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| Buddhist vegetarian cuisine | |||||||||||||||||||
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 A vegetarian restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan serving Buddhist cuisine in buffet style | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 齋菜 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 斋菜 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | đồ chay | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chữ Nôm | 塗齋 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 사찰음식 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 寺刹飮食 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Kanji | 精進料理 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Kana | しょうじんりょうり | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Filipino name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Tagalog | Lutuing Budista | ||||||||||||||||||
| Khmer name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Khmer | ម្ហូបព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា | ||||||||||||||||||
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Ingredients and types of food |
Buddhist cuisine is anAsiancuisine that is followed bymonks and many believers from areas historically influenced byMahayana Buddhism. It isvegetarian or vegan, and it is based on the Dharmic concept ofahimsa (non-violence). Vegetarianism is common in other Dharmic faiths such asHinduism,Jainism andSikhism, as well as East Asian religions likeTaoism. Whilemonks,nuns and a minority ofbelievers are vegetarian year-round, many believers follow the Buddhist vegetarian diet for celebrations.
In Buddhism, cooking is often seen as a spiritual practice that produces the nourishment which the body needs to work hard and meditate.[1] The origin of "Buddhist food" as a distinct sub-style of cuisine is tied tomonasteries, where one member of the community would have the duty of being the head cook and supplying meals that paid respect to the strictures ofBuddhist precepts. Temples that were open to visitors from the general public might also serve meals to them and a few temples effectively run functioning restaurants on the premises. In Japan, this culinary custom, recognized asshōjin ryōri (精進料理) or devotion cuisine, is commonly offered at numerous temples, notably in Kyoto. This centuries-old culinary tradition, primarily associated with religious contexts, is seldom encountered beyond places like temples, religious festivals, and funerals.[1] A more recent version, more Chinese in style, is prepared by theŌbaku school of zen, and known asfucha ryōri (普茶料理); this is served at the head temple ofManpuku-ji, as well as various subtemples. In modern times, commercial restaurants have also latched on to the style, catering both to practicing and non-practicing lay people.
Most of the dishes considered to be uniquely Buddhist are vegetarian, but not all Buddhist traditions require vegetarianism of lay followers or clergy.[2] Vegetarian eating is primarily associated with the East and Southeast Asian tradition in China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea where it is commonly practiced by clergy and may be observed by laity on holidays or as a devotional practice.[3]
In theMahayana tradition, several sutras of theMahayana canon contain explicit prohibitions against consuming meat, including sections of theLankavatara Sutra andSurangama Sutra. The monastic community in Chinese Buddhism, Vietnamese Buddhism and most of Korean Buddhism strictly adhere to vegetarianism.[3]
Theravada Buddhist monks and nuns consume food by gatheringalms themselves, and generally must eat whatever foods are offered to them, including meat.[4] The exception to this alms rule is when monks and nuns have seen, heard or known that animal(s) have been specifically killed to feed the alms-seeker, in which case consumption of such meat would bekarmically negative, as well as meat from certain animals, such as dogs and snakes, that were regarded as impure in ancient India.[4][5] The same restriction is also followed by somelay Buddhists and is known as the consumption of "Threefold Pure Meat" (三净肉). ThePāli Scriptures also indicated that Lord Buddha refused a proposal by his traitor discipleDevadatta to mandate vegetarianism in the monastic precepts.
Tibetan Buddhism has long accepted that the practical difficulties in obtaining vegetables and grains within most of Tibet make it impossible to insist upon vegetarianism; however, many leading Tibetan Buddhist teachers agree upon the great worth of practicing vegetarianism whenever and wherever possible,[6] such asChatral Rinpoche, a lifelong advocate of vegetarianism who famously released large numbers of fish caught for food back into the ocean once a year, and who wrote about the practice of saving lives.[7]
BothMahayana andTheravada Buddhists consider that one may practice vegetarianism as part of cultivatingBodhisattvas'sparamita.[4][3]
In addition to the ban ongarlic, practically allMahayana monastics in China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan specifically avoid eating strong-smelling plants, traditionallyasafoetida,shallot, mountainleek andChinese onion, which together with garlic are referred to aswǔ hūn (五葷, or 'Five Acrid and Strong-smelling Vegetables') orwǔ xīn (五辛 or 'Five Spices') as they tend to excite senses. This is based on teachings found in theBrahmajala Sutra, theSurangama Sutra and theLankavatara Sutra. In modern times this rule is often interpreted to include other vegetables of theonion genus, as well ascoriander. The origin of this additional restriction is from the Indic region and can still be found among some believers ofHinduism andJainism.
The consumption of non-vegetarian food by strict Buddhists is also subject to various restrictions. As well as the aforementioned "triply clean meat" rule followed by Theravada monks, nuns, and some lay Buddhists, many Chinese Buddhists avoid the consumption of beef, large animals, and exotic species. Some Buddhists abstain from eatingoffal (organ meat), known asxiàshui (下水).[8]
Alcohol and other drugs are also avoided by many Buddhists because of their effects on the mind and "mindfulness". It is part of theFive Precepts which dictate that one is "not to take any substance that will cloud the mind." Caffeinated drinks may sometimes be included under this restriction.[9]
In theory and practice, many regional styles of cooking may be adapted to be "Buddhist" as long as the cook, with the above restrictions in mind, prepares the food, generally in simple preparations, with expert attention to its quality, wholesomeness and flavor. Often working on a tight budget, the monastery cook would have to make the most of whatever ingredients were available.
InTenzo kyokun ("Instructions for the Zen Cook"),Soto Zen founderEihei Dogen wrote:
In preparing food, it is essential to be sincere and to respect each ingredient regardless of how coarse or fine it is. (...) A rich buttery soup is not better as such than a broth of wild herbs. In handling and preparing wild herbs, do so as you would the ingredients for a rich feast, wholeheartedly, sincerely, clearly. When you serve the monastic assembly, they and you should taste only the flavour of the Ocean of Reality, the Ocean of unobscured Awake Awareness, not whether or not the soup is creamy or made only of wild herbs. In nourishing the seeds of living in the Way, rich food and wild grass are not separate.[10]
Following its dominant status in most parts of East Asia where Buddhism is most practiced,rice features heavily as a staple in the Buddhist meal, especially in the form of rice porridge orcongee as the usual morning meal.Noodles and other grains may often be served as well. Vegetables of all sorts are generally either stir-fried or cooked in vegetarian broth with seasonings and may be eaten with various sauces. Onions and garlic are usually avoided as consumption of these is thought to increase undesirable emotions such as anger or sexual desire.[11] Traditionally, eggs are not considered vegetarian.[12][13] Seasonings will be informed by whatever is common in the local region; for example,soy sauce and vegandashi figure strongly in Japanese monastery food whileThai curry andtương (as a vegetarian replacement for fish sauce) may be prominent in Southeast Asia. Sweets and desserts are not often consumed, but are permitted in moderation and may be served at special occasions, such as in the context of atea ceremony in the Zen tradition.
Buddhist vegetarian chefs have become extremely creative in imitating meat using preparedwheat gluten, also known asseitan, kao fu (烤麸) or wheat meat,soy (such astofu ortempeh),agar,konnyaku and otherplant products. Some of their recipes are the oldest and most-refinedmeat analogues in the world. Soy and wheat gluten are very versatile materials, because they can be manufactured into various shapes and textures, and they absorb flavorings (including, but not limited to, meat-like flavorings), while having very little flavor of their own. With the properseasonings, they can mimic various kinds of meat quite closely.
Some of these Buddhist vegetarian chefs are in the manymonasteries andtemples which serve allium-free and mock-meat (also known as 'meat analogues') dishes to the monks and visitors (including non-Buddhists who often stay for a few hours or days, to Buddhists who are not monks, but staying overnight for anywhere up to weeks or months). Many Buddhist restaurants also serve vegetarian, vegan, non-alcoholic or allium-free dishes.
Some Buddhists eat vegetarian on the 1st and 15th of the lunar calendar (lenten days), on Chinese New Year eve, and on saint and ancestral holy days. To cater to this type of customer, as well as full-time vegetarians, the menu of a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant usually shows no difference from a typical Chinese or East Asian restaurant, except that in recipes originally made to contain meat, a soy chicken substitute might be served instead.
According to cookbooks published in English, formal monastery meals in theZen tradition generally follow a pattern of"three bowls" in descending size. The first and largest bowl is a grain-based dish such as rice, noodles orcongee; the second contains the protein dish which is often some form of stew or soup; the third and smallest bowl is a vegetable dish or a salad.[14]
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The earliest surviving written accounts of Buddhism are theEdicts written by King Ashoka, a well-known Buddhist king who propagated Buddhism throughout Asia, and is honored by both Theravada and Mahayana schools of Buddhism. The authority of the Edicts of Ashoka as a historical record is suggested by the mention of numerous topics omitted as well as corroboration of numerous accounts found in theTheravada and Mahayana Tripitakas written down centuries later.[15]
Asoka Rock Edict 1, dated to c. 257 BCE, mentions theprohibition of animal sacrifices in Ashoka'sMaurya Empire as well as his commitment to vegetarianism; however, whether theSangha was vegetarian in part or in whole is unclear from these edicts. However, Ashoka's personal commitment to, and advocating of, vegetarianism suggests Early Buddhism (at the very least for the layperson) most likely already had avegetarian tradition (the details of what that entailed besides not killing animals and eating their flesh were not mentioned, and therefore are unknown).[16]
on pp 131-132 : "The Kalinga war, which according to the 13th Rock Edict, was the main factor in Asoka's conversion to Buddhism is not mentioned in either the Theravada tradition or in the Asokavadana, which, since it was transmitted mainly in Mahayana circles, we shall refer to it as the Mahayana tradition…" and on page 141: "It is not wholly clear what form of Buddhism Asoka believed in, but it is evident that it was different from any form existing nowadays…Asoka's reference to his "going forth to Sambodhi" in the 8th Rock Edict may indicate the very beginning of the concept of the bodhisattva…"
Formerly in the kitchen of the Beloved of the gods, King Priyadarsin [another name for Ashoka], many hundreds of thousands of animals were killed everyday for the sake of curry. But now when this Dharma-rescript is written, only three animals are being killed (everyday) for the sake of curry, (viz.) two peacocks (and) one deer, (and) the deer again not always. Even these three animals shall not be killed in the future.
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