A Buddhist View of Eating
 

Hello,

Here are some thoughts about a Buddhist view of eating, written by Tulku Thondup from his book BOUNDLESS HEALING (p. 197)

- By eating food with mindfulness, we can cultivate awareness, calmness, peace, and joy.

- By eating food with thankfulness to all who made a contribution to bringing this great gift to our tables, we can cultivate the quality of love and appreciation of others.

- By eating food with the wish to sustain our bodies as vessels for serving many, we can cultivate a vision beyond our restricted self-concerns and a habit of dedicating mind and body to a greater goal.

- By eating food with gratitude as a gift to our own bodies ... we cultivate a tendency to to feel friendship, appreciation, and respect for our own bodies rather than grasping, craving, or hatred.

- By eating food with the intention of nourishing the bacteria that live in our bodies, we cultivate a sense of purpose, love, and generosity.

- By eating food with the attitude of offering it to the divine body or to the divinity in our bodies ... we cultivate great merits and blessing energies.

- By eating food with right thinking and feeling, we transform ourselves into persons of peace and joy. These qualities benefit us and could transform us into sources of peace and joy for many others.

Jay

Thanks for posting, Jay! I think I'm going to tack this up on my refrigerator.

I seldom browse the faith-based forum, I wasn't expecting to see this. :)

Very beautiful, Jay. Thanks

Very interesting!
We just finished about a month of Buddhist studies in my History in Art class, but we didn't talk about food. :)

Thank you for posting -- it's nice to hear food talked of positively and eating as something rewarding.

I have read a couple buddhist teaching books and I think they are fascinating. I think the points you posted are very good ones. It also reminds us that our body is sacred and would you give something sacred junk food?

Absolutely, great point. So just when did all this unhealthy food in unhealthy portions come to be?

Thanks for sharing that with us Jayell.

I like it.

I go to a womens retreat once in a while and a few times we have done a silent meal and it is amazing. mindfullness textures, tastes, aromas all better if we observe the cycle of life instead of shoveling it in

When we started eating things that came in boxes instead of from plants.