Buddhist
Hour
Radio Broadcast on Hillside 88.0 FM
Buddhist Hour Script
325 for Sunday 18 April 2004
The Four Nutriments and life improving qualities of practising the Five Reflections on Food
'It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats'
states an old Russian proverb about the importance of food.
In
a similar, if somewhat more sophisticated way Moliere wrote in Les
Femmes Savantes in France in 1672 the following homage to food: 'Je
vis de bonne soupe et non de beau langage', in English: It's good
food and not fine words that keeps me alive.
A century and a
half later Charles Dickens wrote about in Nicholas Nickleby in 1839
saying: 'Subdue your appetites, and you've conquered human
nature'.
Food was described by the Buddha as number one.
For
many months our Members have been working on the building the new
private kitchen and dining hall at our Centre. Conceived over 14
years ago by our Founder John D. Hughes, it is nearing completion.
The kitchen is the number one place in the house.
It
has the highest priority as it functions to provide nutrient to
sustain the lives of sentient beings by:
1. always producing
and serving fine vibrant food, and
2. always preventing food
poisoning.
Our kitchen is to provide a place and means by
which friendship, good heart and human warmth, harmony and kindness
and respect for all living things can be developed.
This week
we are exploring the Four Nutrients and the practice of doing "Five
Reflections on Food".
To explain the importance of food
from a Buddhist perspective, we draw on a previous Buddhist Hour
program entitled “The four kinds of nutriments” originally
broadcast on 15 October 2000.
Some years ago, in the space of
one week, some Members ate similar food together at our Centre on one
occasion only.
When they were asked what they had experienced
during the eating some Members realised that they had created the
conditions, through the shared experience, whereby they would all
come together again in the future - for more of the same - to learn
about Buddha Dhamma and, perhaps again, enjoy similar food
together.
In the ordinary view of events, this sort of cause
and effect statement would need to be challenged and could be
discounted as a childish statement by many persons who seek to twist
our mundane approach to karmas.
Generally, Buddha Dhamma is
not a religion about the karma of food.
Karma is one of those
words we do not translate. Although its basic meaning is simple
enough - action - but because of the weight the Buddha’s
teachings give to the role of action, the Sanskrit word karma packs
in so many implications that the English word action cannot carry all
its luggage as Thannissaro Bhikkhu has stated in an essay on this
topic.
For the early Buddhist followers, karma was
non-linear.
Other Indian schools believed karma operated in a
straight line, with actions from the past influencing the present,
and present actions influencing the future.
As a result, they
saw little room for free will.
Buddha Dhamma followers saw
that karma acts in feedback loops, with the present moment being
shaped by BOTH the past and the present actions.
The imagery
used to describe karma is explained in terms of flowing
water.
Sometimes the flow from the past is so strong that
little can be done to stand fast, or if the will is weak, we get
swept away as we did in the past.
At other times, the past
flow is gentle enough to be diverted in almost any direction.
What
we are doing right now is more important than who we were in the
past.
Even though the past may account for many of the
inequalities we see in life, the outcomes could change at any
moment.
You need not focus on your karmic past too much otherwise
you can become obsessed by it.
Your karmic opportunity lies in
the present to act in a wiser manner.
The belief that a
person’s value is measured, not by one’s past but by the
actions one does in the present is of course threatening to the caste
system that depends on one’s parent’s caste.
When we
drop such ideas, we come to see it is true that to have done good
things with food is a large blessing (mangala) with food we must not
become obsessive about the nutrition we had in the past, but make the
effort to consider the resultant likely to be obtained from the
nutrient taken in the present.
A good start to this practice
is the five reflections on food. These are:
1. This meal is
the labour of countless beings. Let us accept this offering with
gratitude.
2. This meal is taken to strengthen our exertions,
for greed and opinion are strong. Let us deserve this offering.
3.
This meal is taken to help us become clear and generous. Let us pay
attention.
4. This meal is taken to nourish and sustain our
practice. Let us be moderate.
5. This meal is taken to help
all beings attain Buddha way. Let us practice wholeheartedly.
This
meal is finished. Our strength is restored for us to teach the
Dhamma.
We ought not to abandon these reflections on things
that give nutrient just because they are difficult to do with insight
or because they do not seem to give an instant result.
Reflection
on nutrients has a canonical basis.
Methods of reflection on
the Four Nutriments are one of the secrets Buddhist practitioners
would like to share with you in today’s program.
The
information is found in the Buddhist Theravadin Canon, the Tripitaka.
The Lord Buddha’s Chief Monk, the Venerable Sariputta,
one day addressed a gathering of bhikkhus and gave a discourse on the
Four Noble Truths in detail.
At the end of his teaching, the
bhikkhus were delighted and then asked, “Friend, might there be
another way? Might there be another case?”
What they were
asking was, is there another way to teach the Dhamma without
referring to the Four Noble Truths while still staying in the Right
View?
Venerable Sariputta answered them saying “There
might be, friend, there might be”.
As you may know, the
Lord Buddha regularly taught the Four Noble Truths, which are the
reality of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of
suffering, and the path leading out of suffering.
The Buddha
taught the Dhamma in 84,000 slokes, taught in the most appropriate
language or style to suit the particular audience.
Here the
Bhikkhus were asking Venerable Sariputta if there was a way of
teaching the Buddha Dhamma without referring to the Four Noble Truths
directly.
The Venerable Sariputta then proceeded to teach on
the Four Nutriments, which is a method of viewing Dhamma without
relying on reference to the Four Noble Truths. This may make the
teaching of the Buddha accessible to those beings, whose minds don’t
want to accept the idea of suffering as the basis of life.
Some
years ago, at a lecture at Melbourne University, the late Professor
De Jong of the Australian National University suggested there was
little direct evidence for the teaching of the Four Noble Truths in
the early days of Buddha Dhamma.
So - what is nutriment and
what does it nourish?
Well, the definition of a nutrient has a
different meaning to a nutriment; Nutrients are substances that serve
as nourishment and possess nourishing qualities such as food.
In
the Pali translation of the Sammaditthi Sutta, or the Discourse on
Right View and its commentary- nutriment is described as a condition
which nourishes its own fruit.
Nutriment provides
nutrient.
Venerable Sariputta taught that there are four
Nutriments - only one of which is physical and three that are mind.
The balancing of these nutriments can provide the conditions for
waking up in this life and to create the karmic conditions for good
rebirth.
The first of the four nutriments is physical food -
kabalinkaro in Pali - that is either fine or coarse.
Contact -
phasso dutiyo in Pali - is the second nutriment. The six-fold contact
that begins with the eye-contact - or sight, sound, smell, taste and
so on - should be understood as the second of the four kinds of
nutriment.
Mental volition - manosancetana in Pali - is the
third nutriment.
The fourth nutriment is Consciousness –
vinnanam.
These are the special conditions or nutriments
needed for personal continuity. What is personal continuity and its
importance?
Physical nutriment is the special condition for
the material body of beings which eat physical nutriment and is
usually the first to be understood in this teaching by the Venerable
Sariputta.
What a being eats - whether it is fine or coarse -
is both causes and effects. Past karma is from the causes of the type
of food or nutrient a being enjoys and the effects are the conditions
that are being laid for the next birth each for himself or herself by
the manner of using the food.
The type of food or nutrient we
are drawn to ourselves in this life is caused by the karmic pattern
we laid down in our past lives, and the types of food we enjoy in
this life can create the karmic causes for our future lives. For
example, if we love eating one type of food such as Vietnamese or
Italian food and then, if our attachment to such food was very
strong, in our next life we may be drawn to Vietnamese or Italian
parents.
Another more extreme example is what would happen to
our Members if they were to die of starvation?
What would be
on their minds as they were dying? It may be the recollection of the
evening’s practice, of the company and the memory of the
cake.
Attachment to wishing with good intentions near the last
moments of this life can tend to incline a person towards heavens of
pleasure.
The desire for good practice is a good intention,
but the desire for food may or may not be a good intention.
If
it was just greed for sensation in the taste of the food that could
bring painful results in the future.
But if the five
reflections on food (performed on that occasion) came to mind at the
same time, a Member would be more likely to pass away to death
without growing cynical about true good intentions.
At death,
cynical thoughts of cause and effect might come to one who practiced
half-heartedly:
“I had consumed all that good cake
without thinking of cause and effect of how to get good food again
and again but the memory of the taste seems to come back to haunt me
and I cannot see how that memory of the past is of any use to me now
I am near death”.
But the cake maker who provided the
nutrient cakes could well be less cynical and think near her death:
“I am happy I helped sustain those Upwey disciples before I came
to be near death and I would like to be able to create the causes to
practice like that again and again to help persons”.
The
difference in one person having a most penetrating discovery about
such things while another does not depend much on the person’s
intention to shape his or her lives by mastering insight skills
involving food as nutrient for practice.
We fund overseas
orphanages to buy nutrient food for persons in Bangladesh - and the
recollection of this fact near death could help lift the
mind.
Correct reflection on nutrients could well be known that
whatever leads to the physical environment of our next birth of
whether or not we are reborn to a life in a land where food is as
easy to obtain as it is here in Australia at present depends on such
things.
It is not only the karmic connection with our next
parents which leads to a particular birth, but also our cravings or
unbalanced views of nutriment at the time of death.
The
second, third and fourth nutriments which the Venerable Sariputta
expounded to the gathered Bhikkhus, are the group of mental
constituents. These are even more powerful in outcome in terms of
recollection near death.
The second nutriment, which is
contact is the special condition for feeling, mental volition (the
third nutriment) is the special condition for consciousness, and
consciousness (the fourth nutriment) is the special condition for
mentality – materiality.
It is important to understand
that the mind nutriments are not referring to some nutrient we eat
which then nourishes the contact senses, mind volition and
consciousness, but rather it is that the contact senses, mind
volition and consciousness are themselves nutriments.
The
following description is taken from the commentary on The Discourse
on Right View, or the Sammaditthi Sutta, translated from Pali by
Bhikkhu Nanamoli (1991).
Physical nutriment nourishes the
materiality with nutritive essence. This essence is the simplest kind
of material set, consisting of the eight groups, which are the four
basic elements plus colour, smell, taste and nutritive
essence.
Contact as nutriment nourishes the three feelings,
which are pleasant, unpleasant or neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
All feelings can be placed in these three groups.
Mental
volition as nutriment nourishes the three kinds of being - that is
animal, human, and deva, which can be described among the egg born,
womb born or spontaneously born.
Consciousness as nutriment
nourishes the mentality - materiality of rebirth linking. That is the
mental and physical circumstances of a beings next life. You will
notice that we refer to beings here rather than saying ‘we’
or 'you', as these conditions are relevant to all realms of
existence.
So how does this occur?
As soon as it is
placed in the mouth, physical food as nutriment brings into being the
eight kinds of materiality as we have mentioned earlier. As we all
know from experience, the mere taste of food can bring renewed energy
straight away, when the actual mastication, digestion and absorption
of the nutriment takes much longer. This example shows how the mind
can use physical nutriment instantly.
But with contact as the
nutriment, when contact productive of pleasant feeling arises it
nourishes pleasant feeling. Contact productive of painful feeling
nourishes painful feeling and contact productive of
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling nourishes
neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.
This demonstrates that
in all ways contact as nutriment nourishes beings.
In the case
of mental volition as nutriment, kamma leading to sense-sphere being
nourishes sense-sphere being; kamma leading to fine-material and
immaterial being nourishes its respective kind of being. Therefore in
all ways, mental volition as nutriment nourishes the three kinds of
being.
Because of our heavy karmic Western culture based on
Greek thought, we may start to find the views of Plato expressed in
his writings that deal with aspects of the sense-sphere, with a hint
that fine-material and immaterial could exist.
Socrates: Now
let me ask the awful question, which is this: - Can a man know and
also not know that which he knows?
Theodorus: How shall we
answer, Theaetetus?
Theaetetus: He cannot, I should
say.
Socrates view is he can, if you maintain seeing is
knowing.
He gives an example of a man in a well who closes one
of his eyes and asks whether he can see his cloak with the eye that
he closed. The answer given is he can not with that eye but the
other.
This infers you see and do not see the same thing at
the same time.
If seeing is knowing, and not-seeing is not
knowing: then the inference is the contradictory of the
assertion.
The next part is what you would say if an opponent
had gone on to ask whether you can have sharp but also dull
knowledge.
Also whether you can know near, but not at a
distance, or know the same thing with more or less intensity and what
happens when you consider hearing, smelling and the other
senses.
Also, do we really suppose that anyone would admit the
memory which a person made of an impression which has passed away is
the same with that which he or she experienced at the time?
He is
far from saying that one person may not be a thousand times better
than another person.
Socrates says that the wise man knows
that to the sick person his or her food appears to be bitter and to
the healthy person the opposite of bitter.
He cannot conceive
that one of these persons can be or ought to be made wiser than the
other.
But one state requires to be changed into the other,
the worse into the better.
As in education, a change of state
has to be effected even though persons can think what is not as the
inferior state of mind has thought of a kindred nature, so Socrates
conceives that a good mind causes persons to have a good mind
set.
But we do not argue that wise men ought to have long
beards.
Is not the world looking for Leaders and Teachers and
rulers with wisdom?
Somehow says Socrates, there is something
wrong with the notion that humans are the measure of all things.
Do
not thousands upon thousands of persons take up arms against the
truth of things?
But there is a great difference in
understanding between persons.
Some persons gain power in
court by learning how to flatter the Master in word and indulge him
in deed: but such persons are of small scope.
He concludes
that in the human world evils never pass away, there must always
remain something antagonistic to good.
There are two patterns
- one blessed and divine - the other wretched.
He suggests the
good path.
Socrates suggests the free use of words and
phrases, rather than minute precision, is generally characteristic of
a liberal education. But sometimes precision is
necessary.
Discussion on our opinions follows in this text, or
methodology, he suggests we need, at times, to move questions out of
the sphere of knowing and not-knowing, into that of being and
non-being.
But if we miss the aim of thought we may come to
false opinion.
Memory is called the Mother of the Muses.
We
need energy to straighten out our memory to get to the truth.
This
is where the fourth nutriment - consciousness - is useful. It is said
that it nourishes the mentality - materiality of rebirth-linking.
It nourishes the aggregates associated with itself at the
moment of rebirth-linking and the different kinds of materiality,
which arise by way of continuity. Thus consciousness nourishes the
mentality - materiality of rebirth-linking.
This way of
understanding Dharma is not usually taught. For some persons, it
opens up a vast area for them. Perhaps you are one of those types of
persons who can benefit from such Teaching.
In the next part
of the discourse, The Venerable Sariputta told the gathered bhikkhus
of the four functions associated with the four nutriments.
In
regard to the four kinds of nutriment, physical food as nutriment
accomplishes the function of nutriment by sustaining the physical
being, contact accomplishes it by contacting, that is touching,
mental volition accomplishes the function of nutriment by
accumulating and consciousness accomplishes it by cognising.
So
how is this done and how do these nutriments contribute to the
maintenance of beings?
Physical food as nutriment, by
sustaining, is “for the maintenance of beings” by
maintaining the body - it is what enables us to physically continue
to exist. Physical food as nutriment becomes a condition for two
material continuities, that is, that which originated by nutriment
and that kammically acquired. It is a condition for the kamma-born
materiality by becoming its preserver. It is a condition for that
originated nutriment by becoming its producer.
Then contact,
by contacting the object which is the basis for pleasure is “for
the maintenance of beings” by causing the occurrence of pleasant
feelings.
Mental volition, accumulating by way of wholesome
and unwholesome kamma, is “for the maintenance of beings”
because it provides the root of existence.
Consciousness, by
cognising, is “for maintenance of beings” by causing the
occurrence of mentality – materiality.
Once Venerable
Sariputta was satisfied that the gathered Bhikkhus had grasped the
idea of the four nutriments and their functions, he then described
the four dangers associated with those Nutriments. The reason he did
this was to help them understand the craving and attachment that can
cause imbalance and bias in the four nutriments.
Once the
dangers were understood then the disciples would be able to see how
to eliminate the desire of the four nutriments and thereby attain
full understanding.
The four dangers are quite straight
forward - once they are explained.
In the case of physical
food as nutriment, the danger is desire. That is desire of certain
food types, desire of quantities, desire of indulgences and so
forth.
In the case of the nutriment contact, the danger is
approach. Those who find gratification in contact, commit crimes in
respect of others guarded belongings such as theft, adultery and so
on create unwholesome kamma and thus lead to a bad rebirth.
With
the nutriment of mental volition, it is said to be the danger of
accumulating which creates the imbalance. The entire danger in the
three realms of existence has come about through accumulation of
wholesome and unwholesome kamma.
In the case of consciousness
as nutriment, it is said that the danger is that of launching - that
is launching into a new existence by way of rebirth-linking. The text
goes on to describe that in whatever place rebirth-linking
consciousness launches, then in that same place it is reborn by
seizing the rebirth-linking mentality-materiality. When this is
produced then all dangers are produced for they are all rooted within
it.
Once the dangers associated with the four nutriments were
explained, Venerable Sariputta then told four similes to help the
bhikkhus understand a way of eliminating desires and dangers and
thereby being free.
The first simile was told for the sake of
eliminating desire for physical food and was called The Simile of the
Sons Flesh. A couple, it was said, set out with their son, on a
journey across a desert trail one hundred yojanas long. A yojana is
about seven miles, so the journey was about 700 miles.
When
they had gone only half way their limited provisions ran out.
Exhausted by hunger and thirst, the husband and wife sat in some
scanty shade and each offered to be killed by the other so they could
eat half their flesh and then continue the rest of the journey with
the remaining flesh as provisions. The wife could not kill the
husband and the husband said that if he killed his wife then the son
would also die. The husband then said that they could create another
child again so they should kill their son, eat the flesh and
continue. The mother said - “I bore this child in my womb and
have suffered greatly for him - I cannot kill him. Son - go to your
father!” But the father said that he had also suffered much to
support the boy and could not kill him either. He said, “ Boy -
go to your mother”.
The child died going back and forth
between the two. After much weeping they took the flesh and then
departed. But the flesh was repulsive to them for nine reasons and it
was eaten not for enjoyment nor for intoxication nor for making the
body strong and beautiful, but only for the purpose of crossing out
of the desert.
The nine reasons were that it was the flesh of
their own offspring, the flesh of a relative, the flesh of a dear
son, the flesh of a youngster, raw flesh, not beef, unsalted, and
unspiced. Venerable Sariputta concluded by saying “Therefore the
bhikkhu who sees the nutriment physical food as similar to son’s
flesh eliminates the desire for it.
The simile to help
dissolve the danger of approach for the nutriment contact was called
the Simile of the Flayed Cow. If a cow were stripped of its skin and
then set free, whatever it did or rested upon would cause great pain.
So whatever the basis or object that the contact stands upon as its
support becomes a basis for the felt pain from that basis. Therefore
a bhikkhu who sees the nutriment contact as similar to a flayed cow,
eliminates the desire for it.
The third simile is the Simile
of the Charcoal Pit. The three realms of being are like a charcoal
pit in the sense of a great burning heat. Like two men who drag a
weaker man by the arms and legs toward it, is mental volition in the
sense that it drags one toward the realms of being. Therefore a
bhikkhu who sees the nutriment mental volition as similar to a
charcoal pit eliminates the desire for it.
The final simile is
The Simile of the Man Struck with Three Hundred Spears with each
spear creating its own wound on the body. The nutriment
rebirth-linking consciousness is like the thief. His
mentality-materiality conditioned by consciousness is like the wound
openings created by the striking of spears. The arising of the
various kinds of suffering by way of physical pain and disease in
regard to consciousness conditioned by mentality-materiality should
be regarded as like the arising of severe pain for that man
conditioned by the spear wound openings.
Therefore a bhikkhu
who sees the nutriment as similar to one struck by three hundred
spears, eliminates the desire for it.
Thus by eliminating
desire in regard to these nutriments, he also understands the four
nutriments.
The Blessed One said:
Bhikkhus, when the
nutriment physical food has been fully understood, lust for the five
cords of sensual pleasure has been fully understood. When lust for
the five cords of sensual pleasure has been fully understood, there
exists no more any fetter bound by which the noble disciple might
come back to the world.
Bhikkhus, when the nutriment contact
has been fully understood, the three feelings have been fully
understood and when the three feelings have been fully understood.
When the three feelings have been fully understood, there is nothing
further for the noble disciple to do, I say.
Bhikkhus, when
the nutriment mental volition has been fully understood, the three
kinds of craving have been fully understood. When the three kinds of
craving have been fully understood, there is nothing further for the
noble disciples to do.
Bhikkhus, when the nutriment
consciousness has been fully understood, mentality-materiality has
been fully understood. When mentality-materiality has been fully
understood, there is nothing further for the noble disciple to do, I
say.
It is by way of this rarely taught Dhamma teaching on the
Four Nutriments, that the Lord Buddha and his Venerable disciple
Sariputta were able to teach a means of attaining liberation without
mention of the Four Noble Truths and suffering or in Pali dukkha.
We
are very pleased to be able to share this valuable teaching with you
today. If you would like a transcript of today’s radio program
you can find it on our website at www.bdcublessings.net.au.
May
you always produce and serve fine vibrant food
May you always
be protected from food poisoning.
May you always have a place
and means by which friendship, good heart and human warmth, harmony
and kindness and respect for all living things can be developed.
May
all beings be well and happy.
May you be well and happy.
We
thank the Devas and Devatas of Learning for their help in and
guidance with the writing of this paper.
Today's script was
prepared and edited by Julian Bamford, Evelin Halls and Pennie
White.
References:
The Oxford Dictionary of
Quotations. 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press. London 1985. Les
Femmes Savantes. Moliere, J.-B. Poquelin 1622- 1673 France, 1672.
p.353
A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles
from Ancient and Modern Sources. Selected and Edited by H.L. Mencken.
Alfred A Knopf. New York 1991
The Buddhist Hour, “The
four kinds of nutriments”, Knox FM Radio Broadcast, 15 October
2000. Written and edited by John D. Hughes, Lainie Smallwood, Tim
Browning, Pennie White, Clara Iaquinto, Julian Bamford, Evelin Halls,
Stuart Amoore and Isabella Hobbs, Lyne Lehman and Nick
Prescott.
Soni, R. L. (1987). Life’s Highest Blessings,
The Maha Mangala Sutta, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri
Lanka.
Bhikkhu Nanamoli (translator) & Bhikkhu Bodhi
(editor and revision), (1991). The Discourse on Right View, Buddhist
Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Bhikkhu Thanissaro.
Noble Strategy, Wisdom Audio Visual Exchange. Essay on Karma, pp.
9-12. Printed for free distribution as a gift of Dhamma. Printed:
1000 copies July 1999; 1000 copies (Sin) July 1999.
Edman I
(1956) The Works of Plato. Random House Toronto.
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