The Dilemma of Ecological and Nutritional Policies in View of Buddhist Campaigning

Abstract

During the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, the city of Hangzhou faced a dilemma: how to simultaneously maintain West Lake as a freshwater reservoir and as a source for the food supply of its inhabitants. Based on the Buddhist precept of abstaining from harming any living being, West Lake was declared a sacrosanct site where fishing was prohibited. Although this put the city’s fish supply at stake, the lake’s sacrosanct status was a welcome argument for advocating the administrative policy of keeping the lake as the city’s freshwater reservoir. This meant prohibiting the cultivation of aquatic plants that would lead to the siltation and eventual drying-up of the lake, although those plants also served as food supply for the city. Policymakers suggested to mark out only a partial zone of the lake to be exempted from fishing and cultivation, but this proposed compromise had to be defended.