This clarifies the materials used for treasures and the important instruments made from them.

So, if there is no water bag, what should we do if we travel a long way? "Ten Chanting Laws" (translated by Kumarajiva and Frodoro in the later Qin Dynasty) Volume 57 contains: Practitioners of the water bag method: Bhikshus do not have water bags, so they should not travel far.If there is clean water, such as river water or running water, there will be dwellings twenty miles away, and there is no need for a water bag.It is called water bag method. Note: The "dwelling place" here refers to a place to stay temporarily, which is similar to the "Jianzhan" in modern China.It can be seen that it is most likely to use the Chinese mileage at that time for comparison, and the translated "twenty miles" is less than "half a yojana".

However, according to the Buddhist law, in order to avoid harming the bugs, when you are not going out, you also have to soak in water in your long-term residence.This is probably a new situation developed from the development of more and more rules and regulations in later generations, and the stricter implementation.Yijing in the Tang Dynasty witnessed this strict implementation when he was studying abroad. There is a detailed and vivid record in his famous book "Nanhai Jigui Neifa Biography", Volume 1, Article 7, "Watching Insects in the Morning". .It is the first-hand true record of the situation in the ancient South Asian subcontinent as seen by the Chinese. It is far clearer and truer than the translated stories, but the time is later.It is recommended that interested readers look for it.The new Chinese version of this book "collation" was published by Beijing Zhonghua Book Company in 1995. The author is Professor Wang Bangwei of the Department of Oriental Studies of Peking University. It is rich in content and insightful. It is worth reading. Again. Finally, three unrelated points can be made: (1) The ancient South Asian subcontinent used more than just a water bag to filter water.In the eleventh volume of "Gen Sapo Duobu Vinaya", "Beneficiary and Insect Water Studies", there are five kinds of water filters, they are: Fangluo, Faping, and Junjijia (we will talk about "eighteen" below) "things" should be mentioned when talking about it), drinking water, and clothes corners.However, it seems certain that the water bag is the official and most conventional water filter.The other utensils are probably temporary substitutes. The translator Yijing's commentary on the eighth volume of "The Fundamentals of Everything Has Parts of One Hundred and One Karma" explains the five kinds of water. Interested readers are welcome to refer to it. (2) It seems that the water quality of the ancient South Asian subcontinent was mostly turbid, so water filtration was emphasized.This kind of practice probably comes from the folks, but Buddhism raises this matter to the theoretical understanding of its own religion, and takes no killing as its heart, so there is the action of returning sand to running water, which develops the simple act of filtering water a step further, and in A deeper understanding of moral aspects.This is a sublimation from non-religious spontaneity to religious self-consciousness.Even from the moral point of view of "compassion" and "compassion", it is worthy of great affirmation. (3) Even from a purely hygienic point of view, this practice is worth advocating.Now we have better water filtration methods, but going back to the source, the ancients emphasized the spirit and practice of using water for hygiene, which we contemporary people should learn from. Yuanzhao, a famous monk in Hangzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, compiled a volume of "Picture of Six Objects Made by Buddhist Monks", which is an integrated material for the study of six objects in Sinicized Buddhist scriptures.Since then, there are five or six other books that annotate Yuan Zhao's books, which can also be referred to.