大宋僧史略 3.6

3.6

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.