Confucianism advocates benevolence and righteousness, and vegetarianism is the basis of benevolence, so Confucianism also advocates vegetarianism.
It is recorded in the South China True Classics:
Yan Yuan asked Confucius. Confucius said: If you fast, I will sue you. Yan Yuan said: If you return to poverty, you will only stop drinking and staying in the meat for a long time. Confucius said: it is a sacrificial fasting, not a spiritual fasting. ……”
This means that Yan Yuan asked Confucius for advice, while Confucius asked him to fast first. Yan Yuan replied that he was poor and had not drunk or eaten meat for a long time. Confucius further asked Yan Yuan to "live in the heart", which means to purify the soul. Thus, when Confucius preached to his disciples, he also asked them to observe precepts.
"Mencius? Liang Huiwang also has:
A gentleman is to an animal, seeing its life, he can't bear to see its death and smell its voice, but he can't bear to eat its meat.
Since Confucius and his disciples are vegetarians, why are there so many contradictory records in many Confucian classics? For example, it is recorded that: "(Confucius) The fish is hungry and the meat is defeated, and it does not eat" ("The Analects of Confucius? Xiang Dang), which means that Confucius does not eat rotten fish or meat.
In fact, there are often contradictory records in ancient books. The reason may be due to the mistakes or tampering of ancient copying. You know, in the era when Confucius and his disciples lived more than 2,000 years ago, books were copied on bamboo or wood chips in ancient Chinese characters which were very different from modern Chinese characters. -Author's Note]] The circulation of books depends entirely on manual copying. Many Confucian classics (including The Analects of Confucius) were compiled by disciples after the death of Confucius, and they were copied by hand and circulated among the people for hundreds of years. Among them, the errors in the memory of Confucius disciples are inevitable, and the disciples of various factions will have different opinions. Some scholars believe that after Confucius, his disciples were mainly divided into eight schools. Confucius has 3,000 disciples, but the sages are only 72, and Confucius learned the Tao in his later years, and those who didn't learn the Tao can't preach. Therefore, among these 3,000 disciples, there are not many who really accept Confucius' preaching as Yan Yuan did, and most of them are ordinary students. As for some students, they may not have followed Confucius for much time, but after the death of Confucius, there are certainly many people who "wrote books and made statements" under the guise of Confucius. Therefore, it is still a question (which is also the most suspicious point) whether all the Confucian classics handed down in this world are compiled by beginners.
If Confucius said "don't eat rotten fish or meat", it may be said to those who eat meat. Confucius used to be an official and had contact with many ordinary people. He would not persuade meat eaters to be vegetarian every time. When he saw others (unwilling to throw away meat because it was expensive) eating spoiled meat, he would naturally advise them not to eat it. This is human nature, not to encourage others to eat meat. People who don't understand it may mistakenly think that Confucius is not a vegetarian.
In fact, "Don't eat rotten fish or meat" is something that even children know. Why should it be written in the words and deeds of such a great saint? Isn't it a bit strange? A more reasonable explanation is that Confucius used this as a reason, or was thought to have used this as a reason to refuse fish or meat sent by others. Vegetarians may all have this experience. Some people don't know that you are a vegetarian, so in some cases they may send you some meat food. Generally, you will explain to them that I am a vegetarian and refuse to accept it; But sometimes, it may be inconvenient to explain for some reason, but simply refused, without any reason, or refused under the pretext that the food is not fresh (this method is also a neat way to refuse for a casual acquaintance who will never meet again in this life, and it is not applicable to anyone to talk about vegetarianism at length); Or in some cases, you can simply refuse, because if you tell him that you are a vegetarian, he will buy you some vegetarian food, and you don't want to accept his things at all. If others don't know the truth, they won't think I'm a vegetarian. Therefore, if Confucius once refused fish or meat sent by others in this way, then the descendants who have heard of this matter or some disciples who are not very close may think that Confucius just doesn't eat rotten fish or meat, but is not a vegetarian.
Therefore, Confucianism advocates vegetarianism, but after years of changes, many classics have added the personal consciousness and opinions of many later generations, which makes people confused. The religions we are in contact with now are all mixed with a lot of people's consciousness, and many doctrines and classics have been revised or even rewritten, so it is not surprising that misleading articles appear, but as long as we carefully study Confucian classics and understand their central ideas, we will understand that the "benevolence" advocated by Confucianism is advocating vegetarianism.