Les cuisines de Laozi et du Buddha

The tradition of the Heavenly Cuisines, a psychophysiological technique aimed at salvation through abstention from food, is a major example of Buddho-Taoist interchange in medieval China. In particular, it is one of the few cases in which Buddhism is undoubtedly indebted to Taoism both scripturally and ritually. These contemplative Cuisines, originally Taoist and claimed as such by the representatives of the Dao, were adopted and adapted in the eighth century by Tantric Buddhism, which produced its own sutras on the Cuisines and attributed them to the Buddha. Clearly popular in China, these scriptures were exported to Japan toward the end of the eighth century and were integrated into the Tantric tradition of Mt. Kōya. An examination of the apocryphal sutras of the "Three Cuisines," found among the manuscripts of both Dunhuang and Mt. Kōya, along with a study of the Taoist scriptures of the "Five Cuisines," lends support to the arguments of the tenth-century Taoist Du Guangting, who denounced the Buddhist sutras as forgeries.Mollier Christine. Les cuisines de Laozi et du Buddha. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 11, 1999. Nouvelles études de Dunhuang. Centenaire de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient. pp. 45-90