= Meat-eating Japanese Buddhist monks reinventing vegetarian zen? =
Japan’s ancient vegetarian meal
BBC
8 September 2020
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/2020090 … arian-meal
• Shojin ryori is a vegetarian, spiritual cuisine perfected by Buddhist monks over centuries
Often called “devotion cuisine”, shōjin ryōri was developed by monks, but has recently found its way from temple restaurants to Tokyo’s Michelin-star tables. Both minimal and plentiful, it is often associated with austerity; however, dedicated chefs profess a myriad of visual, technical and seasonal combinations are possible.
Arriving in Japan with Buddhism in the 6th Century, shōjin cuisine was traditionally a simple affair, preserved by hard-working priests and monks,… it was the teachings of 13th-Century writer and Soto Zen school founder, Dogen, however, that pioneered the spiritual focus of the art
As well as guiding nutritional balance, the rules are designed to appeal to the five senses, inspiring the diner to notice and value each ingredient as well as the care taken to prepare it.
Before eating even begins, this is done through the chanting of the five Zen reflections, encouraging monks to be grateful, aware of their imperfections, strive to improve upon them, eat for good health and to fulfil their obligations. Passed from chef to diner, the meal forms a bridge…
Japan’s vegetarians stay in the closet
Japan Times
February 4, 2013
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/ … he-closet/
Japan has its own peculiar vegetarian cooking style called shōjin ryōri, traditionally eaten by Buddhist monks who, due to religious strictures, cannot kill animals, but people don’t equate shōin ryōri with animal welfare. They think of it as a rare cuisine, which, like all rare cuisines, is very expensive. To call it “vegetarian” would detract from its specialness.
Why Are Buddhist Monks in Japan Allowed to Get Married?
JapanInfo
https://jpninfo.com/78069
Not only are Buddhist monks in Japan allowed to get married and have children, they are also allowed to eat meat and consume alcohol.
In 1872, the Meiji Government further decreed that Buddhist monks should be free to eat meat and marry by issuing the Nikujiku Saitai Law. It was viewed as a way for the government to weaken Buddhist institutions.
Ripe for vegetables
The World Digested
May 24, 2017
https://www.theworlddigested.com/post/2 … vegetables
Because Japanese diet is not healthy. Walk into any glitzy subterranean food halls — the famed depa-chika — and you will see that the Japanese food being healthy, is, after all, nothing but a myth.
The Japanese do not have a healthy diet.
Their daily intake of sodium is shockingly high — the older generations liberally pour soy sauce over pickles — already salted, of course — with a dash of the magic special granules (a.k.a. the MSG) and gulp down miso soup laden with even more salt for breakfast.
The younger, or not so young, are growing up and wide in saturated fat: karaage (fried chicken cubes), korokke (fried potato croquet), tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) are in a fierce competition for the №1 national favorite dish.
Oh, the vegetables. The Japanese do not eat vegetables.
Although salad bars are becoming the next Starbuck’s, that is happening ex-Japan. In fact, the “salads” sold in the deli counters in depa-chika are anything but vegetables: adorned with scallops and shrimps, chopped with chicken and cheese, mixed in with mayonnaise and macaroni and mashed potato, there is no room for vegetables
What happened to the vegetables in Japan? Are they so insipid that they cannot stand alone?
Partially so. The agricultural politics in Japan force the use of insecticide by refusing to accept imperfect-looking vegetables and fruits. That is why the apples you see in depa-chika are so uniformly red and round and deplorably, unnatural.
Appearance is the most important element of Japanese agriculture; and we all know, appearance can be deceiving.
Indeed, what has happened to the Japanese vegetable dishes?
Paradoxically, for a predominantly Buddhist country, the Japanese are staunch carnivores. Ever since the arrival of Buddhism in the 6th century, the country had had multiple official prohibitions against eating animals (ex-seafood).
Even when not banned outright, it was still frowned upon as barbaric; and in those days, people often disguised meat-eating as a form of medication and used flowery names for the meats: cherry blossom for horse, peony for wild boar, red leaf for venison. Where there is prohibition, there is demand.
However, meat consumption remained a rarity for economical, societal, and cultural and geographical reasons, which means the Japanese people must have subsisted on a more variegated vegetable-centric diet, arguably with a perennial pescatarian predilection, that is, before the arrival of the infamous Black Ship, demanding chicken and beef in 1853, which forced the nation to embark upon a national boot camp to macho-modernization and Emperor Meiji to lift the ban by eating meat in 1872.
Being surrounded by ocean makes Japanese cuisine naturally pescatarian — and heavily pescatarian. Every Japanese chef boasts the freshness and quality of their marine (and land) ingredients, so half of the meal is served raw. And, the other half is steeped in dashi as the scientists pump out even more reports on the umami — the newest “taste” to be derived largely from bonito and kombu kelp.
Hence, a full course meal at any given Japanese restaurant progresses from raw fish, raw fish, raw crustacean, back to raw fish and, maybe some raw mollusk, then grilled fish, fried fish, a stewed shrimp ball and finishes with a soup with fishy stock.
Although forgotten and neglected, Japan does have a long and established tradition of vegetarian cuisine in the form of shojin ryori — the Buddhist vegetarian cuisine.
Now, what has happened to that? Every Japanese has heard of it, but no one seems to have eaten it. Will this mysterious shojin ryori be more creative since it cannot resort to feeding fish with soy sauce over and over?
Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the sixth century, and the government quickly banned meat consumption in temples. Although it is still debated whether followers of Buddhism must be vegetarian or not, and the Japanese monks, in vivo, are quite omnivorous, they were supposed to be vegetarian until the Meiji period.
Regarding the early flavor of shojin ryori, however, one of the first Japanese female writers, who was highly placed in court, had noted quite succinctly in her diary, “it is atrocious.”
In the Heian period (late 8th to 12th centuries) of her time, the over-enamored princes and concubines, dined on insipid food, which was neither fresh nor seasoned; the aristocracy of the yesteryears had to resort to the condiments of salt, vinegar, hishio (the precursor of miso) and, if it was their lucky day, maybe some sake and a sweetener made from a vine.
Therefore, for someone who was accustomed to such sorry state of food to actually call shojin ryori atrocious, the early form must have been seriously bad.
Therefore, for example, the invention of easily digestible soy protein in the form of tofu, miso, soy sauce and the fermented soy beans of ill-repute (the stinky “natto”) — was quite a giant leap in the food technology, vegetarian or not. Yet, there was still no skilled hand to cook these new ingredients into a new cuisine.
Finally, in the 13th century, Dogen, the father of shojin ryori was born.
Dogen traveled to China to study Buddhism in the early 13th century, and as an ideological youngster, he was put off by the labor and dedication the senior Chinese monks showed toward food preparation because he thought there were much better, higher occupations than cooking.
Yet, he did get it eventually since as soon as he returned to Japan, he proceeded to write a famous textbook on the daily practices of the monastic life, including many chapters on food — including food preparation, technical — e.g. frying and sautéing — and food preparation and consumption, philosophical and spiritual.
Shojin ryori then was to create food, which would not only nourish the body, but also the mind, so that the study and practice of Buddhism would flourish.
Shojin ryori did not merely concern cooking in the temples, but it influenced the Japanese way of cooking by introducing the use of oil and various new ingredients.
Thus, shojin ryori has evolved and survived over the centuries, polished by restraints and refinements. It has paved the way for the Japanese cuisine today, and therefore, it is not a mere anachronism to delve into this forgotten culinary art: understanding of shojin ryori bores contemporary relevance and even importance in this era marked by the very lack of shojin.
Are Buddhists vegetarian?
HuffPost
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/are-budd … df5e83af35
All Buddhists are not vegetarians, and Buddhist texts do not unanimously condemn the consumption of meat. Certain sutras of the Great Vehicle, the Mahayana, however, do so unequivocally. An example is the Lankavatara Sutra, which states: “So as not to become a source of terror, bodhisattvas established in benevolence should not eat food containing meat. . . . Meat is food for wild beasts; it is unfitting to eat it. . . . People kill animals for profit and exchange goods for the meat. One person kills, another person buys — both are at fault.”
Similarly, in the Great Parinirvana Sutra, the Buddha says, “Eating meat destroys great compassion” and advises his disciples to avoid the consumption of meat “just as they would avoid the flesh of their own children.” Numerous Tibetan masters also condemn consumption of the flesh of animals.
Fifty years after the death of the Buddha, Emperor Ashoka, who embraced Buddhism and vegetarianism at the same time, promulgated several edicts calling for animals to be treated kindly. Most notably, he had precepts engraved on a stone pillar enjoining his subjects to treat animals with kindness and forbidding animal sacrifices throughout his territory.
Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhists are strictly vegetarian. Many Tibetans live on high plateaus, vast plains that are unsuitable for anything but raising herds of yaks, goats, or sheep. Until recently, renouncing eating meat in such conditions would have meant living purely on butter, yogurt (in the summer), and tsampa, the traditional Tibetan dish made from roasted barley flour. These conditions have led the inhabitants of these plains, nomads for the most part, to live off their herds. Moreover, most Tibetans are very fond of meat.
In spite of this, they are quite aware of the immoral aspect of their behavior and attempt to compensate for it by killing only the number of animals strictly necessary for their survival. Exiled in India and Nepal, more and more Tibetan monasteries have stopped authorizing the use of meat in the meals prepared in their kitchens.
For the Buddhist in general, to be vegetarian or vegan (especially in industrialized countries) is a means of manifesting his or her compassion toward animals. In contrast to the view of Hindu vegetarians, for Buddhists meat is not impure in itself. In principle, Buddhists would find nothing wrong with eating the flesh of an animal that had died from natural causes.
A pint or a prayer? Monks in Japan put Buddhism on the menu
Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japa … SKCN0X5056
Its name, Tera Cafe, is a another hint — Tera is Japanese for temple.
Tera Cafe is part of a flourishing phenomenon in Japan where Buddhist monks are seeking to make inroads in the modern world as the public’s connection with a 15-century-old tradition fades.
Hirotake Asano, head priest at the Shingyoji temple near Tokyo who opened Tera Cafe in 2013, said Buddhist priests had to venture into society to build links.
“Instead of lamenting that people no longer visit temples, I wanted to bring the temple to the people,” said Asano, who owns four restaurants and a golf shop.
Many sects of Japanese Buddhism allow priests to drink alcohol, eat meat, and marry. Such acts are forbidden for monks in places like Southeast Asia where there have been instances of association of Buddhism with bars triggering public outcry and prosecutions.
