Emperor Wu of Liang Bans Wine and Meat: The Founding of Chinese Buddhist Vegetarianism

The precept against killing in early Indian Buddhism did not necessarily require monks to abstain from meat entirely. Under the practice of alms-begging, a monk ate whatever a donor offered, so long as it qualified as one of the “three kinds of pure meat” — meat the monk had not seen, heard, or suspected was killed specifically for him. The tradition of strict vegetarianism among Han Chinese Buddhist monastics owes much to the forceful advocacy of Emperor Wu of the Southern Liang dynasty, Xiao Yan.

An Essay That Changed a Dietary System

A devout Buddhist, Emperor Wu wrote the Essay on Abstaining from Wine and Meat, drawing on the doctrine of compassion found in Mahayana scriptures. He convened the monastic community for debate, argued that eating meat was fundamentally at odds with compassion, and then used his secular authority to compel monasteries to give up wine and meat. The move stirred no small controversy at the time, but it ultimately became fixed practice for Han Chinese Buddhist monastic communities.

From the Monastery to the Laity

From then on, vegetarianism gradually expanded beyond monastic discipline into a way of life with religious overtones. It became customary for ordinary people to eat vegetarian on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, on their parents' birthdays, or when seeking to ward off misfortune:

• Monastic vegetarianism became a defining feature that set Han Chinese Buddhism apart from the Theravada and Tibetan traditions
• The lenient standard of “three kinds of pure meat” gave way to stricter, fully vegetarian requirements
• Lay vegetarianism became bound up with the idea of religious merit
• Vegetarian restaurants and recipe collections gradually developed as a result

This history reminds us that vegetarian traditions that today feel as though they have always existed in fact emerged from specific historical choices and institutional forces.