Discipline

We have two stories about discipline, one in a fictional novel by Kim Dung, and one in the history of Chan (Zen) Buddhism.
In China in the Song dynasty there was a large, powerful brotherhood, the Beggars' Guild (Cái Bang), a guild of beggars. A beggar who was not in the Beggars' Guild had no hope of surviving. Even begging had to have gangs. But the Beggars' Guild was also a chivalrous society, often doing voluntary good works for the world. Every member who went begging had to know martial arts. The Guild had clear ranks: the higher one's rank, the more bags one carried. Carrying nine bags made one the highest elder. The Guild had firm rules. The guild leader was Hồng Thất Công, one of the five martial overlords of China at that time. Hồng Thất Công had two supreme skills: the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms and the Dog-Beating Staff Technique.
Once Hồng Thất Công met Hoàng Dung and Quách Tỉnh, grew fond of them, and unexpectedly taught the Dog-Beating Staff Technique to Hoàng Dung and passed on the leadership of the guild too, without asking anyone's opinion. He taught the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms to Quách Tỉnh. His handing the leadership to Hoàng Dung might be disparaged by shallow people on the grounds that he was lured by her good cooking into giving her the position. It was not really so: Hồng Thất Công was far too shrewd, and understood that Hoàng Dung would be intelligent enough to steer the Beggars' Guild forward. He broke custom, setting aside principle, and gave the staff of authority to a young lady who had never begged a day in her life. But wisely he continued roaming and enjoying himself nearby to make sure no one dared defy the order.
Hoàng Dung had to accept a ritual: standing while all the members of the Guild spat in her face. But afterwards all the Beggars' Guild, including the elders of nine bags, obeyed Hoàng Dung to the letter. Hồng Thất Công had created a powerful guild with extremely high discipline.
Reading the story we think it is fiction. But Kim Dung did not invent everything. He based it on real events from Chinese underground brotherhoods in writing his stories. (the writer Kim Dung has just passed away)

The second story is the true story of Hoằng Nhẫn and Huệ Năng, two patriarchs of Chinese Chan Buddhism.
Huệ Năng came from a poor family in the northern region of Vietnam (formerly called Lĩnh Nam); his father, an official, died early, and Huệ Năng alone had to go into the forest to gather firewood and carry it to town to sell to support his mother. At that time, in the 7th century, Vietnam was subject to China's Tang dynasty. Once, carrying firewood to sell to a rich household, Huệ Năng stood listening to the master of the house chant the Diamond Sutra, and suddenly his inner mind was awakened. Huệ Năng asked the householder what the sutra was, where it could be found, and what he would have to do to go and practise there. The kind householder recommended the Đông Thiền temple in Hoàng Mai district, Kỳ Châu province, far away in China. Understanding Huệ Năng's situation, he promised to support Huệ Năng's mother fully.
Huệ Năng took leave of his mother and went to China to seek the Way. He travelled for a whole year before reaching the temple of the Fifth Patriarch Hoằng Nhẫn. After a few exchanges, Patriarch Hoằng Nhẫn understood that Huệ Năng had already had an initial awakening, but concealed it and set him to carry out assigned chores in the kitchen, very hard labour. There are many stories about the composing of verses and the exhausting pounding of rice. Six months later the Fifth Patriarch called him to the abbot's quarters in the middle of the night to teach the sutra and help him reach true great enlightenment. In the night the Fifth Patriarch passed on the monastic robe and the alms bowl, the tokens of succession as patriarch, to Huệ Năng. Then the Patriarch took Huệ Năng to the river landing and put him on a boat to flee, fearing the community in the temple would find out.
The next morning the whole community in the temple gathered in the Dharma hall and waited a long time without seeing the Patriarch come out to give a Dharma talk. The senior monk Thần Tú then led a few brothers to the abbot's quarters to enquire, fearing the Patriarch was ill. The Patriarch confessed that he no longer had the robe to wear whenever he went up to preach, because the robe and bowl had been handed on to the south. The whole temple seethed with anger. They discovered that the young labourer from the barbarian land of Lĩnh Nam had taken the authentic robe and bowl away. They would not allow a southern barbarian to succeed as the Sixth Patriarch, so they hurriedly chased after him to seize back the robe and the bowl.
The story afterwards is very dramatic and moving. Huệ Năng had to hide for 15 years in the forest until everything calmed down before appearing to teach and formally take up the role of Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Chan Buddhism.

Comparing the two stories, we see that the discipline of the Beggars' Guild was very high. It should have been one of the elders of nine bags who succeeded Hồng Thất Công as guild leader, yet they obeyed and accepted a young "outsider" girl as their leader. In Buddhism, by contrast, discipline was extremely loose. Their master was still alive and well, yet no one was willing to obey. They defied their master's order to carry out a rule of their own, recovering the robe and bowl in order to place on the patriarchal seat the senior monk Thần Tú, whom they thought deserving.
We see that army barracks often bear the phrase "Discipline is the strength of the army." An organisation with high discipline will be powerful. If discipline in Buddhism is as weak as this, of course Buddhism will be weakened. We are not qualified to analyse why Buddhist people were so undisciplined, but we regret it, because some of the teachings of Buddhism are very good and worthy to contribute to the civilisation of humankind.

Discipline is carried out from these elements:

• Obeying when given an order. The more thoroughly one obeys, the higher the discipline.
• Asking permission when one sees something that needs doing. The more meticulously one asks permission, the higher the discipline.
• Reporting when work is completed. The more detailed the report, the higher the discipline.
• Loyalty with all one's heart: once one has chosen a master and a path, one follows it to serve, for better or worse. If good, cultivate it further. If bad, make it good again.
• Fair reward and punishment, as a motive to encourage everyone to strive and cultivate themselves. But there should be little reward and much punishment (everyone think about why, please).

Whoever wants to build their group to be strong and lasting must think about this discipline and build this iron discipline for everyone to follow together.