Care of the Self or Pursuit of a Better World? The Transformation of Vegetarianism in Yiguandao Discourses from the Late Qing Period to the Global COVID-19 Pandemic

This article traces the evolution of vegetarianism among practitioners of the Chinese-Taiwanese religious movement Yiguandao (Way of Pervading Unity) from the late nineteenth century until the contemporary global COVID-19 pandemic. Even though abstention from meat and related food products is not a requirement for membership, devoted Yiguandao practitioners nevertheless value it as a hallmark of religious commitment and dedication. I argue that we can observe a clear shift in discourses on vegetarianism that is intimately related to the evolution of Yiguandao from a local religious group at the beginning of the twentieth century to a globalized movement in the early twenty-first century. Although throughout most of the twentieth century Yiguandao's discourses on vegetarianism favored a self-centered approach aimed at the physical and religious well-being of the individual, in recent decades they have been infused with scientific concepts and have become increasingly linked to social and environmental concerns on a global basis.