Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Some people are curious about what Taoist priests eat every day. Do they, like Buddhist monks, eat only vegetarian food and never touch a drop of alcohol? Today let us look together at some little-known Taoist ideas and culture concerning food.
Taoism has always attached importance to nurturing life (yangsheng), and the health methods handed down through the ages have become highly systematic and complete, naturally including dietary health. Taoist diet pays great attention to how foods are combined. Although it values a balance of meat and vegetables, it is mainly based on light vegetarian food, which is both nutritious and healthy and can help prolong life.
A light diet keeps the mind clear and the spirit fresh, whereas excessive greasiness makes people listless; eating lightly keeps people further from disease. Taoism holds that if the five flavors—sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, and salty—are too strong, they will harm the spleen and stomach: too much sourness harms the spleen, too much sweetness harms the kidneys, too much saltiness harms the heart, and so on. If the body endures rich, sweet, heavy, and greasy food for a long time, this not only increases the burden on the stomach and intestines and damages the body, but also muddies the heart's qi and can even make people irritable and restless. Therefore Taoism advocates eating vegetarian food often, with attention to combining vegetables and balanced nutrition, which can strengthen the constitution, prevent disease, increase wisdom, and prolong life.
This Taoist view of diet is not without reason, because vegetarian food has very good nutritional value. A long-term, well-planned vegetarian diet does not weaken the body's functions; on the contrary, it can strengthen physical and mental energy and help restore and improve overall physical and mental well-being.
The body's normal life activities require seven major nutrients: protein, fat, sugar, vitamins, water, dietary fiber, and minerals. All seven can be obtained from vegetarian food.
In addition, Taoist priests value the practice of ingesting medicines and grain avoidance (bigu), also called cutting off grain. But grain avoidance does not mean eating nothing at all; it only means not eating grain, while taking medicines or drinking water and liquids. Those who practice grain avoidance do not eat the five grains, but they may eat jujubes, sesame, honey, lingzhi mushrooms, and the like.
Although I have described so many benefits above, I can't help adding a word about Taoist food prohibitions—after all, monastic rules and precepts must still be kept. I hope nobody's head starts spinning; please be sure to remember what follows carefully.
Taoists abstain from the flesh of the “three abhorrences,” which in Taoism refers generally to three kinds of meat with a rank, fishy smell. Generally, the wild goose is called the “heavenly abhorrence,” the dog the “earthly abhorrence,” and the carp, eel, and turtle the “water abhorrence.”
In the tradition of Quanzhen temples, one does not eat the “five pungents and three abhorrences,” and those taking refuge in Taoism and received the five basic precepts do not consume alcohol or meat.
(1) Eating much of the heavenly abhorrence, the birds, depletes the spirit (shen);
(2) Eating much of the earthly abhorrence, the beasts, obstructs qi;
(3) Eating much of the water abhorrence, the aquatic creatures, drains essence (jing).
These three kinds carry a violent and unruly qi; those cultivating the Tao avoid them or eat little of them.
Perfected Sun's Song of Hygiene also holds that certain animals understand feeling and reason. It says: “Wild geese keep order, dogs are loyal, and the black carp faces north, knowing the ritual of a subject. If people, lacking ritual and righteousness, eat them instead, neither heaven, earth, nor the gods will be pleased.” Thus Taoism formed the tradition of the prohibition of the “three abhorrences”: the “heavenly abhorrence”—the wild goose; the “earthly abhorrence”—the dog; and the “water abhorrence”—the carp, eel, and turtle, as mentioned by Perfected Sun Simiao.
The Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) school of Taoism has the “four foods not eaten.”
The so-called four great meats are “beef, snakehead fish, wild goose, and dog meat.” These are the four things not eaten at the Mansion of the Celestial Masters. The reasons are said to be:
(1) The ox eats grass all its life and gives milk; it toils its whole life for the benefit of all. It works so hard that it must not be eaten.
(2) The snakehead fish: people usually say, “The snakehead is the most wicked; it even eats its own young.” But the Taoists of the Way of the Celestial Masters say exactly the opposite. They hold that when the snakehead reaches its spawning season, its eyes grow dim and it can see nothing, and it can only wait to starve to death. The young snakeheads are most filial: they would rather swim into their mother's mouth to feed her than let her starve. Such a precious and admirable spirit must not be eaten.
(3) The wild goose: a goose that has lost its mate lives alone for the rest of its life in a sad state, yet it remains unwavering and never pairs again. Such a spirit is admirable, and it should not be eaten.
(4) The dog: from ancient times to the present, people have said, “A son does not find his mother ugly; a dog does not find its home poor.” It follows its master for life and serves him, so it must not be eaten.
Avoid the “five pungent vegetables”: raw scallions, garlic chives, garlic, small garlic, and coriander.
The Supreme Ultimate Code of the Xuandu Statutes for Determining Offenses says: To eat the five pungent vegetables and then recite scriptures is the first offense among the precepts. It means that in cultivation and recitation one offends the gods and defiles the realm of the Perfected, and receives the retribution of the hell where venomous snakes pierce the heart. In general, it is because such things are extremely pungent and foul-smelling; after eating them, the smell lingers for days, and when one opens one's mouth to speak, even other people find it offensive—how much more so when paying homage to the Perfected and performing rites! In addition, all things like scallions, such as xie shallots and jiaotou, must not be eaten.
The five pungent vegetables are strongly flavored garden or wild vegetables. Though crisp and tasty at the time of eating, once inside the body they decay and produce foul, turbid qi. Internally, they block the intuitive wisdom of one's prior heaven and hinder the growth of one's cultivation, so those who practice pure cultivation reject them. Externally, the foul odor spreads from the mouth, a reek of the five pungents that defiles the pure altar and displeases gods and ghosts, so that the Tao is not manifest and the gods do not descend. This hinders spiritual practice and instead brings faults and worries. Rank, fishy meats are especially taboo for practitioners; fish and mutton, for example, count as rank meats, so those who practice pure cultivation must avoid them.
What are the “five pungents”? They are the five strongly flavored and aromatic vegetables commonly used in daily life—scallions, garlic chives, garlic, xie shallots, and coriander—also called the “five pungent vegetables.” Another view holds that the five pungent vegetables are small garlic, garlic, garlic chives, rape, and coriander. Alcohol and meat are not among the five pungents.
To restrain its followers, Taoism established, within the “Three Refuges and Five Precepts,” five precepts against killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and alcohol, and included meat under the fifth, the precept against alcohol.
Although there are the precepts above, I wonder whether you have noticed that Taoist priests are all very strong and healthy. If you, dear friends, are interested, you might try adjusting your own diet to become healthier.