English
The next section of the compound is the so-called “Ha-t‘ang”’ (the law hall), where the abbot and the different ex-abbots reside. The latter have still the decisive influence in important questions. Here are one or more reception rooms and, besides these, are the private rooms of the leaders. The rooms are clean and wellordered. Thisis also toa certain extent true of the other buildings in the compound. The Buddhists attach considerable importance to outward order and cleanliness, and it is regarded ag praiseworthy to be neat about one’s own person as far as ablution, bathing, and clean clothes are concerned. As a sign of the authority of the abbot the “fragrant boards” (hsiang-pan, 7 %%), nicely carved, are placed at the main seat in the reception room. These are instru- ments of punishment and point to the fact that corporal punishment is practised to a considerable extent in the monasteries. The room that is in one way the most inspiring is the “hall of meditation” (ch‘an-t‘ang, jif #%£), also called the “hall of wisdom’”’ (pan-jo-t‘ang, fi #7 %), because it is here that one attains the deeper understanding of [257] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM the fundamental essence and meaning of life. It is significant that in the Legalistic School this hall ig called “pan-t‘ang”’ (i %£) (the “hall where one receives punishment”). It is a big hall with an altar and a Buddha figure in the middle. In the cement floor certain lines and marks have been made, in order to show where to go during the running and quick marching which always precedes every long period of meditation. Along all the walls there are wide couches on which cushions are placed. Here the meditating monks are to sit. Behind the couches a platform is built around the room. This has been arranged in such a way that the meditating monks can put their bedclothes and other articles in toward the wall and at night spread their bedclothes and sleep there. A slip of red paper above the platform states the name of the meditating monk. In the big monasteries there is, beyond this hall, or beside it, a separate room for old monks, a place that they can use for a living room and a meditation hall. In some cases, each one has something that looks like a cage in which to sleep and meditate. In other places, there is only an open hall. On the back side of their little kitchen and garden, and farther up the hills, stand the solemn chapel with a little pagoda where the many urns containing the ashes of the cremated bodies are put. It is only a few steps up here from the “home of the aged” (yang-lao-yiian, #% 2 Bi). An atmosphere of preparation and expectation pervades the place. If one wants to see systematic preparation for death one [258] MONASTIC LIFE ought to go to this hall. It is as if every step reminded one of the controlling motto momento mori. The crematorium itself is a small stone house, a covered chimney with a couple of big earthenware pots. The small urns with the ashes are catalogued and put on shelves and in niches in the place of rest. Often there is a big pagoda at the back of the ' monastery (Chinese: pao-t‘a, #f #§, the precious tower; Sanskrit: stupa). The original idea of the pagoda was to commemorate one of the great Buddhas. Often a relic was buried underneath it. Later it became more of a place of worship, and many beautiful thoughts gathered round this fine edifice. The pagoda became the visible symbol of the human soul in its longing and reaching out after full understanding and peace, its development toward Buddhahood. As the pagodas rise into the air in rounded storeys which diminish as they ascend, so the development of the holy ones shall reach up towards Nirvana. The Chinese name of the pagoda also denotes a deep meaning. It is composed of the two characters “earth”? and “answer” (from +: and #5): the earthbound soul shall get, through meditation, an answer to the deepest questions of life. Another symbolic idea is this: the square foundation on which the pagoda rests represents earth, the round storeys the air, and the top storey, with the four openings, represents heaven and the four heavenly guardians. The ball at the top is perfection, becoming one with Buddha. The fortunate numbers in China are. always uneven, therefore the pagoda has from [259] *g Cte hs ae He: ee TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM Sive to thirteen storeys. The most usual numbers are seven and nine. Very significant, also, are the small copper plates and bells which have been hung along the sides and which are moved by the wind. In this way, a “music of the spheres,’ which is known in the symbolic language of the Buddhists, is produced. As was to be expected, a special significance was accorded to these strange structures by the geomancers. Gradually it was assumed that the pagodas exercised an influence on the weather and the prosperity of the different places. They controlled the laws of “wind and water” (féng- shui, J&, 7X) in a beneficial way. 'The result was that all places of importance, all centres of administration, built their big pagodas, and the small places followed the lead. Indeed, the enthusiasm for pagodas became so great that individual families in the country districts built smaller ones for their own private benefit. A pagoda is often to be seen, even at the centre of the state religion, the residence of the official, or ‘““yamen,” and a Chinese landscape can hardly be imagined without one of these typical buildings. Lately, the enthusiasm for pagodas has, however, cooled to a certain extent. This is shown by in the fact that most pagodas are very poorly kept up. In dealing with the buildings and equipment of the monastery, mention must be made of the cells which have been fitted out for the monks who “pi-kuan” (PA Bi); i. e., allow themselves to be locked up in order to be able to give themselves completely to meditation. There are still quite a good many who do this. The [260] ‘ Pacopa, Suna-yu Monastery, Honan A te MONASTIC LIFE door is walled up and sealed. Their food is ‘put in through a small opening. Outside there is occasionally a small court like a garden, but often nothing but the cell. Generally the monk makes a vow to meditate in solitude for one to three years. Very long periods are rarer and solitude for life still more so. One or more scriptures are taken with the monk, these form the basis for the daily prayer services, but the greatest weight is laid on meditation. At times, a monk cuts himself off from association with his environment by merely locking his door. He does not receive any — calls, nor do any business, but at certain times he ~ meets the nearest brethren of the monastery. The ordinary rooms (cells) of the monks are very plain. It is only the monks permanently connected with the monastery and visitors of superior social position who get such “one-family houses.” The majority have to live in the hall of meditation or the large common rooms. A monk’s cell may be both attractive and clean. The prohibition of comfortable beds, flowers, etc., has been entirely ignored. These belong to the poor “child’s learning” of Hinayana. A table, a bookcase, a little private altar, a favourite sutra wrapped in a piece of beautiful embroidered cloth, some pictures on the walls, or, in recent times, photographs, a letter holder and writing outfit, and a few chairs for himself and visitors, these he has. The old deserving monks and ex-abbots often have rooms that are particularly beautifully situated. The outer rooms, kitchen, store-room, wood-shed, etc., as a rule lie at the side of the main buildings with [261] ia ¥ TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM courts of different sizes. The kitchen, which ig in charge of a respected monk, has an interest all its own. Huge pots and frying pans are ready for use. In many places, there is also quite an ingenious water system, which carries the water either through bamboo tubes or through open water troughs to the kitchen, washing room, and bathroom. The whole of this important department is under the big “business department’’ (k‘u-fang, fi /) which plays such an important part in the monasteries. The picture we here have drawn is that of the more ordinary monasteries which have a working staff of thirty to fifty monks. During times of ordination and special festive occasions there may, of course, be many more, even up to three or four hundred. Beside these ordinany monasteries, there are some still larger ones, as, for instance, T‘ien-ning Ssti (K # 3) at Chang- chow. At ordination times, there are often as many as two thousand monks there, in truth a “shih-fang ts‘ung-lin” (++ 97 3 #k) (a monastery for all the world), In these great monasteries one may find special activities such as homes for the blind and the sick. The rise and phenomenal growth of the T*ien-ning Ssit under the long administration of the pious Chih-k‘ai (#4 Bd) is an illustration of the old truth that men are always drawn to those who, by self-sacrificing love, give a living testimony to the power of religion and sincerity. It shows that in Buddhism, also, it is the persons that make the institutions. For this reason many finely equipped monasteries are comparatively [262] MONASTIC LIFE empty, while smaller places with poorer equipment draw the masses. Beside the “‘shih-fang ts‘ung-lin” (++ 7 5 Fk) (the big monasteries which in the stricter sense of the word are the common property of the whole Buddhist brother- hood, and as such stand open to every honourable monk), there are also many of more or less private monasteries, called “tzii-sun ts‘ung-lin” (+ #& ¥% #k), i. e.