Rù zhòng rì yòng 入眾日用
Daily-Use on Entering the Community
A short monastic daily-schedule manual for novice monks entering a cónglín 叢林 community, compiled by Wúliàng Zōngshòu 無量宗壽 of the late Southern Sòng Línjì 臨濟 Yángqí-branch 楊岐派; circulating under the alternate title Wúliàng shòu chánshī rì yòng xiǎo qīng guī 無量壽禪師日用小清規
About the work
A one-juan short monastic-practice manual, X63 n1246. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. The title rù zhòng rì yòng (“daily-use on entering the community”) marks the text as specifically aimed at the first-year novice monk adjusting to life in a monastic cónglín.
Opening: “Chū chén lí sú, yuán dǐng fāng páo, dà lǜ jīng lì cónglín, qiē yào dòng míng guī jǔ 出塵離俗，圓頂方袍，大率經歷叢林，切要洞明規矩” (“Leaving dust and the mundane world, with shaved head and square robe — generally one must pass through the monastic grove, and it is essential to clearly understand the regulations”). The text proceeds to detailed behavioural instruction covering the novice’s full day: the rù zhòng zhī fǎ 入眾之法 (methods of entering the community), sleeping (“not before others, not later than others”), rising before the fifth-watch bell, morning ablutions, chanting, meal protocols, and so on. The emphasis throughout is on precise behavioural detail — how to carry a towel on the left hand, the gāthā to recite while using the towel, how to sit on the bed, etc.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. No editorial preface; the opening Chū chén lí sú passage functions as Zōngshòu’s own compositional preface.
Abstract
Wúliàng Zōngshòu 無量宗壽 (DILA A000596; also transmitted as Chóngshòu 崇壽, as well as Wúliàng Chóngshòu 無量崇壽; lifedates unrecorded), hào Wúliàng 無量 or Wúliàngshòu 無量壽. Southern-Sòng LínjìYángqí monk, native of Fǔzhōu 撫州. Held the Ruìyán 瑞岩 abbacy (hence the alternate Ruìyán Shòu 瑞岩壽). No extensive biographical material preserved.
Dating bracket: notBefore 1200 (Southern Sòng Línjì-Yángqí-branch active period of Zōngshòu), notAfter 1280 (late Southern Sòng). Precise composition date not determinable.
Translations and research
- Yifa. 2002. The Origins of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China. Hawai’i.
- Foulk, T. Griffith. 1987. The “Ch’an School”. Diss., Michigan.
Other points of interest
The “daily-use” (rì yòng 日用) monastic-life genre that the Rù zhòng rì yòng exemplifies is a distinct sub-genre of Chinese Chán regulatory literature, complementary to the more comprehensive qīng guī 清規 codes (such as Zōngzé’s KR6q0136 or Déhuī’s KR6q0102). Where the qīng guī set out monastic institutional structure and annual ritual calendar, the rì yòng genre focuses on the practitioner-level daily timetable and behavioural comportment. Zōngshòu’s Rù zhòng rì yòng is among the best-preserved Sòng specimens of this sub-genre and the direct predecessor of KR6q0138 Rù zhòng xū zhī and KR6q0139 Míngběn’s Huànzhùān qīng guī.