Guan Yin at the table

In Chinese monasteries dedicated to Guan Yin, meals are not served in successive courses as in the West, but as a table of purity (zhāi): a bowl of staple grain (rice or congee), vegetarian preparations without garlic or onion (the "five pungent plants" are forbidden), sweet offerings of fruits and seeds placed before the altar, and a clear beverage. Everything is free of meat and alcohol, in accordance with the Mahayana Buddhist vow of non-violence (ahimsa). The offerings to the deities and the monks' meal share the same dishes: what is placed before the image is later shared among the living.

Chinese temple cuisine replaces meat with the deep umami of dried shiitake, wood-ear, and fermented soybeans (douchi), while the lotus — seed, root, and flower — embodies Buddhist purity. Without garlic or onion, it is the fragrant mushroom that gives the dish its savory soul.