The Chinese rule of "no eating after noontime" is based on the Four-division Vinaya translated by Buddhayasas. Ar the Buddha's times in India, drinking liquids such as sugarcane juice in the afternoon was allowed. During the Liang Dynasty and the early T'ang Dynasty，after the transmission of the Four-division Vinaya to China, the prohibition against eating after noontime was strictly observed by Chinese monks, and even by lay people who practiced the Vinaya. In the later T'ang and the North Sung Dynasties, the observance of this rule was carried to such an extent that even water was not drunk after noontime，and some practioners ate only a meal everyday.
Because China is a land where temperature is lower than that in India, and because the Pai-chang Monastic Rules stipulated that monks earn their own living by farming so as to accumulate merits for the practice of the Law，and thus made it necessary for the monks to take enough food for physical sustainment，Chinese temples and monasteries started to provide supper.
