Can lay monks eat fish, and can Buddhists eat fish?

There is no such thing as a lay monk. The original meaning of a monk is a monk who can be a teacher. It is now a common name for monks.

All those who do not meet the definition of a monk, but make money in the name of a monk, are fake monks. A lay monk is a term made up by a false monk. The basis for the fake monk to imitate the merit of Taoism is the apocryphal scripture "The Buddha Says the Sutra of Shousheng".

Buddhists can eat three kinds of meat, but there are ten kinds of meat that cannot be eaten. Human, elephant, horse, dog, snake, lion, tiger, leopard, bear and coyote.

There are three conditions that should be met for the three clean meats:

Clause. 1. Killing without seeing is not seeing with your own eyes, that is, not seeing with your own eyes the miserable scene of animals dying;

Clause. 2. Killing without hearing the sound of animals being killed;

Clause. 3. Don't kill for yourself, that is, don't kill for what you want to eat.

For example, if you go to the market and see a vendor killing chickens or fish, or if the seller tells you that it is freshly slaughtered meat, this does not meet the above conditions. For example, when they go to the homes of relatives and friends, they specially kill chickens and ducks for hospitality, that is, let sentient beings be killed for themselves, which is not the three pure meats. People who are not completely vegetarian can eat this meat temporarily, or go to the street to buy ready-made meat from slaughtered livestock and poultry.

Both the Buddha and the bhikku relied on the bowl to beg for food, and they ate whatever food the donor gave them and could not be picky, as long as they ate the three pure meats, they were all in the same way. When the Buddha was alive, Devada put forward five ideas to break the monkhood, but the Buddha forbade them, the fifth of which was to advocate not eating fish and meat for the rest of his life. We should be wary of this!

As for some lay people who do not eat fish for the sake of compassion or habit, and if their circumstances permit, they want to have fewer bad relationships with sentient beings, which is commendable. However, they should not criticize Buddhists who eat the three pure meats in the same way, so that everyone can live in harmony.

Ten kinds of meat other than the three pure flesh were forbidden by the Buddha.

In the Vinaya, the Buddha decreed that bhikku should not eat ten kinds of meat: human, elephant, horse, dog, snake, lion, tiger, leopard, bear, and coyote. In addition, except for non-human diseases (possession of ghosts and gods, etc.), which is allowed to eat raw meat and drink raw blood, it is forbidden to eat raw blood and raw meat without disease.

The Buddha also forbade the bhikkhus to eat it knowing that it was for themselves or for those who practiced with the Brahmanas (the Five Dharmas; the fish and meat killed by the five monks; The Buddha allowed the bhikkhus to eat three pure meats: not to see, not to hear, not to suspect that they had killed themselves or their fellow Brahmanas. In the Vinaya Sutra the World-Honored One mentions:

Those who do not observe are not allowed to eat meat, and if they eat it, they are guilty of mischief. The commentary mentions: Observation means to investigate, to inquire and to say.

Not observing, that is, not asking. Therefore, if you know what kind of meat it is, you don't need to ask; If you don't know, you should ask before eating. In addition, the commentary again mentions that because of the meat of bears and pork; Leopard meat is very similar to venison, so Biku should ask the donor when he gets the meat

It is not permissible to meat.

Different Buddhisms have different regulations. In the diet of primitive Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism is most prominent as "vegetarian". In the Buddha's world, monks begged for food, and the monks accepted whatever the lay people offered, so the Buddha did not prohibit monks from eating meat, except for elephant meat, horse meat, dragon meat, and human flesh, and the rest of the meat, as long as they do not see killing, do not smell killing, and do not kill for me (three pure meat), it is acceptable (see the Four Divisions).

Brief introduction. After Meiji Shin** came to power, he vigorously supported the local Shinto religion and suppressed Buddhism. In 1872, Meiji Shin** promulgated the "Prohibition on Eating Meat and Wives", announcing that "monks will obey themselves in the future, whether they grow hair, marry wives, have children, or eat wine and meat", but at the same time, ** will no longer pay subsidies to temples.

In the same year, Japan** added a notice that the names of monks should be the same as the names of ordinary citizens, and the state did not treat monks as a special group.

In order to consolidate the "Lifting the Ban on Meat Eating Wife" law, Meiji also allowed monks to inherit, and when they broke the vows and gave birth to children, the children could inherit their father's business and become professional monks in Japan. Japanese monks basically obeyed the laws of the Meiji era**, and marrying wives and having children, drinking wine and eating meat became a unique symbol of Japanese monks (monks). Of course, there are still many monks who insist on self-cultivation and adhere to the five precepts.