Lay people do not necessarily have to be vegetarians. Vegetarians are for the purpose of growing their compassion and monastics. They can also eat meat when there are no conditions. For example, there are no vegetables in Tibet and it is impossible to survive without eating meat. So whatever we do, we are vegetarians according to the actual situation.

"Buddhist Dictionary" Vegetarian food is based on plants as the main food, that is, as opposed to meat food, which uses animals as food.

In the Mahayana Dharma, the Buddha treats all living beings with the spirit of "love and happiness, compassion and relief from suffering", and he protects living beings and controls the discipline and abstains from killing.

This abstention from killing is the practice of the spirit of compassion, so vegetarianism is advocated.

Entering the Lankavatara Sutra to cover eating meat (Da 16·561): ‘Mahmana!

I believe that people have been born since the beginning, and because of the habit of eating meat, they are greedy for the taste of meat, and even kill each other, stay away from the sages, and suffer the pain of life and death. Those who give up the taste of meat, hear the taste of the true Dharma, practice truthfully in the Bodhisattva Land, and quickly achieve many Anuts.

Luo San Miao San Bodhi.

’ The Precepts of the Bodhisattva’s Heart and Ground in the Brahma Net Sutra also contains the following words: ‘If a disciple of the Buddha eats meat, he will not be able to eat any meat.

All sentient beings see and abandon the seeds of the great compassionate Buddha nature, so all Bodhisattvas cannot eat the flesh of all sentient beings.

Eating meat is an immeasurable sin, and anyone who eats it will be guilty of a minor crime.

’ Tong Jing (Da 24, 1004) also says: ‘Son of Buddha!

If one commits suicide, teaches others to kill, kills conveniently, praises others to kill, rejoices when he sees something done, or even kills with curses, causes of killing, circumstances of killing, methods of killing, karma of killing, and even all those who have a destiny, they are not allowed to kill for no reason.

’ That is to say, although the bodies of all living beings are different, their consciousness is the same, and their love of life and hate of death are the same as human beings. We should not harm their nature by eating meat. Therefore, abstaining from killing and being vegetarian is a convenient way to practice the compassionate spirit of the Buddha.

Mahayana Chapter 6 of the Lankavatara Sutra (Mahayana 16·624a): "Anyone who kills living things is mostly for human consumption. If people do not eat, there is no killing. Therefore, eating meat is the same crime as killing."

’ This means abstaining from killing and being vegetarian are two sides of the same coin.

Southern Buddhism follows the traditional system of begging to survive, so it only strictly abides by the law of abstaining from killing; while Chinese Buddhism is located in the north, where begging for food is not allowed, and most people live in groups and cook by themselves, so they give up meat and advocate vegetarianism.

Vegetarian food "Ding Fubao Buddhist Dictionary" (Miscellaneous language) Vegetarian food means white and rough.

It is a food that does not taste like fish.

Vegetarian diet "Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia" refers to a diet that does not eat fish, meat or spicy food.

This is one of the characteristics of Chinese Han Buddhist culture.

Theravada Buddhism follows the Hinayana law, so monks can eat meat.

Tibetan Buddhism has never tabooed meat and spicy food; Japanese Buddhism is the transmission area of ??Chinese Han Buddhist culture, and early monks also practiced vegetarian food, which is called "Shojin Ryori" in Japanese.

However, in recent times, due to the evolution of the situation, meat consumption has been fully liberalized.

According to Hinayana law, a bhikkhu can eat three kinds of pure meat.

However, the Mahayana scriptures and the "Bodhisattva Precepts Brahma Net Sutra" have a saying about abstaining from eating meat.

For example, in Volume 4 of the Northern Edition of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha told Mahakassapa and other disciples that they were not allowed to eat any meat, as those who eat it would be offended.

Among the forty-eight light precepts in the Brahma Net Sutra, there is also a precept on eating meat, which states that eating meat will destroy the seeds of great compassion. Therefore, all Bodhisattvas are not allowed to eat the flesh of all living beings, with the exception of those who are seriously ill.

In addition, the Lankavatara Sutra, the Yangdi Mara Sutra, the Binding Elephant Sutra, etc. all focus on great compassion. They regard meat-eating and killing as having the same consequences, which is against the conduct of a Bodhisattva. Therefore, monks in the mainland strictly prohibit all meat-eating.

In the history of Chinese Buddhism, there were quite a few people who advocated vegetarianism. Emperor Wu of Liang, who advocated abstention from killing and vegetarianism as an emperor, had the greatest influence on later generations.

After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the trend of taking the Bodhisattva precepts according to the Brahma Net Sutra became very popular. Among them, the meat-eating precepts especially strengthened the importance of vegetarianism in the minds of the Sutra precepts.

Therefore, vegetarianism has become one of the main characteristics of Han Buddhist monks since the Tang and Song Dynasties.

◎Appendix 1: Chapter 4, Section 3 (Excerpt) of "The Buddhist System in Modern China" written by Holmes Welch and translated by Agama. What Chinese temples value is not the time of eating, but the nature of the food.

Fish, meat, eggs, cheese products, wine, and pungent vegetables such as garlic are things that Chinese monks cannot eat or do not eat as a habit.

The Buddha once said that monks can eat fish and meat that are not killed for them.

In the Theravada Buddhist country, monks eat food obtained from alms, including fish and meat, but they cannot have special requirements for food.

Chinese monks generally do not go out for alms.

Their meals were prepared by the monastery, and the food was grown or bought by themselves, or paid as farm rent by tenant farmers.

In this case, if they were eating meat, it would hardly be unintentional.

Moreover, moderation in diet is an ancient Chinese tradition. The successful introduction of Buddhism into China is also due to this tradition.

The Chinese have a deep-rooted belief that if a person gives up a certain desire, he will gain supernatural powers.

Therefore, monks who do not eat meat can exert greater power when performing Buddhist rituals.

If lay people know that a certain temple eats meat, they will not support it.

Some monasteries refuse to allow foreign tourists to stay overnight because they are afraid that they will bring meat and eat in the room.

When World War II was declared over, the mayor of Qingdao asked the abbot of Zhanshan Temple if he could prepare beer for the American generals at an upcoming celebration at the temple.

The request turned out to be denied.

Some monasteries are not so strict.

One book mentions that there was once a monastery that feasted foreigners staying overnight with wine and meat, and the monks even raised glasses to toast them.

According to one informant, small monasteries in rural Shandong Province allowed monks to drink alcohol and eat meat because that was local custom.

In model monasteries such as Jinshan, there is no instance of any violation of fasting rules.