Today the environmental issue is not confined to a particular class or to a country in a region, but applies to the whole human beings. Thus, more than ever, the issue requires an insight into a symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. It is ... Today the environmental issue is not confined to a particular class or to a country in a region, but applies to the whole human beings. Thus, more than ever, the issue requires an insight into a symbiotic relationship between humans and nature. It is the carnivorous culture that is the greatest culprit to the environmental issue which stems from the ecological destruction. This phenomenon is getting worse at a rapid pace because of the cattle overgrazing. In other words, the carnivorous culture is causing air pollution, water pollution and land devastation. Those environmental problems are started by exorbitant livestock raising, but what is surprising is that the benefit of the carnivorous culture is limited to very few people. It could be said that for the greedy few the majority is starving. While the majority is suffering from hunger, livestock is feasting on the plentiful food. Then, are animals happy? That is not the case. Just as the recipients of the carnivorous culture are very few people, those who benefit from ‘mass production, mass consumption and mass waste' are also the very few. This minority is just helping destroy the ecological system without proper solutions. The harmful effects of the excessive carnivorous culture and ‘mass production, mass consumption and mass waste' come from the notion of human-centeredness, which means that humans are not part of the nature, but an existence who can conquer the nature. This study is designed to investigate the meaning of the pre-meal chant (供養偈)」described in Seonwoncheonggyu』currently being used as a norm in the meditation halls of the Jogye Order and to consider the traditional dietary culture of Buddhism and the ecological values lurking in it. It may be said that the pre-meal chant epitomizes the thought of dependent rising the Buddha asserted. The dependent rising (or origination) of the Buddha does not regard the relations between humans and humans and between humans and nature in a simple linear manner. For example, the phenomenon of life as seen organisms is a composite matter of numberous relations, but the relations are not just a simple sum of mathematical character, but an aggregate of smaller relations having other relations. These relations are combined to make new system and in turn these systems have influence on these small relations constituting them. The bigger systems and the constituent smaller systems have a reciprocal impact on each other, bringing about continuous changes and giving birth to a completely new shape. That is why the idea of the dependent rising of Buddhism could be an alternative solution to the environmental problem. Based on the records in the Buddhist sutras, this study will first look into how the Balwoogongyang tradition came into being. Then, the kinds of the pre-meal chant recited at Korean temples and their meanings will be elucidated. Besides, the five ideas of equality (平等), cleanliness (淸潔), honest poverty (淸貧), community (共同體) and virtue (福德) - the foundation of the pre-meal chant - will be explained. Continuously, the teachings on dietary culture appearing in early sutras like 『the Dhammapada(法句經)』and 『the Sutttanipatta』 will be explored. And, then, comparisons will be made about meat-eating prohibitions in such Chinese Buddhist books as 『the Nirvana Sutra(涅槃經)』, 『the Lankavatara Sutra(楞伽經)』,『the Brahmajala Sutra(梵網經)』,『the Srimaladevi Siṃhanada Sutra(勝鬘經)』. By doing so, it will be shown that the dietary culture of the sangha community saw its transition from mendicancy to production labor. In the course of that, the meaning of the Bocheongbeob in the Chinese Seongjong history will be considered. On top of those, there is still a controversial topic in the Buddhist world: 'does Buddhism allow meat-eating? or does it prohibit it?" About this matter, the Buddha mentioned three kinds of clean meat (三宗淨肉) whereby meat-eating is allowed: slaughtering for the sake of oneself was not personally witnessed (不見); slaughtering was not overheard from others (不耳); and there is no doubt that slaughtering was done for oneself (不疑). The relationship between the Buddha's precept and the precept of no living thing killing is explored. In the course of the controversy, all the Buddhist orders have kept the precept of not killing living things as the very spirit of Buddhism irrespective of regions and their histories. Here, it is explored that the tenet of not killing living things has its origin in the Buddhist thoughts of integrity of life, dependent rising, compassion, cyclic rebirth, etc. Finally, the problem of ‘mass production, mass consumption and mass waste' that took place in the post-industrial society will be delved into in connection with carnivorous culture and consumption culture; and as an ideological basis for solving the unintended aspects of the post-industrial society, the idea of dependent rising - the backbone of the ecological protection - will be brought up.
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