食

(sa) āhāra, 阿賀羅 food; to eat, feed. The rules are numerous, and seem to have changed; originally flesh food was not improper and vegetarianism was a later development; the early three rules in regard to 'clean' foods are that 'I shall not have seen the creature killed, nor heard it killed for me, nor have any doubt that it was killed for me'. The five 'unclean' foods are the above three, with creatures that have died a natural death; and creatures that have been killed by other creatures. The nine classes add to the five, creatures not killed for me; raw flesh, or creatures mauled by other creatures; things not seasonable or at the right time; things previously killed. The <Laṅkavātāra Sutra> and certain other sutras forbid all killed food.