Huang Kui: Zen Tea Ceremony and sinicization of Buddhism

As a product of the deepening process of the sinification of Buddhism, Zen Buddhism not only consciously adapted to the unified feudal autocratic regime and local political power in politics, but also consciously adapted to the feudal economic form with agricultural civilization as the dominant feature, and also consciously adapted culturally to the feudal ritual music cultural tradition with Confucianism as the main trunk and advocating loyalty and filial piety. The tea ceremony content, which occupies a large proportion of the Song and Yuan Zen Rules, is a typical cultural expression of Zen Buddhism in the sinification of Buddhism.

Zen monks lead the tea culture

Tea culture has a long history in China. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, there was a record of the so-called "Wuyang buying tea" in Wang Bao's "Covenant of Servants". On the occasion of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Zhang Hua wrote the "Naturalist Chronicle" volume four clouds: "Drinking real tea makes people sleep less." Before the Tang Dynasty, tea consumption was not yet widespread, and the prevalence of tea drinking in the land of Shenzhou began in the middle of the Tang Dynasty: "In the Kaiyuan Dynasty, Taishan Lingyan Temple had a magician Daxing Zen Sect, who learned Zen to study Zen and did not sleep, and did not eat, and they were allowed to drink tea. People hold themselves hostage and boil and drink everywhere. Since then, it has become a custom. In this way, Zen monks are still pioneers in tea drinking. The tea consumed by the monasteries is generally produced by themselves, and if there is surplus for their own consumption, then it will naturally circulate to secular society in some form (such as gifts or trade). This will obviously have a certain impact on the economic order of the tea industry in feudal society, and the rulers of the Song Dynasty had to make corresponding regulations on the tea economy of the monasteries: "The temples and temples picked and made grass tea every year, such as less than 500 catties, if they eat it when they listen, they are not allowed to sell it; if they violate it, they follow the private tea law." If it is more than 500 pounds, and according to the garden household law. ”

After the Fall of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the custom of drinking tea formed a tea ceremony with tea as the carrier and even a tea culture, which became an important part of the Chinese ritual music culture: "When the guest arrives, there is tea, and if you want to go, you set up soup, I don't know when it started." However, from the official palace to luli, mo or abolished. In addition, "the Song Dynasty guests set up tea, and the word ordered soup, which is popular in the world." "Tea is a thing, the accumulation is also the spirit, the sleep is also clear, the guests meet each other, in order to do the love of the person also." People under the heavens cannot waste tea, just as they cannot waste wine, and the feelings of non-suitable people are also where the etiquette is. ”

Zen in tea

Drinking tea can wake up the mind and refresh the mind, which is conducive to sitting meditation, so Zen monks almost all day long tea does not leave the mouth, tea garden work is also one of the important contents of the general invitation. Zen Buddhism began to emphasize the sending of ginseng Zen in daily life, and tea is one of the keywords of jungle life, so borrowing tea ginseng Zen and tea Zen has gradually become a habit and trend. All this makes the tea-related records in the Zen Lamp Book, and the list goes on. For example, in the famous case of Zhao Zhou "eating tea and going": Shi (i.e., Zhao Zhou congchen) asked Xin: "Have you ever been here?" "I've been here." The master said, "Eat tea and go." Then he asked the monk, who said, "I have not arrived." The master said, "Eat tea and go." The owner of the backyard asked, "Why did you go to Yeyun to eat tea, but never to Yeyun to eat tea?" "The Master summons the Lord, and the Lord shall say." Master: "Eat tea and go." The nickname "Zhao Zhou Tea" in this public case became a famous Zen allusion in later generations, and "eating tea to go" became a sign and "patent" of Zhao Zhou from being unyielding.

In the Song and Yuan Zen Lantern Records, "eat tea and eat tea", "return to the church to eat tea", "meet tea to eat tea", "meet tea to eat tea, meet rice to eat" and other "mantra" answers appear very frequently, the gist of which is nothing more than to make the questioner put down his attachment and discriminate, and through the experience of eating tea (that is, drinking tea), which is a very ordinary thing, to feel the Zen essence of Matsu Daoyi's so-called "ordinary mind is the Tao". For example, the answer of "how to be a monk's family style" is "three bowls of tea after dinner", and the answer of "how is it to be a western meaning" is "a bowl of tea after the fast", which is both a life language and a Zen language, and the two are blended with water and milk, and all saints are the same, and they truly achieve the goal of sending Zen to daily life. Growing tea, picking tea, drinking tea soaked in the daily life of the jungle, Zen monks have long been commonplace and accustomed to it, but the clever Zen master can secretly imply strangeness and indifference in the bland, extraordinary into the sacred, pointing stones into gold, the so-called "tea Zen taste" is not a lie. In the Song and Yuan Zen Rules, the dazzling tea ceremony formed by the influence of Chinese liturgical music culture is of course the worldly law, but the deep meaning of borrowing tea into Zen and tea Zen behind the tea ceremony is the meaning of the worldly law implied by the tea ceremony, which is also worthy of our in-depth exploration.

Zen rules represented by the tea ceremony

Ability to "outer non" "inner hongdao"

Tang, Song and Yuan Zen monasteries generally have tea halls, tea drums and tea heads, and tea head walkers to facilitate the drinking of tea by monks and foreign officials and Tanyue. For example, the Northern Song Dynasty's "Zen Garden Qing Rules" "Tangtou Fried Points" article says: The waiter of the tangtou respectfully invites the invitee: "After the fast, I specially order tea for someone, and listen to the drums, please go." The sound of tea drums corresponds to the matter of drinking tea one by one, and "playing tea drums" plays a role in hearing and knowing its deeds, and over time it is engraved in the minds of monks in the form of conditioned reflexes. The relevant provisions of "Honshu Taishou, Honji Linsi, and Honshū Zhixian visit and obtain their consent before ordering tea" shows that the monastery respects the wishes of local officials and does not give tea ceremonies in a wishful and conformist manner.

"Zen Garden Qing Rules" "Baizhang Rules Rope Ode" Yun: "Since ancient times, the tea ceremony is the heaviest, and there is a saying that Xie Tea is not thankful for food." The reason why the Zen tea ceremony is called "ritual" is, of course, not only because tea is a good drink, but mainly because for different times, places and people, the Qing rules have formulated different and orderly communicative etiquette. For example, the "Zen Qing Rules" stipulate that "the people are especially fried points in the crowd" stipulates: "If you invite people who are respected by the near above (such as the first seat of the monks, the various parties, the Dharma family, the master, the master, the master, the master, the master, etc.), that is, the three worships of the great exhibition, if not allowed, the three worships." If you ask a person with secondary respect (the precepts of the precepts to be exalted), only touch the three prayers. For example, if the level of intercourse or abstinence is equal (or the brother and nephew of the Dharma family, etc.), but the inquiry is requested. "Tea soup is a guest, and guests can be divided into three categories according to the degree of respect and inferiority: the first seat of the monk, the sude of the various parties, the Dharma dependents, the masters, the uncles, the masters and brothers, the likes of the precepts of the Precepts, the equality of the ordination of the Lapa or the brothers and nephews of the Fa, and the different etiquettes are given for different identities: "Three Worships of the Great Exhibition", "Three Worships of touching the ceremony", and "Inquiry please".

After the Southern Song Dynasty, Hu Weimian said in the "Xianchun Qing Rules and Preface": "Wu's has Qing rules, and Judas Confucianism has the "Book of Rites". In the Yuan Dynasty Sawayama 弌咸, in the "Preface to the Great Qing Rules", he referred to the Zen Qing Rules as the "Great Sutra of jungle rituals". The Yuan Dynasty Tiantong Bhikkhu Yunxiu's work for the Great Qing Rules clearly pointed out that the Zen Qing Rules "began with the Hundred Zhangs, made rituals and made music, prevented people's mistakes, established the middle way with etiquette, and enjoyed guiding disposition." Fragrant candle tea soup is a gift, and the bell fish drum board is happy. Lilly does not lose the outline of the Net, and the clothes have a collar." In the Yuan Dynasty, when exploring the origin of the Qing Rules in the "Order of the Illusionary Residence", Ming Ben believed that if the monks "have the Tao in their hearts, do not wait for etiquette and self-righteousness", naturally do not need "jungle rules"; but "the irregular way of the human heart has been long, half a thousand years ago, it has tasted disintegration", so "the hundred zhangs have been saved by the jungle" and formulated the "jungle ritual law". The preface made by Ouyang Xuan, a scholar of Hanlin in the Yuan Dynasty, quoted the Zen monk as saying that "there is nothing between heaven and earth and there is no ceremonial music, and the position in which he dwells is a ritual, and the daily use of it is often happy", and uses an anecdote by Cheng Hao, one of the founders of the Northern Song Dynasty and Cheng Zhu Lixue, to contrast and praise the ritual and enlightenment effect of the Qing rules: Mr. Cheng Mingdao passed through the Dinglin Temple one day, occasionally saw the Zaitang Ceremony, and sighed: "Three generations of ritual music, all is it!" Ouyang Xuan commented on this anecdote, which was widely quoted by later generations: "Following its natural rules, and the wonderful actions of nature are in it, si does not know the obstacle of reason, and those who know think that it is a method of happiness, which is inherent in it." It is like a fusion of the Confucian ritual music "of course", the Taoist Taoist "natural magic" and the Buddhist birth "tranquility method". In fact, it is intriguing in itself that the Song dynasty scholars, who are determined to exclude Buddhism, praise the monks' dining rituals and record them for posterity. Dongyang Dehui, on the other hand, was more adept at viewing the nature of the Qing rules from a political point of view, and according to his own preface, the compilation of the "Qing Rules of the Hundred Emperors of the Imperial Household" was to "establish a generation of canons" and "make the monks and other foreign gefei and the inner Hongdao, although thousands of people live in groups, sit together in the same hall, sleep together, and eat together, become a lun, not mix the worldly rituals, do not disturb the national constitution, and the Yin Yi King's general system of the trip" to "go up to the vice".

The formalization of the tea ceremony reflects the decay of the jungle interior

There are many bit sequence diagrams and ceremonial patterns on the volume of the Xianchun QingGui, of which there are as many as 11 kinds of bit order diagrams and as many as 12 kinds of ceremonial patterns, which are dazzling. The appearance of these patterns and patterns fully shows that the Southern Song Dynasty Zen Temple pays great attention to the chronological order of various activities, the order of spatial orientation, the level of status, the dignity and inferiority, the length of ordination, the boundaries between monks and laymen, and the relationship between friends and neighbors, and its quantitative degree has almost reached a realm similar to modern operations research.

The "Abbot's Small Seat Soup" article in the "Edict of the Hundred Zhangs Qing Rules" renders the etiquette rules of the jungle to the fullest. According to the ancient times, there are three soups: the first one is divided into two, especially the East Hall and the West Hall, please ask for the first light companion. The second seat is divided into four outs, the first one out, the governor two out, the west order Qin old three out, the east order Qin old four out. The third seat is more, divided into six outs, the mountain to do things, all parties to do things, with the high and low seats. The first light companion of the same person... The jungle is a grand gift of tea soup, and recently many people have not spoken about it because of the competition for the position. In fact, the phenomenon of "competing for the throne" was revealed as early as the "Abbot Xiaozao Soup" article of the "Supreme Qing Regulation": the four verses of the predecessors preached the deeds, and only once in the summer, the brothers were bullying, and the position was competing for the highest, so they stopped. The jungle is scornful, and the good is also lamentable. The abbot should go to church before the summer, give advice, give respect to each other, and gather together in harmony. In order to deal with all kinds of "jungle scorn" phenomena similar to this, there will be a "map out of the tent" that discusses seniority, respect and inferiority: "The bowl map is divided into sixteen plates, and the name is high and low. The wheel has been scheduled, the pre-cursive and the first seat have been discussed, and the abbot has seen it, signed the map, and avoids temporary quarrels. ”

With the increasingly complete internal organizational system and hierarchical system of the Song and Yuan Zen monasteries, the tea ceremony has also gradually shown the color of the difference between relatives and alienation, the difference between honor and inferiority, the order of the order, and the serious formalist tendency. The superficial liturgy and harmony scene represented by the tea ceremony are in stark contrast to the inner workings of the jungle in the bones of the various parties competing for zhuang positions and fat shortages, which is the so-called "gold and jade outside, defeat in it". The red tape that inevitably occurs after the Zen temple reaches a certain scale is the product of the Confucian ritual cultural tradition penetrating the Zen temple to a certain extent, and has its rationality; but it is extremely counterproductive, and the red tape is at the cost of high institutional costs and the absurdity of participating in the Zen monastic path. The day when the formal tendency alienates the rituals is undoubtedly also the time when the Zen jungle is decaying.

Originally published in China Social Science Daily.