大宋僧史略 1.20

1.20

To restate it: when it was said earlier 'the eighth day of the month', was that for the Eastern Xia [China] or the Western Regions? If one traces the branches to find the root and follows the water to seek the source, then the matter will be complete and the principle coherent. Moreover, theories regarding the New Year in India differ. In the Gaoseng zhuan, when Huiyan debated the center and the periphery with He Chengtian, he said that the Western Regions take the month with the dipper pointing to chen as the beginning of the year. The biography also says that the thirtieth day of the twelfth month is called the Month of the Great Miracle, which corresponds to the fifteenth day of the first month in this land, referring to the Xia calendar; and they take the sixteenth day, when the crescent wanes, as the first day of the month. It is not yet clear whether the month pointing to chen takes the day the moon appears in the present third month as the start of the year, or whether it follows the division of fortnights. In the Western lands there are no names like the first, second, or third months; they merely take the asterism associated with the month as its name, such as the month of Vaiśākha or Kārttika.