大宋僧史略 3.14

3.14

內供奉授僧者。自唐肅宗聚兵靈武。至德元年。迴趨扶風。僧元皎受口勅。置藥師道場。令隨駕仗內赴。請公驗。往鳳翔府開元寺。御藥師道場。三七人六時行道。時道場內忽生一叢李樹。奉勅使驗實。李樹四十九莖。元皎表賀批答。瑞李繁滋國興之兆。生伽藍之內。知佛日再興。感此殊祥。與師同慶。又李讓國宣勅云。勅內供奉僧元皎。置此官者元皎始也。次有子麟者。泉州人也。繼受斯職。憲宗朝。端甫皓月栖白相次應命。朱梁後唐晉漢周我大宋無聞此職。為引駕大德者。唯端甫稱之。此必勅補。儻自號私署。安可稱之。此命近亦不聞矣。然則車駕巡幸還京。僧道必具旛幢螺鈸遠迎。僧錄道錄騎馬引駕。而無敢自稱引駕者。太祖英武聖文神德皇帝勅兩街僧道。各備威儀迎駕。今以為常式矣。

Regarding the appointment of monks as Monastic Officials of the Inner Service (Neigongfeng): this began when Emperor Suzong of the Tang gathered troops at Lingwu. In the first year of the Zhide era, when returning toward Fufeng, the monk Yuanjiao received an oral edict to establish a Bhaiṣajyaguru ritual sanctuary and was ordered to accompany the imperial carriage within the imperial retinue. He requested official credentials to go to Kaiyuan Monastery in Fengxiang Prefecture to oversee the imperial Bhaiṣajyaguru ritual sanctuary, where three times seven persons practiced the path during the six intervals of the day. At that time, a clump of plum trees suddenly sprouted inside the ritual sanctuary. An imperial commissioner was dispatched to verify the fact: the plum tree had forty-nine stems. Yuanjiao submitted a congratulatory memorial, and the imperial rescript responded: 'The luxuriant growth of the auspicious plum is an omen of the state's prosperity. Sprouting within the saṅghārāma, it reveals the re-illumination of the Buddha sun. Moved by this extraordinary auspicious sign, We share this joy with the Master.' Furthermore, Li Rangguo proclaimed the imperial edict, which said: 'Decree to Monastic Official of the Inner Service, monk Yuanjiao...' The establishment of this post began with Yuanjiao. Next was Zilin, a native of Quanzhou, who succeeded to this office. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, Duanfu, Haoyue, and Qibai successively answered this imperial appointment. Under the Zhu Liang, Later Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou, and our Great Song, this post has not been heard of. As for being a Carriage-Leading Bhadanta, only Duanfu held this title. This must have been an imperial appointment; had it been a self-assumed private title, how could it have been called as such? This appointment has also not been heard of recently. However, whenever the imperial carriage tours and returns to the capital, monks and Daoists must prepare banners, standards, conches, and cymbals to welcome the carriage from afar; the Buddhist Registrars and Daoist Registrars ride horses to lead the carriage, yet none dare to privately call themselves 'Carriage-Leaders'. Emperor Taizu, the Martial, Sagely, Literary, and Divinely Virtuous, decreed that the monks and Daoists of the Two Streets each prepare solemn regalia to welcome the imperial carriage, which has now become a permanent regulation.