The essence of the conservative lifestyle that temple residents lead can be summed up in three points, encompassing three values. First, temple food emphasizes unique ingredients and cooking methods. In addition to being vegetarian, its nutritional value was enhanced due to the fact that vegetables were naturally grown without the interference of artificial additives. With the exclusion of meat in one’s diet, the likelihood of obesity and disease reduced, allowing for a healthier constitution.
Second, a key essence of temple food was letting go of greed. Rather than judging the taste or appearance of their meal, practitioners experience gratitude for the food for the gift that it is, as a healthy mindset was believed to nurture a healthy body. Any gongyang—offerings—that practitioners receive are precious, as it is attained through the grace of the giver. However, these gongyang extend far beyond simply the items they receive from visitors; rather, it also includes the farmers that help cultivate the crops, the soil in which the food was grown, and the sun whose light allowed the crops to flourish.
Third, in addition to experiencing gratitude for one’s food, it was believed that consuming temple food on a hungry stomach after tiring one’s body through physical exertion would help (make the food seem more delicious).
Comentários