Buddhist Vegetarian Delight

Buddhist Vegetarian Delight

　　　Buddhist Vegetarian Delight is a famous Shanghai-style vegetarian dish made by steaming a variety of dried and fresh produce such as mushrooms, goji berries, wood ear fungus, lotus seeds, pine nuts, and carrots. The finished dish boasts a vibrant and elegant color palette, with a light yet richly fragrant taste and high nutritional value. It is considered a main course at birthday banquets in southern China. Most Chinese Buddhists abstain from meat and emphasize a vegetarian diet. In fact, vegetarianism has no inherent connection to Buddhism. Buddhist precepts advocate against killing and encourage the release of living creatures, but permit the consumption of “three-clean meats”—meat that has not been seen, heard, or suspected to be killed for oneself. The prohibition on meat and animal products among Chinese Buddhists mainly stems from Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, who vowed to follow Buddhism. He combined Confucius’s teachings on benevolence and righteousness with Buddhist doctrines and advocated lifelong vegetarianism. Since then, some Chinese Buddhists have associated the prohibition against killing with absolute vegetarianism, thus closely linking vegetarianism with Buddhism.