The Historical Usage of Spoons and Chopsticks in Chinese Buddhist Monasteries

Abstract In Indian Buddhist monastic practice, monks traditionally ate with their hands as a ritual observance. To adapt to Chinese customs and social norms, Chinese Buddhist monastics upheld the principle of “Vinaya Adapted to Local Customs” 隨方毗尼 and pragmatically adopted spoons for consuming rice and chopsticks for selecting food from other dishes, which subsequently became an established monastic regulation. By the Tang dynasty, Chinese Buddhist monks had established a codified ritual protocol for dining with spoons and chopsticks. Song-Yuan Chan monastic codes documented the concurrent use of both utensils in the “Ritual for Attendance at Meals” 赴粥飯法. After the Ming dynasty, as secular dining habits shifted towards exclusive chopsticks usage for handling both rice and dishes, commensurate changes occurred in Chinese Buddhist dietary etiquette, leading to the disappearance of spoons from monastic dining tables. The contemporary Chinese Buddhist practice of using two separate bowls for rice and other dishes, along with exclusive chopsticks usage for eating, was institutionalized during the Ming period. The evolution of spoons and chopsticks implementation exemplifies the Sinicization of monastic dietary practices, demonstrating how Chinese Buddhist food culture became profoundly influenced by Chinese secular society.