大宋僧史略 3.6

3.6

皇帝誕日。詔選高德僧。入內殿賜食加厚嚫。尋文起於後魏之間。多延上達。用徼福壽。唐自代宗。置內道場。每年降聖節召名僧。入飯嚫。謂之內齋。及文宗大和七年十月。改慶成節。勅停僧道內齋。至武宗初年。重置內道場。并設內齋。僧道獻壽。會昌四年六月。停內齋及內長生道場。宣宗即位元年六月二十二日。勅復置內齋。許僧道獻壽。梁祖開平三年大明節日。帝御文明殿。設僧齋。宰臣翰林學士預之。我大宋皇帝誕節。兩街僧錄道錄首座并公薦兩街分僧賜紫衣師號。了便同賜齋。又聞晉漢周帝生日。設百僧後量滅令數人而已。

On the Emperor's birthday, imperial decrees were issued to select monks of lofty virtue to enter the inner palace, where they were bestowed food and abundant gifts. Searching the texts, this began during the Later Wei, when those of superior attainment were frequently invited in order to seek fortune and longevity. From Emperor Daizong of the Tang, inner practice centers were instituted, and on each birthday festival famous monks were summoned into the palace to receive meals and donations, which were called inner feasts. By the tenth month of the seventh year of the Dahe reign of Emperor Wenzong, the name was changed to the Qingcheng Festival, and an imperial decree halted inner feasts for monks and Daoists. In the early years of Emperor Wuzong, the inner practice center was reinstituted, together with the inner feasts, where monks and Daoists offered longevity felicitations. In the sixth month of the fourth year of Huichang, inner feasts and the inner long-life practice center were discontinued. On the twenty-second day of the sixth month of the first year after Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, an imperial decree reinstated the inner feasts and permitted monks and Daoists to offer longevity felicitations. On the Daming Festival day in the third year of Kaiping under Emperor Taizu of the Liang, the Emperor visited the Wenming Hall and hosted a vegetarian feast for monks, in which the chief ministers and Hanlin Academicians took part. On our Great Song Emperor's birthday festival, the Buddhist Registrars, Daoist Registrars, and Rectors of the Two Streets, together with monks officially recommended from the divisions of the Two Streets, are bestowed purple robes and master titles; when this is concluded, they are granted a feast together. Furthermore, I have heard that on the birthdays of the emperors of the Jin, Han, and Zhou, a hundred monks were provided for at first, but later the number was reduced to just a few individuals.