The following is a syndicated post that first appeared at http://huayanzang.blogspot.nl/2012/07/garlic-and-cow-dung.html.

Garlic as an edible substance was forbidden in the early sangha. It seems that, at the time, many people found it to be an utterly offensive substance, and this was not limited to Buddhists. In the Vedic traditions as well we see a strong disdain for garlic, as well as onions. For example, in the Manusmṛti (Laws of Manu), which admittedly dates a few centuries after the Buddha’s lifetime, we see the following proscriptions:

5. Garlic, leeks and onions, mushrooms and (all plants), springing from impure (substances), are unfit to be eaten by twice-born men. … 19. A twice-born man who knowingly eats mushrooms, a village-pig, garlic, a village-cock, onions, or leeks, will become an outcast.

The Buddhist Vinaya literature also prescribes strict rules against eating garlic, stating that it is only to be consumed medicinally, and even then there are protocols in place to prevent the garlic eater from offending his fellow monastics with his odor by becoming something of a temporary outcast.

Here I would like to look at some of the rules and regulations concerning garlic as it is found in the Indian Vinaya literature translated into Chinese (note that much Indian Buddhist literature only survives in Classical Chinese). At the same time I would like to point out that although garlic was considered disagreeable, the substance of cow dung was not. This kind of sensibility was also found in Vedic or “Hindu” traditions. This is also an interesting cultural difference to consider, given that in modern times in the West, and of course elsewhere, it is the complete opposite: garlic is fine, but cow dung is not.

To begin with, the Four Part Vinaya 四分律 of the Dharmagupta school forbids the consumption of garlic, though the severity of the offense differs according to the gender.

「若比丘尼、噉生蒜、熟蒜、若雜蒜者、咽咽波逸提。比丘、突吉羅。式叉摩那、沙彌、沙彌尼、突吉羅、是謂為犯。不犯者、或有如是病、以餅裹蒜食。若餘藥所不治、唯須服蒜差、聽服。若塗瘡不犯。」(CBETA, T22, no. 1428, p. 737, b10-14) “If a bhikṣuṇī (nun) eats raw garlic, old garlic or mixed garlic, it is a pāyattika offense when swallowed. For a bhikṣu (monk) it is a duṣkṛta (misdemeanor) offense. For a śikṣamāṇā, śrāmaṇera (male novice) or śrāmaṇerī (female novice), it is a duṣkṛta offense. This is considered a violation. A non-violation would be if someone had an illness as such and the garlic was eaten in a biscuit. If one cannot be cured with other medicines and only by treatment with garlic will one recover, then the treatment is permitted. If smeared on a skin sore there is no violation.”

The Sarvāstivādavinaya Saṃgraha 根本薩婆多部律攝 offers the following protocol for a monastic taking garlic medicinally.

「若服蒜為藥者、僧伽臥具大小便處、咸不應受用。不入眾中、不禮尊像、不繞制底。有俗人來、不為說法、設有請喚亦不應往。應住邊房服藥既了、更停七日待臭氣銷散、浴洗身衣並令清潔、其所居處牛糞淨塗。」(CBETA, T24, no. 1458, p. 571, a10-15) “If treating [an illness] with garlic, neither the sangha bedding nor lavatory should be used. One should not join the sangha assembly, prostrate to the Buddha or circumambulate caityas. If a laymember comes, one should not teach the Dharma. Even if requested one should not go. One should reside in a room on the periphery [of the monastery]. When the treatment of medicine is completed, remain settled for a further seven days to wait for the odor to disperse. Washing the body and clothes, making them pure, the place where one stayed is to be purified by smearing it with cow dung.”

Curiously the last eight characters as quoted in a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) vinaya commentary have one slight modification: the “cow dung” is replaced with “sweeping”.

「其所居處、掃灑淨塗。」(CBETA, X40, no. 717, p. 237, b8-9 // Z 1:63, p. 60, d4-5 // R63, p. 120, b4-5) “The place one stayed in is to be swept and purified by smearing.”

The Chinese here becomes ambiguous. It is unclear with what substance one is to use when smearing the room. The reader is left to use their imagination, which in Ming Dynasty China would probably have meant incense or some other agreeable substance, and not cow dung, as was the case in the original text. This modification in the text is quite significant because it speaks to cultural differences between India and China. In ancient India cow dung was considered a pure substance, and even used medicinally, which the Buddha approved of according to Buddhist literature (see below).