Buddhism not eat animal?Mystery of Buddhist vegetarian meal

Buddhist vegetarian meal is a dish that monk eats

Buddhist vegetarian meal is a Buddhist dish whose purpose is not to kill creatures or to eliminate worldly desires.

Recently, there are Buddhist vegetarian meal restaurants that serve Buddhist vegetarian meal for dieting purposes or for tourists. (In rare cases, there are some buddhist vegetarian meal restaurants that use fish broth)

Ingredients to avoid in Buddhist vegetarian meal are animal ingredients and ingredients called gokun(five pungent roots), which have a strong scent such as garlic, green onions, and leeks etc… There are differences in the five pungent roots depending on the region, because it was thought that the ingredients with a strong scent would give them energy from it and lead to life-threatening acts.

However, spices are often used in India, where Buddha was born. that’s strange.

The Buddhist vegetarian meal itself varies greatly from country to country, and it is quite interesting to investigate.

Buddha did not avoid animal ingredients

As you know, it was Buddha who opened Buddhism. Buddha originally did not avoid animal ingredients.

Buddha was doing a strict “ascetic” to gain enlightenment, but after doing so strict ascetic for several years, he is reduced to a skeleton and eventually collapsed.

At that time, he received porridge from a woman, recovered his physical strength, and later became enlightened.

There, Buddha noticed.

Reference article:What’s beyond enlightenment? There is your own truth 💖

Balance is important in everything.

He denied the honorable life of having money and power, and the opposite, painful fasting and ascetic, and preached that 中道 (Madhyamā-pratipad) is right.

Eat meat and fish in a natural way, without choosing what someone gives you. Therefore, Buddha was not a strict vegan, but also ate meat and fish to protect the 中道 (Madhyamā-pratipad).

It had to been changed the commandments

There are various theories,There is such a theory in one theory.Buddha was born in India. Indian monks lived on two meals a day. Also, They had a habit of chanting sutras and getting money by saying Takuhatsu (religious mendicancy), but when this was introduced to China, it didn’t work well.

This is because China is colder than India, and if you don’t eat three meals a day, you won’t be able to continue your physical strength. And there was no custom of Takuhatsu(religious mendicancy).

It was necessary to change the precepts, but if the precepts were changed easily, There is a possibility that some people will try to control people by using Buddhism due to misinterpretation.

Therefore, apart from the original precepts, strict dietary restrictions were set as vegan or vegetarian.

The strict food commandments may have been reimported into India, or it is possible that some denominations continued ascetic.

This is as it is a historical change, but Buddha cherished the 中道 (Madhyamā-pratipad), so he ate meat and fish.

Japan did not eat creatures before the introduction of Buddhism

Japan was a country that banned eating creatures for about 1200 years. This was due to the influence of Shinto, and the upper class lived like this.

Japanese Buddhist vegetarian meal has achieved a unique development in combination with Shinto. This has a great influence on the dishes that are later called “Japanese food”.

We entertained others, expressed gratitude, pursued appearance and delicacy, reflected the beauty of nature and the four seasons in cooking, and developed our own customs.

For example, according to Japanese custom, it is said ”Itadakimasu” before eating. This is grateful to the people, farmers, producers, everything who provided the food. And of course, thanks to nature, soil, rain, wind, sun, life, everything that created them.

We can only live by eating living things.

Let’s balance

Please give it a shot. Click here for Vave’s recipe.