The Eastward Transmission of Buddhism and the Transformation of Chinese Food Ethics

Buddhism entered China via the Silk Road around the turn of the Han dynasty, initially just one among several foreign religions, coexisting alongside — and at times borrowing from — native Confucian ethics and Daoist ideas about health. Over the centuries-long process of localization during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties period, Buddhism's precept against killing gradually seeped into the everyday ethical judgments of the Chinese people, becoming a major force in shaping attitudes toward food.

Karma Enters Daily Life

Buddhism's teaching of karma and rebirth transformed the killing of animals for food from a simple matter of survival into an act with moral consequences — harming another life could bring retribution upon oneself. This interpretive framework allowed abstaining from meat to expand from a practice reserved for religious devotees into an everyday act of virtue that ordinary people could understand and practice.

Merging With Native Ethics

As Buddhist views on diet took root in China, they were not simply transplanted wholesale, but underwent a process of localization:

• They merged with the Confucian concept of ren, or benevolence, emphasizing a heart that cannot bear to see suffering
• They grafted onto folk beliefs in karmic retribution and the accumulation of merit through good deeds
• They gave rise to customary practices such as eating vegetarian on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month
• They gave birth to an entire vegetarian industry catering specifically to lay believers at home

This centuries-long interaction between an imported religion and native culture ultimately transformed vegetarianism from a doctrinal requirement into a cultural habit woven deeply into the fabric of everyday Chinese life.