佛祖統紀 44.52

44.52

真宗以來三歲一郊。必先有事景靈遍享太廟乃祀天地。今議者欲冬至祀天夏至祀地。蓋以為用周禮也。古者一歲祀天者三。明堂享帝者一。四時迎氣者五。祭地者二。享宗廟者者四。凡此十五者皆天子親祭也。今三年一郊。先郊而祭大廟。郊而肆赦。優賞諸軍文武官皆得蔭補。親屬宰相百官皆有賜賚。凡此皆非周禮。此皆不改而獨於地祇則曰。非周禮不當合祭者何也。本朝祖宗欽崇祭祀。儒臣禮官講求損益。非不知圓丘方澤皆親祭之為是。特以時不可行故參酌古今。上合典禮。下合時宜。若一歲再郊。則軍國重有勞費之患也（東坡集）。

'Since the time of Zhenzong, the suburban sacrifice has been held once every three years; there must first be services at the Jingling Palace, and offerings must be presented throughout the Grand Temple, before sacrificing to Heaven and Earth. Now the deliberators wish to sacrifice to Heaven on the winter solstice and to Earth on the summer solstice, presumably taking this to be following the Rites of Zhou. In antiquity, in a single year there were three sacrifices to Heaven, one offering to the Deity in the Hall of Light, five welcomings of the seasonal qi in the four seasons, two sacrifices to Earth, and four offerings in the ancestral temple. All these fifteen were personally sacrificed by the Son of Heaven. Today the suburban sacrifice is held once in three years; before the suburban sacrifice there is a sacrifice at the Grand Temple, and after the suburban sacrifice an amnesty is proclaimed, lavish rewards are granted to the armies, civil and military officials all receive protection privileges, and relatives, grand councilors, and the hundreds of officials all receive gifts. None of these follows the Rites of Zhou. If none of these is altered, yet regarding the Earthly Deity alone it is said that it is not according to the Rites of Zhou and ought not to be sacrificed to jointly—why should that be? The ancestral emperors of our dynasty reverently exalted the sacrifices, and Confucian ministers and ritual officials investigated what to reduce and what to augment; it was not that they did not know that personally sacrificing at both the Round Mound and the Square Pool would be correct, but simply that because it could not be carried out under current circumstances, they weighed antiquity and the present, according with classical ritual above and matching contemporary suitability below. If the suburban sacrifice were held twice in a single year, the military and the state would once again suffer the burden of onerous labor and expense' (Dongpo ji).