佛祖統紀 44.50

44.50

During the Yuanfeng era, the authorities, because Heaven and Earth were sacrificed to jointly at the Round Mound, cited the Zhou system as not conforming to ancient principles, and an edict decreed the establishment of the ritual for the Emperor's personal sacrifice at the North Suburb. At the beginning of the Yuanyou era, an edict ordered that officials be assembled in accordance with the previous directive to deliberate in detail. Su Shi submitted a memorial, an outline of which stated: 'Your servant humbly reflects that those deliberating wish to alter the old ways of the ancestral rulers, sacrificing to Heaven at the Round Mound but not to Earth, on no other grounds than asserting that sacrificing to Heaven at the South Suburb on the winter solstice is a yang time and yang position, while sacrificing to Earth at the North Suburb on the summer solstice is a yin time and yin position, and that when seeking spirits according to category, a yang time and yang position cannot be used to seek yin. This is vastly mistaken. When the Supreme God is sacrificed to at the South Suburb on the winter solstice, then none among the hundreds of spirits of Heaven and Earth do not follow along. The Preface to the Odes says: "The clear statutes of August Heaven" refers to the suburban sacrifice to Heaven and Earth. The Book says: "Thereupon he performed the category sacrifice to the Supreme God, offered burnt offerings to the Six Honored Ones, sacrificed from afar to the mountains and rivers, and extended it all around to the host of spirits." The Spring and Autumn Annals records: "Not performing the suburban sacrifice, but still offering the three distant sacrifices." The Zuo Tradition states: "The distant sacrifice is an auxiliary part of the suburban sacrifice." Commentators say: "The three distant sacrifices are to Mount Tai, the Yellow River, and the sea." Or they say: "They are to the stars of the assigned astral fields and to the mountains and rivers." Examining this by means of the Odes, the Book, and the Spring and Autumn Annals, the joint sacrifice to Heaven and Earth has existed for a long time. The Han, Wei, and Tang all employed the ritual of joint sacrifice at the Round Mound, as recorded in their histories.'