Buddhist Hour
Script No. 420
Broadcast live on Hillside 88.0 FM
11.00 am till 12 midday.
On
Sunday 19 February 2006 CE 2549 Buddhist Era

This script is entitled:
"Lifetimes of Learning "
Class 3

We now continue with our series "Lifetimes of Learning - A Do It Yourself Approach to Happiness" with Class No. 3 presented on the 14th of February 2006 at the Dandenong Ranges Community Cultural Centre, Upwey.

This evening we will explore the first of the Ten Perfections in greater detail: The Perfection of Generosity, or dana-parami in Pali.

In particular, we'll explain how to practice the ‘Way of the Kitchen’, a method of transforming the time we spend shopping for food, cleaning the bench, chopping the carrots and serving our family and friends, into a path for developing mindfulness, loving-kindness, true generosity, and wisdom.

The Way of the Kitchen is a practice to perfect the act of offering food. We apply the Buddha's advice on giving food to create causes for us to receive the nutriment we need for our own health and happiness.

Fundamentally, the task is to offer food freely, without greed, craving or hatred and instead, to offer food with wisdom. This means we must plan, prepare and serve the food with love, offering it freely and knowing that this offering will bring blessings to us in the future. We know how great an opportunity it is to serve others food. As the law of cause and effect states, ‘You need to give in order to receive.’ Thus the whole ‘chore’ of cooking, cleaning the kitchen, and shopping, become actions that generate good causes for our own future wellbeing, happiness and progress in the Buddhist Perfections and benefits others in the present time.

The practice of generously giving is very important in Buddhism, just as Mr. Tan Aun Phaik says in his book titled Dana:

"Generosity (Dana), Morality (Sila) and meditation or mind development (Bhavana) support the arising of wisdom." (Phaik)

He makes this analogy - "Dana - giving, and sila - morality, just like our two legs support our body, they support our meditation, and just like our body supports our head, our meditation supports the arising of wisdom within us." (Phaik)

Therefore, we place great importance in cultivating giving. We need to give (especially food), to sustain our own existence in this and future lives.

Mr. Tan Aun Phaik writes simply:

"You reap what you sow." (Phaik)

This simple statement sums it up; you get what you put out. If you give food with stinginess, hate or greed, without much care or consideration, without good intention - you may experience a person giving you food in the same manner in the future. Feelings of hate or greed may arise in you when you contact food offered to you in this way in the future.

So, as with all Buddhist practice, the idea is to be mindful of what you are doing to take care of your actions of mind, speech and body.

There is a Buddhist Teaching that explains that in the life of all beings food is number-one. All things depend on nutrient. The way of the kitchen is one of the first practices to develop generosity or Dana by offering food.

The centre of a home, or the centre of our Dhamma practice, is the kitchen.

While preparing food there are two main factors to focus on:

1. To offer high-vibe fine food;

2. To take precautions to prevent food poisoning.

In Buddhism we pay very close attention to our state of mind, because we acknowledge that all things start with the mind. If the mind is pure then what you are doing will have a wholesome result.

For this reason we prepare our mind before preparing the food. Our mental state is most important when preparing food. We believe that wholesome thoughts give out a positive energy. By this we mean that positive thoughts are thoughts that wish no harm to any being, they wish love and wellness to all, they are welcoming, life enhancing, generating health & happiness to all beings.

We believe that unwholesome thoughts give out a negative energy. Negative energy thoughts are thoughts that have restlessness, hate, jealousy, anger or greed in them. For example, they can be thoughts of annoyance, sadness or anger which underneath have hate - because generally we do not like something that we have seen or heard or thought or read. If you have these thoughts in your mind when cooking and serving and preparing food, we say that the food will have a low vibe - it may not provide the best results for us or for others when eaten.

We start by thinking good thoughts about what we are doing and towards the persons we are cooking for. We practice mindfulness to watch over our thoughts. We drop the negative thoughts and instead generate wholesome thoughts throughout the entire processes:

• Before the meal - plan the menu, buy the ingredients, clean the kitchen, cook the food, serve and offer the food;
• During the meal- eating of the food;
• After the meal - collecting and clearing the dishes, washing the dishes, re-cleaning and re-ordering the kitchen.

The practice of offering food or dana of food, enhances life, and thus makes causes to lengthen your life.

In 1672, Les Femmes Savantes stated that "It’s good food and not fine words that keeps me alive."

In the Time magazine, 1978, French restaurateur Alain Chapel wrote, "Cooking is an act of love."

The French Chef Anton Mosimann states: "All the best cooking is simple. There is really nothing new in it. I have 4,000 cookbooks dating back to 1503 and everything that is in novelle cuisine was there 200 years ago."

The Buddha taught that there are four types of nutriment, only one which is physical and three which are mental. The balancing of these nutriments can provide the conditions for waking up in this life, and to create the kammic conditions for good rebirth.

Lets look closely to the four deeper aspects of the act of Offering Food:

The giver ought to have the right thoughts and intention when giving food. It starts when you plan the menu - you think about the persons you are cooking for (or buying food for). What will they like? What do they need to eat? You may talk to them about this. Ask them what foods they like: do they have a favorite food they wish to eat? Would they be happy for you to cook or buy it for them?

While preparing the food, think of the food giving great nutrition, strength, health and energy. Clean the kitchen before you cook. Your wish is to offer the best possible food you can. Wipe down all bench tops before you start. Ensure all utensils and items are clean. We teach our Members to follow the food handling principles as recommended by the Department of Health, Victoria.

While making the food, say to yourself - that if they do not like it you will be prepared to get them something else. Give with no strings attached. Give freely.

By doing this you are creating the best conditions for food and other blessings to come to us in the future.

Mr. Tan Aun Phaik quotes the Buddha's teaching in the Bojjhanga Sutta:

"In giving a meal, the donor gives five things to the recipient. Which five? He or she gives life, beauty, happiness, strength, and quick-wittedness.

Having given life, he or she has a share in long life, either human or divine.

Having given beauty, he or she has a share in beauty, either human or divine.

Having given happiness, he or she has a share in happiness, either human or divine.

Having given strength, he or she has a share in strength, either human or divine.

Having given quick-wittedness, he or she has a share in quick-wittedness, either human or divine. In giving a meal, the donor gives these five things to the recipient."

Bojjhanga is defined in the Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary (1979) as: "A factor or constituent of knowledge or wisdom." There are seven bojjhangas usually referred to or understood from the context.

Giving in general has a beneficial effect for the giver.

Carefully think about the persons or beings you are giving the food to and generate good thoughts about them. Wishing them to be well and happy on receiving this food. Wishing that the food you are offering has the most beneficial effect it can for them. And wishing that your offering has no harmful effect on them. Thinking like this can increase the beneficial effect of the giving. This is developing the mind aspect of the practice of the Perfection of Generosity.

Also you can think that the person you are offering to has made good merit to receive your food offering. It is like you are just a go-between them and their past good actions of offering food; however, you have gratitude for them to have this good merit, because you are now in this fortunate position of offering to them and you will collect good food merit also. This attitude helps to reduce pride and gives a more balanced view of the situation.

All beings in your every day world - your family, your mother and father, your friends, the birds and animals in your garden, your pets, persons at work, the homeless. If you wish to make big merit - offerings to Monks and Nuns, your parents and someone who is very hungry, bear the greatest results.

Make it a consistent practice in your life to offer food as much as you can.

Our teacher, Master John D. Hughes, on meeting students for the first time would often recommend they start their Buddhist practice by offering food, drinks and flowers to their parents, particularly their Mother. He would also encourage and arrange for us to make the most of any opportunity to make offerings to the Sangha or - the Buddhist community of Monks and Nuns.

As Bhikkhu Visuddhacara writes, offer to the Sanga with the wish:

"May the good monk be of good health to pursue a holy life, practice meditation and be liberated from samsara. May we, the person who offers, also benefit from these good deeds."

Therefore the monks as receivers can only repay the devotees by striving hard, studying the Dhamma and practicing meditation to purify their minds. In this way, the devotees will gain great merits by virtue of the purity of the monk or his earnest efforts to attain that purity.

In the days of the Buddha, donors had been known to attain heavenly rebirths by offering even a spoonful of rice to the Buddha and Arahants. When eating the food too, monks are exhorted by the Buddha to do so mindfully and not with greed. They should eat not with attachment to taste but only with a desire to stay healthy so that they can study and practice the Dhamma.

Similarly when they use their robes and other allowable requisites, they should do so with the proper attitude. Monks, after a suitable period of study and practice, will teach the Dhamma according to their capability to devotees. In this way, devotees will learn the way to practice, the way to live peacefully and the way to attain Nibbana.

The Buddha's teaching will also endure long. Thus, the relationship between the Sangha and lay devotees will be meaningful and fruitful. Teaching and helping to spread the Dhamma is one of the highest forms of dana. This is borne out by the oft-quoted verse from the Dhammapada - "The gift of Dhamma excels all gifts (Sabba danam dhamma-danam jinati)."

Offering food to any being will be beneficial for you, especially if your intention is correct.

Buddhist practice starts with the cultivation of generosity as the first perfection because, in the first case it creates many good causes needed by each of us for our future wellbeing and secondly, it begins the process of reducing our greed and stinginess. A generous mind is a suitable base or foundation for becoming happy. Generous minds have a happy disposition to begin with whereas a greedy mind has a sour disposition and will never lead us towards happiness.

We suggest you start a roster of who you will offer food to and when you will offer it to them as a deliberate plan to cultivate your practice of giving.

We offer food to Venerable Monks and Nuns. We offer food and water to the birds and animals at our Centre. Our Members plan to offer food regularly at their homes, at Temples, monasteries and to each other.

If possible, it is best to see what the person you are offering to wants or needs. However, give what you can. Giving what is most needed is the best way. But the most important thing is that you offer food regularly.

Make sure the food is fresh.

If the person likes hot spicy food - give them that. If they like meat and you are vegetarian - give them meat. Find out what they want and give that.

Prepare the food with the Five Reflections in mind. These five reflections help us to remember that the food we offer came to us from the labour of many beings - someone grew it and packaged it and then sold it to us. The Five Reflections on Food helps cut greed, pride and hate concerning the food. It helps us recollect why we are offering the food.

The Five Reflections on Food 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 the Buddha way. Let us practice wholeheartedly.

Keeping our mind on these Five Reflections on food generates good wholesome thoughts while we are cooking and blesses the food.

On special retreats we sometimes cook only sattvic food.

"According to Ayurveda, this [sattvic food] is the best diet for physical strength, a good mind, good health, and longevity. The list of sattvic foods is short and would not fulfil a normal person's dietary requirements, although if well managed, a diet limited to milk, vegetables, rice and fruit would certainly be excellent for one's health." (Hughes)

The Sattvic diet consists of light, soothing, easily digested food. According to the diet, the best foods are those that are fresh and have a balance of all the six tastes and are consumed in moderate portions.

A sattvic diet can be made of the following foods:

Ghee (clarified butter)
Milk
Fruits and fruit juices
Rice
Sesame
Vegetables, with the exception of onions and garlic
Almonds
Foods with a sweet taste in general

Create a beautiful, peaceful environment for the meal. The environment should be clean, quiet, un-cluttered, free from drafts, comfortable, and pleasant smelling. Generate in your mind the wish to provide the perfect conditions for the person eating the food.

Wait for the right time. Make sure the time and place are right - that the person is ready to receive the food. Give them accurate information as to what time the food will be ready.

You may say at the beginning of the meal that you wish that the food you are offering will make all persons present happy and healthy. That you offer the food wishing the persons to benefit from the food and that no harm comes to them from the food being offered. For example "I offer this food for your long life, good health and happiness. May this food bring you no harm."

The Buddha was not out to change the world or refute the world. The Buddha saw that all phenomena in the world is conditioned - arising from causes made previously and he saw Nibbana, the unconditioned, the cessation of craving and ultimate happiness.

Master John D. Hughes taught us this method of highly active giving to fulfill the purpose of the practice of generosity. It acknowledges ‘Maslows Hiearachy of Needs’ - that every human being needs food, water, shelter, friendship, a sense of belonging, a sense of worth and finally knowledge to survive.

John D. Hughes said:

"Think like this. Change your life by giving. For every cup of tea I drink, I will give out ten cups of tea. For every meal I eat, I will give out 10 meals. I will give true friendship to all persons I meet, because I need good friends. I will give the truth, because I need to receive the truth. For every page of knowledge I receive, I will give 100 pages. For every hour of Teaching I receive, I will give a 100 hours of teachings; and If you cannot do these things, then help others who can or who are doing these things."

5. Sharing of Merits

"After the performance of dana or any good deed, we should share the merits gained with all beings" as Bhikkhu Visuddhacara writes. He continues, "This is very beneficial, as sharing of merits is in itself a good deed. The mind enjoys a wholesome state associated with loving-kindness and compassion as we share the merits of our good deeds."

"Then, beings including those present, departed relatives, petas and devas who are aware of our good deeds rejoice with our sharing of merits with them, and will also benefit. By rejoicing they attain wholesome states of mind which can lead them to good rebirths." (Visuddhacara)

So whenever we give dana or do any good deeds, we should mentally or verbally share the merits with all beings, parents, spouse, children, relatives, friends, petas and devas. The Pali formula is:

It means "We share these merits of ours with all beings, relatives, friends, petas and devas. May all beings be happy." The Myanmars add another line: "May all beings take a share of these merits. Sadhu sadhu sadhu."

And Finally the Dhammapada says -

May all beings be well and happy.

This script was prepared and edited by Anita Carter, Frank Carter, David Ley, and Alec Sloman.

1. Phaik, Tan Aun. 1998. Dana. Published by Perniagaan Juta Ria, unspecified address.

2. Hughes, J, et. al. 2002. Food for Thought. (Series) Buddhist Hour Radio Program. (Volume) Script 251. Published by the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., 33 Brooking Street, Upwey, Victoria 3158. (Please see script for further references)

Word count: 3,558

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