Temple food began as alms. Described to be a diet of begging, ascetic followers of Buddha relied on the generosity of villagers to obtain food. Without the ability to preserve food or import ingredients, their minimalistic palate typically consisted of local, seasonal ingredients. However, even then, the restrictions placed upon their diet made it difficult for Buddhists to maintain a steady source of sustenance. Though some of these terrains that Buddhism expanded into struggled to provide sufficient food, practitioners were able to surmount the challenges they faced and ultimately persevered.
As time passed and Buddhism grew in popularity and temples sprang up into various regions, it developed a foundational philosophy of communal spirit, facilitating its proliferation. Though the practice of alms-giving continued to persevere, several temples also benefited from the sponsorship of influential figures within the region they inhabited. The eating habits of ascetics became more structured, and temple food was finally created by utilizing local ingredients that were not prohibited by Buddha’s precepts. Practitioners would either grow their own food, exercising self-sufficiency, or go to the market to obtain the necessary ingredients. Over time, recipes unique to the food culture of the practitioners were developed.
One such region where Buddhism was introduced was China. There, the royal family and the wealthy built temples and donated both land and money, allowing Buddhists to sustain themselves without alms. However, Zen Buddhism, a branch of Buddhism, rejected this. Baekjang Huaihai, one of the foremost advocates of Zen Buddhism, established Cheonggyu, a work ethic of Zen temples that made communal labor mandatory and was often carried out by cultivating temple land. This joint labor, called ulryeok (울력), seemed to be centered around the concept of “don’t work, don’t eat.” It was even said that a monk who failed to work diligently would reincarnate as a cow and repay those that helped him through labor.
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