大宋僧史略 1.18

1.18

今東京以臘月八日浴佛言佛生日者。案祇洹圖經。寺中有坡黎師子。形如拳許大。口出妙音。菩薩聞之。皆超地位。每至臘月八日。舍衛城中士女競持香花。來聽法音。詳彼。不言佛生日。疑天竺以臘八為節日耳。又疑是用多論二月八日。臘月乃周之二月也。東西遼敻故。多差異焉。

Nowadays in the Eastern Capital, the bathing of the Buddha takes place on the eighth day of the twelfth month, claiming it to be the Buddha's birthday. According to the Zhihuan tujing, in the monastery there is a crystal lion about the size of a fist whose mouth emits wondrous sounds; bodhisattvas who hear it all transcend stages. Every year, when it comes to the eighth day of the twelfth month, men and women in the city of Śrāvastī vie to hold fragrant flowers and come to listen to the sound of the Dharma. Examining that text, it does not say it is the Buddha's birthday; I suspect that in India the eighth day of the twelfth month was merely a festival. Or I suspect they followed the Sarvāstivāda-śāstra's eighth day of the second month, since the twelfth month was the second month under the Zhou calendar. Because east and west are far apart, many discrepancies arise.