國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
48
more each month, too. After one being ordained for five years, his or her allowance will increase $1.5 dollars each year. The increase can be up to $100 dollars the maximum. With this allowance, members can buy things that they need. Accepting money donation other than relatives and personal friends are prohibited. All private money donations from the lay supporters have to be given to the monastery except during Chinese New Year. Sometimes, more allowance will be given if there are a lot of ritual services during that month, but the amount would not be more than thirty dollars.
2.8 C.F.S.’ Code of Conduct
The Common Regulations of the Monastic Community:
Each new member will get a copy of The Common Regulations of the Monastic Community from the monastery. In this booklet, it includes monastic rules that everyone has to follow besides the Vinaya. The first version was set by the old Chan master himself, and there were only twenty-six rules.38 The number of rules of the first version increases up to thirty rules in the first part of the new version. These rules can be revised if needed. The abbot of the main temple will call every member to a conference for revising. The final decision is still on the hand of the old Chan master himself. The rules in The Common Regulations of the Monastic Community have been divided into nine different sections:
a. Monastic regulations (chang-zhu gue-yue 常住規約): There are thirty rules in this part. There were original twenty-six set by the old Chan master, and it
increased to thirty after the revision. The rules of this part are not much different
38 C.F.S. Special Issue of Thirty Years
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
49
from rules of regulations of daily life. The only difference is that the first section is the oldest version set by the old Chan master. Therefore, it is hard to tell how these rules have been grouped into these two sections. Rule of number
twenty-eight is the one of two rules that is related to members’ lay relatives. It prohibits any member letting their relatives or friends to stay at the monastery overnight without informing the supervisor.
b. Regulations of daily life (shen-huo gue-yue 生活規約): There are forty-four rules in total. In this section, these rules are additional rules to those which previously set by the old Chan master. They were added to The Common Regulations of the Monastic Community not by the old Chan master but by the community as a whole. One of the rules prohibits members to accept private donation from the lay supporters. However, one can accept money donation from his or her own relatives. There are also rules on robes, allowance, Buddhist practices, and mostly on ethical virtues that one should have.
c. Regulations on asking for a leave (gou-jia gue-yue 告假規約): There are fifteen rules in the section. They are rules for members who need to take a leave. In most of the times, a member would be granted a leave to take care of their parent if they need without any questions. One of the reasons that members would ask for a leave is because of their illness. The monastery would ask the sick member to stay at the monastery instead of going home for convalescing.
However, it does not provide any sick member a best place for convalescing, and unless one is serious ill, it is hard to be exempted from monastic chores. That is why most of the sick members choose to take a leave. If one convalesces at home, there will be no medical bursary given by the monastery, so the person has to pay his or her own medical bills.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
50
d. Positions under the supervision of the Executive Administrator (jian-yuan 監院) : It includes the responsibilities of and rules for the executive administrator and all positions under his or her supervision.
e. Positions under the supervision of the Chant Leader (wei-nuo 維那): It includes rules at the Buddha halls, responsibilities of the chant leader and all positions under his or her supervision, and rules for them.
f. Positions under the supervision of the Administrator of Reception Office (zhi-ke 知客) : In this section, there are rules for members who work as receptionists, rules in the dormitory, rules in the bathing area, and rules on medical welfare.
Example: Members are prohibited to bring their relatives or friends to the dormitory. The administrator of Reception Office is also in charge of members’
medical welfare. There are only two rules of this part which I mentioned before:
all members’ public welfare costs will be paid by the monastery (their names must be registered under the household of the monastery) and the monastery will pay for members’ medical bill if he or she cannot afford it.
g. Library rules: There are five rules on borrowing library books.
h. Rules for the ascetic practice in the sutra altar: Anyone who applies for ascetic practice in the sutra altar must follows nine rules. Ascetic practice in the sutra altar is opened to both lay and monastic Buddhists.
i. Rules for ascetic practice of not eating, not sleeping and not talking: There are eight rules that an ascetic must follow.
Punishment:
The rules in the first section of The Common Regulations of the Monastic Community were set up and written by the old Chan master, so he did indicate the punishment for offense of each rule. For the rest sections, there is no indication on
‧
types of punishments for offenses. Although the old Chan master indicated the punishments for offenses on rules of first section, he still gave those who are on the supervising positions the authority to decide and carry out the punishment. Basically, there are six types of punishment: solitary confinement in the repentance room39, disrobe40, no allowance for one to six months, no leave can be granted for one to six months, repent according to The Great Repentance Before The Eighty-eight Buddha, and forbidden to go out of the monastery or talk to others. The monastery will also inform all members during monthly conference about who should and will receive punishments due to his or her offense.
2.9 Monastic Economy