釋氏要覽 3.263

3.263

律云因佛說掃地勝利。時諸老宿比丘皆棄禪誦掃地佛止曰我為知事人說其知事。又不遍掃佛令鳴犍椎總集共為之。此普請之始也。

The Vinaya states that because the Buddha spoke of the great benefits of sweeping the ground, at that time all the senior and elder bhikṣus abandoned meditation and recitation to sweep the ground. The Buddha stopped them, saying, "I spoke of it for the officers." Those officers, however, did not sweep everywhere. The Buddha had the ghaṇṭī sounded to assemble everyone to do it together. This is the origin of the general invitation.