佛祖統紀 54.62

54.62

Emperor Taizu of the Song decreed that whenever monks and Daoists gather at court, monks should come first and Daoists after; when standing together in the palace courtyard, monks should be on the east and Daoists on the west; during suburban sacrifices to Heaven, Daoists should be on the left and monks on the right (*A Brief History of the Saṅgha* by Saṅgha Controller Ning). Emperor Huizong decreed that Daoists rank above monks. Under Emperor Gaozong, Dharma Master Daofa of Lushan submitted a memorandum to the Department of State Affairs, [stating that] after the Chongning and Daguan eras, Daoists improperly assumed titular ranks, and those like Lin Lingsu who were treated on par with the Two Grand Councils were very numerous, so that Daoists were brazenly placed above monks. During the Jingkang and Jianyan eras, the official ranks assumed by Daoists were already revoked, yet at national memorial incense burnings and public monastery gatherings they still dared to arrogantly take precedence; now it was desired to restore the ancestral system (and so on). Later, according to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, citing customary precedents of changes in rites and the granting of amnesties, Daoists were on the left and monks on the right; the *Jiayou Codified Decrees* and the *Shaoxing New Book* both worded it as "monks and Daoists, monasteries and abbeys"; within the Zhenghe regulations, Daoists being above monks had already been deleted. Soon an imperial decree was received: for all incense burning, standing in ranks, and other gatherings, the established law of the dynastic ancestors should be followed, with monks on the left. In the thirteenth year of the Shaoxing era, Daoist Rectifier Liu Ruoqian of Lin'an Prefecture submitted a request to the Department [of State Affairs] that Daoists be ranked above monks. Metropolitan Saṅgha Rectifier Shankui requested an examination in accordance with the third year of the Shaoxing era, when the Department forwarded Dharma Master Fadao's memorial; subsequently an imperial decree was received ordering that, in accordance with the dynastic ancestors' old system, monks should take precedence, and Liu Ruoqian was notified to acknowledge this.