Resources for practice leadersThere are six traditional leadership roles in the training temple, the roku chiji, literally six managers of affairs, or six stewards:
(1) prior (tsūsu 都寺): director (2) comptroller (kansu 監寺): finance (3) assistant comptroller (fūsu 副寺): also finance (4) rector (ino 維那) (5) head cook (tenzo 典座) (6) labor steward (shissui 直歳): work leader These are also called the east row, because historically they lined up on the front row on the east side of the hall to form the ryoban for liturgy and ceremonies. Only the ino was directly concerned with training and monitoring the monks in the sodo; the other five were in the administration hall, managing the practical activities of the temple: finances, building maintenance, food supplies, etc. The administration hall was on the east side of the temple complex, while the sodo was on the west side. Today only training temples (senmon sodo) have this kind of officer structure, not local temples serving the laity (dankadera). The titles are mainly honorific and filled when seating people for big ceremonies. The day to day work still gets done, but roles are assigned on a rotating basis. In hybrid North American temples, roles may be appointed on a yearly basis or an event basis. A look at the roku chiji shows why our Sangha Stewardship workshops focused on the tenzo and ino and the board of directors. These functional areas are the way leadership is traditionally organized, although they may include various other roles, tasks and responsibilities. They may be organized in various ways, but the function, approach and context are important. With regard to the two particular roles of tenzo and ino, the tenzo holds leadership in the kitchen and while the ino holds leadership in the zendo. These are two really important venues or centers of practice. The zendo may be obvious, but kitchen less so, even though practicing in the kitchen is about a lot more than just cooking meals. Traditionally, the tenzo was nearly the highest ranking position in the temple, second only to the abbot. |
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