誡初心學人文 Admonitions for Newly-Entering Monks
Translation by Kin Shing, Linbin Zhu, Yao Zhang, and A. Charles Muller
August 6, 2015
[Updated: 2015-08-06T13:39:19.058+09:00]
Table of Contents
| 1. | Introduction |
| 2. | Translation |
The Gye chosim hag-in mun was written by the eminent Goryeo Korean Seon monk Jinul 知訥 in 1205. It is a short guide for newly-ordained monks and nuns, that explains the various pitfalls to be avoided when practicing religious discipline in the monastery. This translation is the result of a reading of the text that was done in a graduate course on Korean Buddhism at the University of Tokyo in the spring of 2015. The main source text we used was Taishō 2019B, but we also compared this with the version contained in the Hangul Bulgyo Jeonseo, vol. 4, pp. 738-9.
By the Haedong monk Jinul of Mt. Jogye.
[T 2019B.48.1004b6] 海東曺溪山沙門知訥述。夫初心之人、須遠離惡友親近賢善。受五戒十戒等、善知持犯開遮。但依金口聖言、莫順庸流妄說。 1 旣已出家參陪淸衆、常念柔和善順不得我慢貢高。大者爲兄小者爲弟。儻有諍者兩說和合。但以慈心相向、不得惡語傷人。若也欺凌同伴論說是非、如此出家全無利益。 2 財色之禍、甚於毒蛇。省己知非、常須遠離。 3
Beginners should keep away from bad friends and associate with good people. When you receive the five precepts, ten precepts, and so forth, you should know well when to observe the rules and when you can break them. You should rely only on the holy teachings from the Golden Mouth 4 and not follow mundane chatter or deluded theories. Once you have left home and entered the pure community (of monks and nuns) you should always remember to be docile and complaisant, and should not be proud or arrogant. Treat your elders as older brothers and treat your juniors as younger brothers. When there is an argument, try to reconcile both opinions. Treat others only with compassion, and do not injure them with harsh speech. If you bully your comrades and wrangle over right and wrong, there is no benefit whatsoever in leaving home. The trouble caused by wealth and sex is worse than that of poisonous snakes. Look into yourself and know your faults, and always keep distance from them.
無緣事則不得入他房院。當屛處不得強知他事。非六日不得洗浣內衣。臨盥漱不得高聲涕唾。行益次不得唐突越序。經行次不得開襟掉臂。言談次不得高聲戲笑。非要事不得出於門外。有病人須慈心守護。見賓客須欣然迎接。
Unless you have real business, don't enter someone else's room. When someone is staying in seclusion, don't pry into his affairs. If it is not one of the six days of purification, 5 you should not wash your underclothes, When you go to wash your face, you should not expectorate in a loud voice. When you get on line to receive your meal, you shouldn't cut in or jump ahead. During walking meditation you shouldn't open your shirt or wave your arms. When talking, don't laugh in a loud voice. Don't go out of the monastery if you don't have real business. Take care of the ill with kindness, and go out to receive guests with joy.
逢尊長須肅恭迴避。辦道具須儉約知足。齋食時飮啜不得作聲、執放要須安詳不得擧顏顧視、不得欣厭精麤。
When meeting elders and seniors, you should make way for them respectfully. When managing the necessities for your life as a monk, you should be frugal and know when to be satisfied. During lunch you should not make noise while eating and drinking. When picking up and putting down (bowls, etc.), you should do so quietly and carefully and not raise your head and look around. You should not take pleasure in fine food or dislike coarse food (you shouldn't be picky).
須默無言說、須防護雜念。須知受食但療形枯爲成道業。須念般若心經觀三輪淸淨不違道用。赴焚修、須早暮勤行自責 6 懈怠。知衆行次不得雜亂。
You should keep silent, and you should keep away from distracting thoughts. You should know [the proper way] of taking food, which is just keeping your body from getting skinny, so that you can achieve the work of the Way. 7 You should recite the Heart Sutra and carefully observe the triply pure donation. 8 You should not go against the function of the Way. When attending services involving the burning of incense, you should be diligent day and night，and repent of your negligence and indolence. You should know the proper order of all procedures, and should not act in a disorderly manner.
讚唄咒願須誦文觀義。不得但隨音聲。不得韻曲不調。瞻敬尊顏、不得攀緣異境。須知自身罪障、猶如山海。須知理懺事懺可以消除。深觀能禮所禮皆從眞性緣起。深信感應不虛影響相從。居衆寮、須相讓不爭。須遞相扶護。愼詳論勝負、愼聚頭閑話、愼誤著他鞋、愼坐臥越次。對客言談不得揚於家醜。但讚院門佛事、不得詣庫房見聞雜事自生疑惑。非要事不得遊州獵縣。與俗交通令他憎嫉失自道情。
When singing hymns of praise and chanting your vow, you should recite the text, paying attention to its meaning. You should not just make noise and be out of harmony. When you revere the honorable countenance of Buddha statues, you should not scatter your attention to other objects. You should know your hindrance of harmful behavior is accumulated as vastly as the mountains and seas. But you should know that it can be eliminated by repentance through principle 9 and activities. 10 You should contemplate deeply that worshipper and worshipped are equally arisen in dependence on the true nature. You should deeply believe that the sympathetic response of the buddhas is not vacuous, but follows immediately like shadows and echoes. In the monastery, you should be humble, avoid struggles and help each other. You should be cautious in regard to: arguments over right and wrong, engaging in idle chit-chat, wearing others’ shoes, and observe the proper order between you and your companions when you sit and sleep. When you talk to guests, you should not air the dirty laundry of the monastery, but instead praise its management and charitable works. You should not go to the treasury to inquire about various matters and thus give rise to doubts. Unless it is necessary, you should not travel around the countryside or hang around with secular people. This makes your companions jealous and ruins their proper emotional state.
儻有要事出行、吿住持人及管衆者、令知去處。若入俗家、切須堅持正念。愼勿見色聞聲流蕩邪心。又況 披襟戲笑、亂說雜事。非時酒食 妄作無礙之行、深乖佛戒。
If you have some business outside the monastery, you must inform the superintendent monk and other supervisors, to let them know where you are going. If you enter a secular household, you must firmly maintain correct mindfulness. You should be on guard against seeing and listening to things that disturb the mind and bring wrong thoughts. Furthermore, you should not open your collar and play around, talk irresponsibly about various matters. Untimely drinking and eating, and deludedly carrying out unbridled activities is profoundly contrary to the Buddha's precepts.
[T2019B.48.1004c8] 又處賢善人嫌疑之間、豈爲有智慧人也。住社堂、愼沙彌同行。愼人事往還。愼見他好惡。愼貪求文字。愼睡眠過度。愼散亂攀緣。若遇示師陞座說法、切不得於法作懸崖想生退屈心。
Furthermore, when you give rise to suspicions among those who are virtuous and kind, how can you be regarded as a wise man anymore? When you stay in a meditation residence, be cautious about practicing with other monks; be cautious about getting involved in social relationships; be cautious about judging others' strong points and weak points; be cautious about being strongly attached to the words in the texts; be cautious about sleeping too much; be cautious about being distracted by objects of the senses. If you encounter a teacher ascending to the pulpit, you should definitely not think obstructive thoughts and give rise to a mental state of retrogression.
或作串聞想生容易心。當須虛懷聞之。必有機發之時。不得隨語學者、但取口辦。所謂蛇飮水成毒、牛飮水成乳。智學成菩提、愚學成生死是也。
On the other hand, you shouldn't think that because you are already familiar with the teaching that you can take it lightly. You should listen to the teaching with an open mind. There will definitely be a moment that you will awaken. You should not echo others merely based on their eloquence. 11 This is like the saying, “snakes drink water and produce poison; cows drink water and produce milk.” When the wise study, they complete bodhi; when the foolish study, they fall into saṃsāra (birth and death).
又、不得於主法人生輕薄想。因之於道有障、不能進修切須愼之。論云。如人夜行罪人執炬當路。若以人惡故不受光明、墮坑落塹去矣。聞法之次、如履薄冰。必須側耳目而聽玄音、肅情塵而賞幽致。下堂後、默坐觀之。如有所疑、博問先覺。夕惕朝詢、不濫絲髮。如是乃可能生正信、以道爲懷者歟。無始習熟、愛欲恚huì癡、纏綿意地。暫伏還起、如隔日瘧。
Moreover, you should not think lightly of the teacher. Because it will set obstacles on your path, and make you unable to advance in your cultivation. You must pay attention to it! The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra says, it is like a man walking at night, who is shown the way by an evil man who carries a torch. 12 If he does not accept the light just because the badness of that man, he could drop into a hole or fall into a pit. The process of listening to the Dharma is like treading on the thin ice. You should try to grasp the profound meaning by paying careful attention with your eyes and ears. You should eliminate your discriminations and afflicted thoughts (calm your discriminations) and appreciate the deep meaning. After the sermon, you should sit silently and reflect on it. If you have any doubts, you should inquire widely with those people who already understand. Be concerned about it in the evening, and inquire about it in the morning. You should not treat it superficial and trivial like strings of hair. If you do so, you will be able to produce the right faith, and embrace the Way in your mind. Without beginning, love, desire, anger and delusion become a habit, which entangle your thinking consciousness. They might temporarily go up and down, just like a fever on the alternating days.
一切時中,直須用加行,方便智慧之力、痛自遮護。豈可閑謾、遊談無根、虛喪天日。欲冀心宗而求出路哉。但堅志節責躬匪懈。知非遷善改悔調柔。勤修而觀力轉深。鍊磨而行門益淨。長起難遭之想道業恆新。常懷慶幸之心、終不退轉。如是久久自然定慧圓明見自心性。用如幻悲智還度衆生、作人天大福田。切須勉之。
At all these times, you must immediately apply the preparatory practices, use the power of skillful means and wisdom, and you will automatically be protected from suffering. How can you be sloppy and undisciplined, just wasting your days talking idly, aspiring for the Chan teaching and [at the same time] avoiding the real practice. You should just strengthen your determination and principle, and examine yourself without laxity. You should know your own mistakes and correct them 13 repent, and be flexible. As you endeavor to practice, your power of analytic meditation will intensify; as you train yourself, your practices will become increasingly pure. If you always give rise to the thought that is difficult to attain, then your Buddhist training will always be refreshed. If you always keep a joyous state of mind, you will never fall back. If you persist for a long time, your meditation and wisdom will be perfectly clear and you will see the nature of your own mind. Using the as-illusion compassion and wisdom to save sentient beings, you become the great field of merit for humans and gods. You should definitely apply yourself to this.
泰和乙丑冬月。海東曹溪山老衲知訥誌
By the Old Haedong monk Jinul of Mt. Jogye in the Eulchuck year (fifth year) of Taehwa (1205)
Notes
2. These few sentences are adopted from Pure Rules of Chan Monasteries (Chanyuan qinggui 禪苑清規, by Changlu Zongze長蘆宗賾 [?–1107] in 1103): 旣已出家，參陪淸衆。常念柔和善順，不得我慢貢高。大者爲兄，小者爲弟。徐言持正，勿宣人短。儻有諍者，兩相和合。但以慈心相向，不得惡語傷人。若也欺凌同列，走扇是非。如此出家，全無利益。(T 2025.48.1138a17 ff.)
3. This sentence comes from Baizhang’s Pure Rules: 財色之禍甚於毒蛇，尤當遠離。(T 2025.48.1138c26)
4. The teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha.
5. The six monthly poṣadha, or fast days: the eighth, fourteenth, fifteenth, twenty-third, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth days of a month, during which lay Buddhist practitioners observe the eight pure precepts 八齋戒. They are the days on which the four mahārājas 四天王 take note of human conduct and when evil demons are busy, so that great care is required and consequently nothing should be eaten after noon, hence the “fast.” the Prajñāpāramitā-śāstra describes them as 惡日 evil or dangerous days, and says they arose from an ancient custom of cutting of the flesh and casting it into the fire.
6. Taishō has 貴; we corrected to 責 based on a note in the HBJ text.
7. See Chixiu Baizhang qinggui 敕修百丈淸規 T 2025.48.1145a16ff.
8. Triply pure generosity, giving, offering, etc. The giver of the donation is empty 施空, the receiver is empty 受空, and that which is donated is empty 施物空. Donation of the highest virtue is carried out without the idea of the distinction between the giver, the receiver, and the gift, and is called the donation of the pure threefold circle. (Skt. trimaṇḍala-pariśuddha)
9. I.e., by seeing their emptiness.
10. Actually carrying out verbal repentance.
11. Alternative rendering: You should not study following the language, merely grasping to verbal explanations.