This study adopts a religious and cultural history perspective to examine the interplay between the basic Buddhist precept forbidding killing and the rituals, including official temple and private rituals, associated with the mundane teachings of Six Dynasties Buddhism. By investigating a dispute over the use of non-animal sacrifices in temples, we observe how a change in oblation practices (sacrificial offerings) influences the way religious doctrine is interpreted. We also discover that this change is connected with the historical shift from Hinayana to Mahayana in Chinese Buddhism. Historically, the precept forbidding killing in the Six Dynasties led to the development of the bodhisattva path of ＂ultimate compassion.＂ This was not an occurrence common in Buddhism in different times and places; but in the soil of traditional Chinese thought, it became a trend in religious culture. It was the key to elevating reforms such as giving up meat, hunting, silk, and leather to the level of ritual. Besides investigating historical and philosophical factors in related documents, we observe how repentance rituals at Buddhist assemblies subsumed and complemented the traditional rituals of the time. The precept forbidding killing, one of the Bodhisattva precepts of Mahayana Buddhism, was practiced through these repentance rituals. Religions are cultural and spiritual belief systems that transcend time and space. A change in any important religious ritual often influences the readjustment and reconstruction of the meta-comprehension of related doctrines. This perhaps involves the principle of forced coherence in religion, and is thus related to the distinctions between Theravada and Mahayana, relative and ultimate. It is an unavoidable issue in the interplay between different religions and traditions.
