Everything in the world has virtue - The title of "Beanfu": Use tofu to establish virtue ◎ He curses tofu inappropriately ◎ Buddhist tofu can realize the truth Since ancient times, Chinese people have a special liking for tofu, such as "small white squares". Its cleanness is visu

Everything in the world has virtue—The virtue of tofu

Title introduction: Use tofu to establish virtue ◎He cursed tofu inappropriate ◎ Buddhist tofu can enlighten

Since ancient times, Chinese people have a special liking for tofu, such as "small white squares". Its cleanness is visual beauty; its tenderness is tactile beauty; its smoothness is taste beauty. Even if you praise it as "Jade Arachite", it is not too much praise.

However, the most beautiful thing about tofu is its quality. Qing people Chu Renhu summarized the ten virtues of tofu in " Jianhu Collection ":

"Water is gentle and moral; dry one is hard and moral; there is no place to be broad and moral; if the water and the earth are not suitable, it will be cured and moral; if you can buy it, it will be thrifty and moral; if you have one or two bowls in Huizhou, it will be valuable; if you eat milk, it will be rich and moral; if you can remove dirt, it will be pure and moral; if you throw it into dirty, it will not be successful, it will be sacred and virtue; if you eat it, it will be hidden and virtue."

Tofu is not only a kind of delicacy, but its soft, hard, broad, harmonious, frugal, noble, thick, pure, holy, and hidden virtues, it is also a traditional folk culture that transcends the concept of diet itself, with extremely profound and rich connotations.

Use tofu to establish virtues

Ancient honest officials were square in mind and were innocent. They often used to eat tofu to temper their will and maintain the noble sentiment of being clean and diligent in the people.

The Confucian master of Ming Dynasty Liu Zongzhou Chang and graceful and clean, and his moral integrity was strict. Although he was appointed as the Minister of War, he wrapped his belly with rough food. "I only gave me four points a day, and I bought vegetables every day and 10 to 20 pieces of decay." Therefore, his colleagues used to call him "Liu Doufu".

are both Ming Dynasty Integrity Tang Bin , who cares about the hardships of the people, has no worries, and is very frugal in daily life. He eats almost no meat and does not eat meat and often uses tofu to eat, so he has the nickname " Tofu Soup ".

A widely circulated "Tofu Poem" by Hu Jicang of the Qing Dynasty poet, reveals the reason for Tofu self-cultivation: "Believe and knowledge are sharpened to create spirit, and hard work is exhausted. The most honest and upright guest is a poor person. People have always had deep feelings for Tofu, not only because of its ordinaryness and simplicity, but also the simplest way that they voluntarily choose after experiencing vicissitudes. A noble man wrote a couplet and said:

original beans are nothing special. After several fragrances, they are soaked and washed, and they are quenched to get the essence of jade milk;

cleansing the body and still love themselves, and letting a few tortures cut, leaving a clear expression of heart.

He cursed tofu inappropriately

Looking at Shi Cheng, no matter the honor of the ten thousand cheng, the great officials, or the peddlers and the humble family, they regard tofu as a delicious dish that is indispensable on the dining table.

However, Southern Song thinker Zhu Xi is an alternative among the diners and has always regarded it as an "inappropriate" food with an extremely disgusting eye. Although he also wrote the Tofu Poem: "Sow beans and seedlings are sparse, and the heart is already bitter. If he had known Huainan art, he would have sat in the Buquan."

It is said that Zhu Xi went to a gentry's house to attend a banquet, and there was a fish head stewed tofu on the table. Zhu Xi was fond of eating fish, and only saw the fresh and tender fish on it, so he drank a lot of fish soup.

When he knew there was tofu under the fish dish, he turned his stomach upside down and hurried out to the house and spit out the fish soup in his stomach.

Why did Zhu Xi despise Tofu? Qing Dynasty scholar Liang Zhangju revealed a little-known secret in his notes novel "Returning to the Fields".

"It is said that Zhu Zi does not eat tofu. It is said that when you first make tofu, you use several beans, water, and miscellaneous materials. When you weigh them, you will weigh as much as a thousand. If you do, you will often overflow the number of the original scale. If you do not understand the principle, you will not eat it."

So that's the case. Zhu Xi believes that after all ingredients are processed into finished products, they will reduce their weight due to consumption. Tofu production has increased its weight from dry beans, water and miscellaneous materials to finished products.

It is said that one pound of dried soybeans can make two or three pounds of tofu, while those with black hearts can produce four or five pounds of tofu. For Zhu Xi, who focuses on "studying things and seeking knowledge", this process believes that there is a problem with the "moral quality" of tofu and is a "unproportionate" food, and an upright gentleman should not eat it.

idiom "Studying things and seeking knowledge", originated from Western Han Dynasty Dai Sheng's "Book of Rites". Its meaning is to investigate the principles of things and thus gain knowledge.

Zhu Xi elevated the production process of tofu to the moral level to argue: "Human hearts have selfish desires, so they are in danger." "The heart of Tao is the law of heaven, so they are subtle."

In Zhu Xi's view, tofu is the product of human selfish desires, which is contrary to his advocated proposition of "stopping human desires and preserving the law of heaven", so Zhu Xi refused to eat tofu and asked fellow practitioners not to eat it.

Buddhist tofu can understand

Tofu is as white as pure jade, as fine as fat, light but not odorless. It will not overestimate the main thing when paired with any ingredients, and at the same time it can maintain its own original taste; no matter how color, fragrance and taste are added, the tofu can be transformed into it, not in conflict with it, light but harmonious, seemingly tasteless but tasteful, with a deep Zen meaning.

Eating tofu and practicing Zen is in line with the Buddhist principles of unity and separation of form and form. For practitioners, they can also "calm the mind and develop compassion." Therefore, Xie Yingfang, a , gave the name of tofu in the Yuan Dynasty, called "Su Digu", which means the Buddhist ignorance.

Poets in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties You Dong studied Buddhism since childhood and proposed the theory of "tofu precepts". There are three major precepts and five minor precepts. The taste precepts, the color precepts, and the sound precepts are the great precepts; the gambling precepts, the drinking precepts, the foot precepts, the mouth precepts, and the pen precepts are the small precepts.

In You Tong's view, it is always difficult to quit human desires, but if you eat tofu for a long time, you can achieve the goal of clearing your mind and not having desires. Therefore, there is a saying that you cannot keep this precept if you have to eat tofu.

tofu has since become the first choice for Buddhist vegetarian , so that it will not cause dust and be pure and indifferent, so that Buddhist disciples will love it more. This gave birth to a famous Buddhist food - Wensi Tofu . Take a bite and forget both the things and the self, everything is in enlightenment.