There were stipulated in detail in the Vinaya text. Many stipulations have been preserved intact by Buddhist communities in the southern countries, while in the northern countries, owing to climatic, conventional and other differences as well as historical transitions, the monastic life has undergone a lot of changes. Details are not easy to list here. If you have specific questions, we can talk about them briefly. (From Essentials of Buddhism: Questions and Answers)
The original meaning of “Conglin” is grove or forest. A thickly populated monastery is just like a forest with plenty of trees, so it is called “conglin”, meaning great monastery (Mahavihara). “Qinggui” means the rules or regulations daily observed by the monks or nuns in monasteries, which are laid down according to the Vinaya enacted by the Buddha and adapted to prevailing conditions, including climate, geography, social customs, laws and regulations of the state, as well as sectarian characteristics, etc. the earliest monastery rules in China were initiated by Dao’an of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the 4th century.
A recitation assembly (Uposatha Kamma) is held every half-month. The monks assemble to recite the text of precepts (Patimokkha), and to examine, according to Vinaya, everyone’s conducts in the past fortnight. The procedure is through confession and exposure by others. At the end of the annual rainy season retreat, a ceremony known as Pavarana is held. Pavarana means satisfaction with self-criticism and others’ exposure. By this means, each expresses repentance for his own faults. It is, in fact, also a meeting for reviewing the monastic life. as to consultation on other matters, meetings are called whenever necessary. (From Essentials of Buddhism: Questions and Answers)
The understanding of acupoints for Chan medicine has distinct academic versions. Chan medicine stresses: deep multiple abscess of acupoints change with space-time and everything’s changes on the premise of life, for which there are quality change and liquidity of locations. Chan medicine says “location accurate” means the location of the efficacy is accurate, rather than accurate graphics, coordinates and size. Chan medicine stresses “conformity of pneuma, mind and spirit” and “alternate softness and hardness”, requiring doctors to have “universal compassion” and “learning from a painful experience” and build a Bodhisattva’s realm of connecting to the heart and understanding each other with patients deeply. Understanding patients spoken of here is not simple medical ethics but ineffable medical skills. Massage therapy in Chan medicine is not simple to exercise the muscles, and the bones and tendons but stresses the transmission of the state and energy information. The use of acupoints methods like one finger Chan, two fingers pointing up as well as palm Chan, boxing Chan and so on, brings back life to a patient. (From Shaolin Encyclopedia)
The three are all traditional dharma-gates. However from what I have learned from my personal experience in the past twenty years, I should like to point out that pursuing one’s self-cultivation in the milieu of everyday life in the mundane world can be established as a very reliable and down-to-earth mode suitable for carrying on Chan-oriented self-cultivation. And such a mode of self-cultivation is especially conducive to amplifying the already-secured accomplishments of such practitioners as have already succeeded in consolidating, in their psyches, their acquisition of full compliance with sila and vinaya, of Samadhis, and of prajna. According to some Buddhist Scriptures, all life-improving undertakings belong in the category of Buddha-work. Buddhism calls on all Buddhist votaries to evolve their self-cultivation programs not only in the milieu which is in the mundane world but in the context of their everyday life. Moreover to conduct self-cultivation in the milieu which is in the mundane world can yield the extra benefit of cultivating in a Buddhist votary the initiative to establish or strengthen close contacts with the masses.
The quintessence of Buddhism is its religious practice, not its Tripitaka. The same can be said of Chinese culture whose quintessence is not the Thirteen Confucian Classics, the Twenty-four Histories, and the classics left behind by all the historic figures in Chinese history, but the Chinese people’s historic achievements. The translation of the Buddhist Scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese constituted only a preparatory or preliminary stage that paved the way for Buddhism to carry on its religious practice in later centuries in China. From a historical perspective, Buddhism is probably viewed as an entity functioning as a “supplement” to both the mundane life and the political life existing within the bounds of the Chinese territory. Here, by “supplement” is meant that Buddhism plays “the role of an auxiliary edifying and pacifying agent”. Buddhist institutions in China regard “the role of an auxiliary edifying agent” as a channel through which they can carry on their religious program of helping all sentient beings with gaining liberation. To help all sentient beings with gaining liberation constitutes the basic goal of Buddhism and also the reason with which Buddhism justifies its emergence and survival. In Chinese history there have been no social systems or sovereign powers but leaves a portion of the Chinese population malcontent with their governance. And Buddhism functions exactly for mollifying and allaying the said portion of the Chinese population.(From My Heart My Buddha)
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