YouTube Video, Session 36, Vegan Theology: The Vegan Nestorian Church in Ancient China. By Dr Chapman Chen
Youtube video link: https://youtu.be/BznDMew2D-c
Summary: “There existed an authentic Christian church in China long before the Jesuit missionaries arrived…this Christian community was committed to a doctrine of non-violence to animals as well as humans, lived a vegan life, and preached a Gospel of compassion for all living beings” (Andrew Linzey 2009, Creatures of the Same God, p.75).
The Nestorian Church—known in China as Jingjiao (景教) or the "Luminous Religion"—flourished during the Tang Dynasty after Syrian Christian missionary named Alopen arrived at the Tang capital via the Silk Road in 635 AD. Its Xian stele clearly advocates “extending great compassion to save all who suffer, and graciously bestowing benevolence upon all sentient beings.”
A remarkable body of Chinese vegan Nestorian (Jingjiao) scriptures surfaced in the early twentieth century as manuscripts dug out from Tunhuang or attributed to Tunhuang, one of which is the Sutra of Hearing the Messiah 《序聽迷詩所經》.
The Sutra unequivocally forbids the killing of any sentient creatures:
“The fifth precept is this: sentient beings (眾生) must themselves refrain from taking life, nor should they counsel others to kill. For the lives of sentient beings are no different from human lives (my transl.).”
It categorically condemns animal sacrifice and meatism:
“The first thing is to follow God’s law. All sentient beings depend on the Lord of Heaven for protection. People who do not follow this teaching kill sentient beings for sacrificial rites, eating their flesh and relishing its taste; they offer libations and seek to flatter the spirits by slaughtering sheep and other animals (my transl.) .”
It portrays the Messiah as converting sentient beings to the ‘good Way’ and characterises those who reject his teaching as people who refuse to abandon alcohol and animal flesh.
As described by the sutra, Jesus died for all sentient beings, not just humans: ”The Messiah gave up His body to the wicked ones for the sake of all sentient beings. In His compassionate charity for all sentient beings, He suffered death for them. He was bound to the wooden cross for five hours. That was on the sixth vegetarian day (my transl.)”
John the Baptist is also portrayed as a strict vegan from birth.
In the Sutra, it is stated that all sentient beings come from the same wind of God:-
“God is like the wind. Who is able to see the wind? God is never still but always moving in the world… There is nowhere in the world where this wind does not reach and move. All sentient beings exist only because the Wind gives them life (my trans.; cf. Palmer 2001, p.160).”
To conclude, let’s quote Prof. Andrew Linzey:-
“There are still believers, like myself, who are eager to see the rebirth of an authentic non-violent and compassionate Christian faith. In fact… Asian Christians have an opportunity – perhaps a unique one in world Christianity – to engage thoughtfully and constructively with the new movements of ethical sensitivity for the environment, vegetarianism, and animal protection… (Linzey 2009, p. 81)”
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