佛祖統紀 33.26

33.26

Upholding the Fast: The Buddha said, "At midday, the Buddhas of the three periods eat." (Piluosanmei jing; this is what is now called the midday meal.) The proper time to eat is noon; if the shadow of the sun passes by a single hair or an instant, it is immediately the improper time. (Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya) If a monk eats at an improper time, it is a pāyattika. (Dharmaguptaka Prātimokṣa; the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya translates the meaning of pāyattika as 'falling', falling into the hell of boiling and cooking.) The essence of the fast is not eating past midday. (Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra) The Buddha said, "Upholding the fast for one day yields provisions for six hundred thousand years, and furthermore possesses five blessings: few illnesses, bodily ease, little sleep, little lust, and rebirth in heaven with knowledge of past lives." (Za piyu jing) Fast (zhai) means to equalize (qi)—it equalizes the karmas of body and speech. Equalizing is simply the Middle Way. Not being permitted to eat afterwards indicates that outside the Dharma-realm of the Middle Way, there is no other Dharma. (Qingguanyin shu)