大宋僧史略 3.23

3.23

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.'