In this paper, I examined the reality of Ji'in-ho 寺院法 (the law of temples), which existed along with the 公家法 (the law for court nobles) and Bakufu-ho 幕府法 (the law of the Shogunate), giving particular attention to the regulations of Zen temples. In China the laws for Zen temples were enacted as Seiki 清規 (literally 'pure regulations'), however, in this paper I have collected the original documents pertaining to these laws in Japan. I emphasized clarification of the whole image, hoping for this groundwork to be used as the basic data for comparing regulations of other sects of Buddhist temples. There were three divisions among Medieval Zen: the Five Great Temples 五山官寺系 such as Nanzenji, Kenchoji, etc.; the Rinzai school 臨済系林下寺院 such as Daitokuji, Myoshinji and Buttsuji, etc.; and the Soto school 曹洞宗系寺院 such as Eiheiji, Sojiji, etc. For the Five Great Temples, under protection of the Kamakura Shogunate and the Muromachi Shogunate, the law was fixed in consultation with Zen priests as a part of the law of the Shogunate. In the individual temples, the laws known as Kai-ho were written, among other places, on temple walls, Kabegaki 壁書 Administrative positions, including that of the head priest who would usu ally hold the seat in one temple until the end of his life, were made transferable. In order to choose competent people, transfers were required after only a short term in the office. This system was called Kugai 公界. The term Kugai was later expanded to mean 'a space not privately occupied', 'outside world' or 'public use' when the word came to be widely used outside of temples. This term is very important when we think about the idea of what 'public (0-)' means in Japanese society. It is thought that the head priest of Daitokuji and others were succeeding the position on arbitrary basis since Kaisan Ippa Sosho 開山一派相承. In fact, three candidates were chosen and the head priest was decided by a lottery held in front of Kaisan no To 開山の塔 (the pagoda of the founder of a temple). All administrative positions were transferable. In many of the local temples, including the subsidiary temples, personnel transition was strictly implemented. Minor temples (tatchu 塔頭) within a greater temple were also under the same type of regulation, moreover, there was an active interchange of personnel between local subsidiary temples. As for the SoW school, Keizanjokin 瑩山韶瑾 sect had developed rapidly because the head priest was chosen by turns. The sect established base temples where the promotions were assured, and with the help from the government each temple was accorded a rank, eventually forming a hierarchy which was a different one from the Great Five Temples. The idea of the Zen regulations is epitomized in the term 'kugai'. Although this regulation of transfers was originally maintained by the Buddhist law, the guarantee of having worldly power became more important for the person who held the Kugai position due to autonomy among priests and authority of the founder of the temple, the Shogunate, the Imperial court and the local authori・ ties became very influencial for maintaining the regulation. Therefore, instead of the expansion of power of the temples, inclination to power struggle was converged in the authorities. |