What do you mean by charity?
Basic meaning: Monks, nuns or Taoist priests ask for gifts from others.
(1). Enlightenment. Buddhism says that Buddha and Bodhisattva came into the world because of the karma of educating all beings, and left when the karma was exhausted. Tang Xuanzang's "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty: Under the Kingdom of Mojeto": "If you come, you will be blessed and you will get nirvana." Tang Juyi's inscription on the stone pagoda of Shang Hong monk in Jingyun Temple in Fuzhou: "I follow fate, so I sit on the manna altar and swear to be an alliance for all beings for 20 years." The twenty-six ancestors of Jingde Dengchuan are not as good as Mi Duo: "My life is over, and my angelica is dead."
(2) Monks and Taoists claim to be alms. Because people who can give alms can have a good relationship with Buddha, so they call it. Story of the Three Pagodas of the West Lake in Qingping Mountain Hall: "Xi changed his fate and caused three stone pagodas." Liu Cui of Moonlight Monk, an ancient and modern novel: "It turns out that Shuiyue Temple is in a mulberry garden with no one around. There are two young monks in the temple who have gone to alms, so the temple is very calm and no one walks. " Ai Wu's "When I was in Yangon": "My family cooks fish every day and waits for my nun to beg."
(3). Generally refers to collecting donations from the public. Yuan Mei, a Qing Dynasty, wrote "New, Land Granny Cheats": "Li, the general manager of Wu Yemeng Neighborhood, said there would be a fire in his hand, so he did it at a false expense." Lao She's Four Generations under One roof: "I know most people in our hutong are willing to help, but Qian Furen never likes us to go out and collect money for her."
Originally, almsgiving refers to the enlightened karma shown by the buddhas, bodhisattvas and eminent monks in the world. They came to this world because they want to educate all beings about karma. When karma runs out, they will leave. For example, Sakyamuni has a "fate" with all sentient beings in the world, and his lifelong education is his "charity". Later, this proverb also called monks begging for food charity. It turns out that the Sanskrit transliteration of Buddhist monks is "monk", which means "beggar", that is, people who beg for food for a living. According to Buddhist precepts, monks beg for food to maintain their lives in order to "live a clean life", so that they can "save trouble and cultivate monks" and "break all arrogance and slowness". Monks collect money and beg for food, and they have a wide affinity with Buddha, so they are called alms. By extension, Buddhist fund-raising activities can also be called charity.
Giving is not only a necessary course for monks to practice, but also an act for the masses to establish merit. Monks practice devoutly by giving alms, educate the public, make friends with karma, and also reduce the economic pressure of temples. The public accepts charity and donates money and materials because they believe that this behavior shows that people's merits are increasing and will help them live longer.
Do monks have to eat only vegetarian food?
Actually, not all monks must not eat meat. Not eating meat is just a taboo for some monks.
Not eating fish and meat is one of the unique commandments of the Han nationality Buddhism culture in China. Southern Buddhism follows the precepts of Hinayana Buddhism, and monks can eat meat. In addition, Tibetan Buddhism does not avoid meat. In Japanese Buddhism introduced from China, early monks only ate vegetarian food, but in modern times, due to the evolution of the situation, they can already eat meat.
In fact, in the early days of the spread of Buddhism, monks ate meat, and they could eat "three clean meats", that is, animals slaughtered by themselves could be eaten without seeing them with their own eyes and hearing them with their own ears. After it was introduced to China, monks could eat meat, and it was not until Liang Wudi, as the emperor, advocated banning vegetarian food that it had a long-term impact on later generations. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, monks were merciful and regarded eating meat and killing life as the same result, which was contrary to the practice of Bodhisattva. Therefore, mainland monks banned all meat. Therefore, since the Tang and Song Dynasties, vegetarianism has become one of the main characteristics of the Han nationality Buddhism monks.
Since then, monasteries in China have stopped eating fish, meat, eggs, cheese products, wine and other things. Monks mainly eat rice, porridge, tofu, radish and cauldron every day. Arhat dishes in vegetarian dishes are quite famous.