大宋僧史略 3.23

3.23

天后朝。道士杜又迴心求願為僧。勅許剃染。配佛授記寺。法名玄嶷。勅賜三十夏。以其乍入法流。須居下位。苟賜虛臘。則頓為老成也。賜夏臘起於此矣。次長慶元年三月。天平軍節度使劉總。以幽州私第為佛寺。詔以報恩為名。仍遣中官焦仙晟。以寺額賜之。總以幽父之故。神情慌怱。故造佛寺。尋奏乞度為僧。勅賜大覺師號。仍加五十臘。此優異其人。欲令入法位高也。且律教許三人同引受戒。得法一時尚推頭名為大。豈分大族王門子弟邪。朝廷以劉氏久據幽州。美總創知順理故。加[萉-巴+(日/(句-口+匕))]賜之慰其意也。梁開平中。吳越王錢氏奏令季男出家。法名令因。勅賜紫衣。號法相大師。加三十臘。自此止。今不聞行此也。所言臘者。經律中以七月十六日是比丘五分法身生來之歲首。則七月十五日是臘除也。比丘出俗。不以俗年為計。乃數夏臘耳。經律又謂十五日為佛臘日也。

During the reign of the Heavenly Empress, the Daoist Du You changed his mind and sought to become a monk. An imperial decree granted permission for him to shave his head and dye his robes, assigning him to Foshouji Monastery, with the dharma name Xuanyi. By imperial decree, he was bestowed thirty summer retreats. Because he had only recently entered the stream of the Dharma, he was required to occupy a junior seat; if he were given unearned monastic age, he would instantly become a veteran. The practice of bestowing summer retreats began with this. Next, in the third month of the first year of Changqing, Liu Zong, Military Commissioner of Tianping Army, converted his private residence in Youzhou into a Buddhist monastery. An imperial edict bestowed the name Bao'en, and further dispatched the palace official Jiao Xiansheng to bestow the monastery name plaque. Because Liu Zong had confined his father, his spirit was perturbed, which was why he built the Buddhist monastery. Soon afterward, he memorialized requesting ordination as a monk. By imperial decree, he was bestowed the master title Dajue, and fifty summer retreats were added. This was to treat him with special distinction, desiring that he enter the Dharma at a high rank. Furthermore, the Vinaya teachings permit three persons to be introduced and ordained together; even when receiving the Dharma at the very same time, the first listed is revered as senior. How could it make distinctions for the scions of great clans and princely gates? Because the Liu clan had long held sway over Youzhou, the court praised Zong for first coming to know obedience to principle; therefore, it added this bestowed favor to comfort his heart. During the Kaiping era of the Liang, King Qian of Wuyue memorialized requesting that his youngest son enter the monastic life, with the dharma name Lingyin. An imperial decree bestowed upon him the purple robe, the title Great Master Faxiang, and added thirty summer retreats. From then on it ceased; today we do not hear of this being practiced. As for what is called 'retreat,' in the sūtras and Vinaya, the sixteenth day of the seventh month is the beginning of the year in which a monk's fivefold dharma-body comes into being; therefore, the fifteenth day of the seventh month marks the completion of the retreat. When a monk renounces worldly life, he does not reckon his age by mundane years, but counts summer retreats. The sūtras and Vinaya also call the fifteenth day the 'Buddha's retreat day.'