Chinese Vegetarianism: Some Frequently Asked Questions
(and the answers)

A. The scriptures followed by Chinese Buddhists warn against them.

The Shurangama Sutra, Volume 7, Part One, discusses the process of overcoming the basic cause of random thoughts that fill the mind and eliminate attentiveness.

"...Beings who seek samadhi should refrain from eating five pungent plants of this world.

"If these five are eaten cooked, they increase one's sexual desire; if they are eaten raw, they increase one's anger.

[Note: The scriptures do not warn against all pungent plants, only those in the garlic/onion family. There is no advice against ginger, for example.]

If this simple, straightforward rationale fails to sway the samadhi-seeker the sutra, like many other religious texts, makes its point with no lack of imagery:

"Therefore, even if people in this world who eat pungent plants can expound the twelve divisions of the Sutra canon, the gods and immortals of the ten directions will stay far away from them because they smell so bad. However, after they eat these things the hungry ghosts will hover around and kiss their lips. Being always in the presence of ghosts, their blessings and virtue will dissolve as the days go by, and they will experience no lasting benefit.

"People who eat pungent plants and also cultivate samadhi will not be protected by the Bodhisattvas, gods, immortals, or good spirits of the ten directions; therefore, the tremendously powerful demon kings, able to do as they please, will appear in the body of a Buddha and speak Dharma for them, denouncing the precepts and praising lust, rage, and delusion.

"When their lives end, these people will join the retinue of demon kings. When they use up their blessings as demons, they will fall into the unintermittent hell.

"Ananda, those who cultivate for Bodhi should never eat the five pungent plants. [1]

So, to summarize, the scriptures warn that pungent plants are to be avoided because obstacles to the spiritual path increase when they are eaten.

It's interesting to note that the next verse in the sutra ends with another piece of advice (without explanation), that certainly has not received the same degree of attention among Buddhists:

"...sever thoughts of lust, not partake of wine or meat, and eat cooked rather than raw foods.

Other views

The scriptures' assessment of the pungent plants has parallels in traditional Chinese medicine. According to the book Chinese System of Food Cures [2]:

• Pungent foods induce perspiration and promote energy circulation.
• Chive seed is an important herb in Chinese herbal remedies, normally used as a "yang" tonic: a tonic used to treat impotence and sexual weakness, among other things, by increasing the energetic capacity of the testes.
• Garlic helps to eliminate the strong smells of meat or fish.

Yoga master Sri Swami Sivananda, while advising spiritual aspirants to maintain a yogic diet, claimed:

"Rajasic food distracts the mind. It excites passion...Onions and garlic are worse than meat." [4]

The website Islam Online [5] reports that the Prophet Mohammad once informed his followers:

"Whoever has eaten [garlic] should not approach the mosque" (Sahih Bukhari 7:65 #362)

It's also interesting to note that early Christians also posited a link between"evil" and garlic. Books on herbs state that early Christians believed that garlic sprang up wherever the devil's right foot stepped in his exit from Eden. The familiar folk wisdom around the world is that garlic's powerful smell provides protection against evil, sorcery, or vampires. But for that purpose it is usually to be hung up or worn - not eaten (Ulysses' defense against Circes was exceptional).

Note that although there are some strong similarities to the Jain "pure" vegetarian diet, the sutra's rationale is (at least superficially) different from the advice against eating any root vegetable, given in Jain religious books. According to information I received from Jain mailing lists [3], the Jain advice is based on the principle of minimizing violence to living beings: root vegetables are classified as possessing multiple plant souls.

Finally, it should be noted that the authenticity of the Shurangama sutra is currently a subject of academic debate. Some scholars assert that the work was not brought from India, but fabricated by Chinese. [6]

1. Text taken from draft translation by the Buddhist Text Translation Society, without permission. The Mahayana texts themselves claimed great merit could be accrued from copying them, and so free distribution has become a well-established tradition. However, the Society posts an unusually restrictive copyright notice. This implies that, from a public domain source, they have "created" intellectual property. Viewing the work as a "creation" rather than a translation raises questions of the work's accuracy in my mind. Still hunting for another translation.

2. Chinese System of Food Cures: Preventions and Remedies, Henry C. Lu, Sterling Publishing Co., 1986

3. From Pravin K. Shah, Jain Study Center of North Carolina among others.

4. Kundalini Yoga , Sri Swami Sivananda

5. The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Medicinal Properties of Garlic , Hwaa Irfan. Another site states that the text refers to garlic, onions, and leeks.

6. The Shurangama-Sutra (T. 945): A Reappraisal of Its Authenticity, Ronald Epstein