Can’t eat it

Everyone knows that Buddhist disciples eat vegetarian food, but not many people know that they are not allowed to eat pungent foods. Of course, not eating the five pungent foods is one of the Bodhisattva precepts. Many people who believe in Buddhism have not yet taken the Bodhisattva precepts. Therefore, many people also eat the five pungent foods. It is not surprising that everyone does not know about it. So why doesn’t Buddhism prohibit eating five pungent foods? Let’s first understand what are the five pungents?

What are the five pungents? Five pungents are also called five meats (荤 means grass, so don’t mistake them for meat). In fact, there are many explanations. Let’s follow the Brahma Net Sutra today. These five pungent vegetables include: garlic, green onions, green onions, orchid green onions, and xingqu. In addition to garlic, you may not know the names of the other four foods. Let’s introduce them in detail below:

1. Green onions.

Xiao Ye. It looks like a leek and is also called mountain onion or cold onion. "Compendium of Materia Medica" calls it "scallion". This kind of food is wild food and is rare.

Two, Ci Cong.

Ci Cong is the green onion we usually eat. Cicion is just a correct name.

Three, onion.

It’s just garlic.

Four, promote the canal.

A perennial herb with a strong garlic smell. It is produced in Xinjiang and Khotan, Tibet, India, Iran, Afghanistan and other places. It is an herbaceous plant with a height of two meters. It is not an onion as some people say. Not cilantro either. This is not available in our Chinese region, so it can generally be ignored.

After talking for a long time, in fact, the only things we often see are green onions, garlic, and garlic. In Master Yinguang’s teachings, since we don’t have “Xingqu” in China, we replaced it with “leek” as one of the five pungent ingredients, because the taste of “leek” is indeed strong enough.

Why can’t Buddhist disciples eat the five pungent foods? Because these five plants have two kinds of smells: meaty and pungent. Eating cooked five pungent vegetables will arouse liver qi and easily give rise to lust; eating raw five pungent vegetables will arouse liver qi and give rise to resentment, which will make people easily angry and lose their temper. Once a person has desires and hatred, it will be difficult to maintain a consistent attitude. If you don’t have a pure mind, this is not conducive to practice.

In addition, eating raw onions, garlic, and leeks will cause bad breath. Even for ordinary people, the smell is intolerable and they will definitely avoid them. If you continue to worship Buddha and Bodhisattva, it will definitely be disrespectful.

However, it does not mean that it cannot be eaten at any time, and there are exceptions. If you are sick and cannot recover without eating onions and garlic, then it is still allowed to open a relationship. Buddhism is alive, not dead. However, after eating onions and garlic, you are not allowed to enter the pagoda monk hall. After you have recovered from your illness and no longer eat onions, garlic and other pungent foods, and your body no longer smells bad, you can practice with other people and worship Buddha.