First of all, let’s look at the theories, concepts, and moral cultivation of food:

1. Buddhism believes that all objects that are beneficial to people, can cause people to persevere, and make people happy can be called Food, and divided it into four categories: segmental food, touching food, thinking food, and conscious food. At the same time, he pointed out that all forms of life depend on food to survive. This is unprecedented in our country, thus expanding and deepening our country's understanding of "food".

2. Buddhism requires monks to make five kinds of visualizations before eating: (1) Calculate the amount of merit and measure where you came from; (2) Think about your own virtues and lack of supplies; (3) Prevent distractions. Too much, greed, etc. are the root cause; (4) good medicine for good things, to cure physical dryness; (5) for the cause of enlightenment, you should receive this food. This better reflects Buddhism’s attitude towards diet and its views on the role and purpose of diet. In view of this, Huang Tingjian, a famous scholar in the Song Dynasty, wrote "Five Views on Eating for Scholars and Officials", integrating the above-mentioned Buddhist ideas into Confucian ideas, showing that it is important for people to reflect on self-discipline, develop the habit of valuing the labor of others, cherishing food, and improve morality. , which can serve as inspiration and reference.

3. The Buddhist precepts and rituals on eating have expanded and enriched the functional role of eating behaviors in our country, that is, in addition to the usual hunger relief, nutrition, taste, socializing and entertainment, and health preservation, It has also been endowed with the functions of offering sacrifices, cultivating the mind and educating the mind, and has a strong cultural charm. No wonder Cheng Hao, a master of Neo-Confucianism, visited Dinglin Temple and saw the majesty of the monks, their progress and retreat, and thought that "the rituals and music of the three generations are all in it."

Secondly, look at the diet structure and customs and habits:

1. Regarding vegetarianism. Su Dongpo once wrote "Ode on Cai Geng", which strongly advocated the connection between vegetarianism and poverty, being kind and not killing, and returning to nature. Generally speaking, vegetarian food is light, delicious, rich in nutrients, and not easy to harm the spleen and stomach. It is indeed an ideal food that is good for health and longevity. At present, my country's vegetarian dishes have developed into thousands of varieties and have become an important part of the people's diet. As we all know, Buddhism teaches compassion and abstains from killing, but in the early days when it was introduced to our country, monks were allowed to eat three kinds of pure meat. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Emperor Wu of Liang was a devout believer in Buddhism and strictly prohibited monks from eating all meat. Since then, thousands of Buddhist temples across the country have adopted vegetarian food, and lay believers have also tried their best to follow suit. As a result, a vegetarian trend has been formed in the whole society. This custom became even more popular after the Song Dynasty, and many temples across the country were able to prepare some famous vegetarian dishes that were both delicious and delicious. Vegetarian restaurants specializing in vegetarian dishes have also appeared in society to meet the needs of Buddhists and vegetarian lovers. Even the imperial palace has a special "Suju" for the emperor and empress to use during fasting days. It can be said that it is precisely because of Buddhism’s advocacy and need for vegetarian food that the Chinese vegetarian system was formed and flourished.

2. About tea. Tea has appeared as early as the Zhou Dynasty in my country, but before the Jin Dynasty, it was mostly used as medicine or for making tea and porridge. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, some Buddhist Zen masters discovered that tea has the effect of refreshing the mind, relieving fatigue, and can just solve the problems of lack of energy, fatigue and sleepiness caused by not eating in the afternoon and meditating at night. Therefore, they searched for or planted it everywhere, drank a lot, and promoted This led to the formation of the tea-drinking custom in society. Especially after the founding of Zen Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, many Zen temples paid equal attention to agriculture and Zen, and planted, cultivated and produced some fine teas, which over time became famous. Since Buddhism abstains from alcohol, tea has become the most important drink in Buddhist temples. The promotion, planting and demand for tea in Buddhist temples have naturally affected lay believers and people from all walks of life. During long-term tea tasting and exchanges, people have discovered that tea can also prevent or treat many diseases, produce fluids, quench thirst, and relieve hangovers. It is greasy, has many advantages and few disadvantages, and is suitable for people of all ages, so they rush to drink it, creating a rich and colorful tea culture, making tea a must-have drink in ordinary people's homes.

It is worth mentioning that through the "tea-horse trade" and exchanges between countries, tea spread to various ethnic minority areas and countries around the world, becoming one of the three major beverages in the world. Especially in Japan, monks combined tea drinking with spiritual cultivation and interpersonal communication to create the world-famous "Tea Ceremony", which reflected the unique "blood" relationship between tea and Buddhism.