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4.3. The consideration of each of four types of ahara 4.3.1. Kabalinkarahara 4.3.1.1. Meaning of kabalinkara-ahara The term "kabalinkarahara" (S. kavadinkarahara) means physical nutriment, edible food or material food, 'food formed into balls, i.e. food formed into mouthfuls for eating (according to Indian custom) belongs together with the three mental nutriments, to the group of four nutriments. In other words, kabalinkarahara is nutriment that can be swallowed after 229 G. P. Malalasekera, Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, vol. I, p. 280.

125 230 231 making it into a ball or piece (kabalinkaro ca so aharo cati kabalikaraharo;) this is a term for the nutritive essence which has as its basis boiled rice, junket, etc. This means that material food that nourishes the eightfold corporeality namely the solid, liquid, heat, motion, color, odour the taste and the nutrient essence 2 as above mentioned. So, when one asks, what is that form which is kabalinkaro aharo (bodily nutriment,) the answer is boiled rice, sour gruel, flour, fish, flesh, milk, curds, butter, cheese, tila-oil, cane-syrup, or whatever else there is in whatever region that by living beings may be eaten, chewed, swallowed, digected into the juice by which living being are kept alive this is that form which is bodily nutriment. Being a primary need for itself, it constitutes the physical basis of all action. 232 233 Edible food is divided into various categories. A basic categorization is into solid and gross food (olarika) and fine and exquisite food (sukhuma.) A further sub-division of this is khajja, bhojja, leyya (to be sipped) and peyya (to be drunk.) What is eaten (asita), drunk (puta) chewed (khayita) and tasted (sayita) also is a similar division. From this it is clear that food, in the broader sense, constitute not only of what is eaten, but also of what is drunk. Hence common term (anna-pana: food and drink) could be taken as another term for food in general, though pana itself could mean water. 234 Material food, which sustains the body, which is either gross or subtle (olariko va sukhumo va): it is gross because of the grossness of the 230 According to the Abhidhamma, the nutriment proper is the material phenomenon called nutritive essence (oja), while the solid food ingested is the mere "basis" (vatthu) of the nutritive essence. (Tran. by Bhikkhu Nanamoli, Edited and Revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Sammaditthi Sutta and its Commentary, source: http://www.geocities.com/ekchew.geo/wheel 377.htm#n 23.) 231 Vism., p. 341. 232 Trans. by Caroline A.F. Rhys Davids, A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics (Dhammasangani), Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1996, p. 196. G. P. Malalasekera, Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, vol., V, p. 255. 233 234 Suttanipata , Verse No. 485.

126 basis, and subtle because of the subtlety of the basis. But because physical nutriment is included in subtle materiality, by way of its 235 236 individual essence it is subtle only. That grossness and subtlety should be understood relatively in respect of the basis. Thus, the nutriment of peacocks is subtle compared with the nutriment of crocodiles. Crocodiles, they say, swallow stones, and these dissolve on reaching their stomachs. Peacocks eat such animals as snakes, scorpions, etc. But the nutriment of hyenas is subtle compared with the nutriment of peacocks. These, they say, eat horns and bones thrown away three years before, and these become soft as yams as soon as they are moistened with their saliva. In addition, the nutriment of elephants is subtle compared with the nutriment of hyenas. For these eat the branches of various trees, etc. The nutriment of the gayal buffalo, the antelope, the deer, etc., is subtler than the nutriment of elephants. These, they say, eat the sapless leaves of various kinds of trees, etc. The nutriment of cows is subtler than their nutriment; they eat fresh and dried grass. The nutriment of hares is subtler than their nutriment; that of birds is subtler than that of hares; that of barbarians is subtler than that of birds; that of village headmen is subtler than that of barbarians; that of kings and kings' ministers is subtler than village headmen's; that of a Wheel-turning Monarch is subtler than their nutriment. The earth deities' nutriment is subtler than that of a Wheelturning Monarch. The nutriment of the deities of the Four Great Kings is subtler than that of the earth deities. Thus, nutriment should be elaborated 235 The point is that while in conventional terms food substances are distinguished as gross or subtle, this distinction is made in terms of the physical base only. The Abhidhamma classifies nutritive essence as subtle materiality (sukhumarupa); it contrasts with gross materiality (olarikarupa), which includes only the five sense organs and their objects. Ibid. 236 Ibid., The Sammaditthi Sutta and its Commentary.

127 237 up to that of the deities who wield power over others' creations. But after saying, "Their nutriment is subtle," the end is reached. And here, in a basis that is gross, the nutritive essence is limited and weak; in one that is subtle, it is strong. Thus one who has drunk even a full bowl of gruel is soon hungry again and desirous of eating anything; but after drinking even a small amount of ghee, he will not want to eat for the whole day. Therein, it is the basis that dispels fatigue, but it is unable to preserve; but the nutritive essence preserves, though it cannot dispel fatigue. But when the two are combined they both dispel fatigue and preserve. 238 There is one question: Are all things preserved by 'edible food' to sustain and grow? Therefore, what is it preserved? In reply it is said: The very 'edible food' hoards itself. For example, a mother cares for her newborn baby, to help baby grow up in strength, and she also preserves herself. Furthermore, gross food is not exclusively enjoyed among humans, animal and other infra-human beings, for in the entire sphere of sense (kamavacara) the objects of the senses provide the food for the sensecontact (this will be discussed more in the second type of four foods). Thus, some devas are referred to as feeding on gross food (kabalinkarahara-bhakkha) 239 and they are of lower rank than those who live in a mind-made-body (manomaya-kaya.) Although this latter class of devas have body and form, they do not come under the spheres of sensepleasure (kamavacara,) but under the sphere of form (rupavacara,) where the pleasures of the senses, such as the tastes of food, do not occur. It was 237 This is the highest realm among the sense-sphere heavens. Above this come the Brahma realms, where physical nutriment is non-existent. Ibid. 238 Ibid. 239 A. III, 192.

128 Udayin's 240 wrong view to think that devas with mind-made bodies is formless (arupa.) 241 It can be said that beings of the five aggregates are existing and will exist with four kinds of ahara, beings of the four aggregates are existing and will existing with three kinds of ahara: contact, volition, and consciousness. Material food, or rather the process of digestion, which involves the decomposition of food in the process of assimilation by the body, is one of the forty meditation-object (kammatthana) and is called reflection on the loathsomeness of food (this will be discussed in details in the sixth chapter). 4.3.1.2. Function of kabalinkara-ahara Among the four kinds of nutriment, edible food fulfils the function of nourishing, by way of sustaining (upatthambhento). 242 The edible food sustains the body by fortifying it, serves for the (bodily) stability of beings. Though this body is produced by kamma, it is through being sustained by edible food that it lasts for 10 years or 100 years, until the end of a being's normal life span. This may be compared, firstly, to a child that, though brought forth by the mother, is nourished by the wet nurse at the breast, and is nurtured in other ways; and reared thus it lives long. Secondly, it is like a (dilapidated) house propped up by supports. As it was said: "just as a house that is about to fall, will not fall when supported by timber, so, O great king, is this body sustained by nutriment and persists because of nutriment. 243 ,,244 Similarly, it is by sustaining that the nutriment edible food fulfills its function of nourishing. In fulfilling that function, it is a condition to two 240 Udayi was one of the Buddha's disciples, his mind often arose wrong views to the Dhammas. He did not answer exactly the questions of the Buddha. Hence, he was blamed by the Buddha (A. I, 228; A. III, 184, 322; S.v.89; S.iv. 223-4). 241 Op. cit., 194. 242 The Four Nutriments of Life, p. 27. 243 Ibid. 244 Milp. II, I, II.

129 kinds of corporeal continuity: that produced by nutriment (aharasamutthana) and that karmically acquired (upadinnaka; due to clinging in a former life.) For kamma-born (kammaja-upadinnaka) corporeal processes, edible food is a condition by way of being their preserver (anupalaka;) and for those produced by nutriment, by way of being their originator (janaka). 245 In order to fulfil the function of edible food, from the early morning to the night and forever, man has an only purpose that tries to get edible food in many different ways. It is said that, the process of search for edible food is really complex, miserable, and arduous, but one must get it at all costs. For the edible food, the Buddha has brought the special simile to humankind's intention that can be considered as follows: "And how, brethren, is material food to be considered? It is as if two parents who had taken slender provisions were on their way in path through the jungle, and theirs was an only child dear and sweet. Now suppose that the scanty provisions of those parents in the jungle came to an end, used up. And suppose that there was yet a portion of the jungle untraversed. Therigatha those parents might say: What scanty provisions we had are come to an end, are used up, and there is this remainder of the jungle to traverse. What if we were to slay this our only child, sweet and dear, and make both dried pieces and juicy pieces, and so, eating flesh of child, might traverse that remainder of the jungle. Let us not all three perish! And so those two parents slew that only child sweet and dear, and made both dried pieces and juicy pieces, and so, eating flesh of child they could traverse that remainder of the jungle. They would both eat child flesh and smite on their breasts crying: Where is our only child? Where is our only 245 Op. cit., p. 28.

130 child? Now what think you, brethren? Would they take the food for sport? or would they take the food from indulgence? Or would they take the food for plumpness? Not so, lord. Would they not take the food, brethren, in order that they might last till the jungle was crossed? Even so, lord. Even so, brethren, I declare should solid food be regarded. When such food is well understood, the passion of the five senses is well understood. When the passion of the five senses is well understood, the fetters do not exist bound by which the Ariyan disciple could come again to this world">246 The above simile has described a couple, foodless in the midst of a desert, eat their little child, to enable them to reach their destination. The simile seems to refer to many aspects of human life concerning the way of search food edible food, something that deserves to be contemplated through this simile. If not, one will feel conscience-stricken at the struggle for food. The readers can understand this simile by various ways but for the researcher, the simile both reflects the risky reality of search for edible food and instructs the right way of food consumption. The fictitious persons in the simile allude to all living beings who are on the way of struggle for food. The jungle or desert represents a place, environment where the human life or the life span of man; slender provision represents constant privation and hunger of the human world, it is hard to stop. The act of killing and eating the child's flesh allude to the human tragedy in the desire of existence. The extreme state of remorse of the husband and wife allude to torment of mental life of human beings. It is, of course, through the story, the Buddha also instructed the method of how to have food rightly in order to get true happiness in this life. 246 S. II, 98, 搂 63 (The Book of The Kindred Sayings, part II, PTS, p. 68.)

131 Looking at the persons in the Buddha's simile, humankind ever since it emerged on this planet has traversed the desert of life where food is the most urgent concern. Again as in that story, the stilling of man's hunger has often been a heart-rending business - if not for the sometimes quite callous eater, then for his prey and for a sensitive observer. Often, in his search for food, man has destroyed what is commonly dearest to him, be it relatives and friends or the ideals of his youth. True, this is only one aspect of life: life is not 'desert' entire; it has a goodly number of oases where travelers can rest and enjoy themselves to such an extent that they are prone to forget the surrounding desert, which often encroaches on the tiny oasis and buries it. 247 The couple in the story, coming near starvation, eats their own beloved son. It is a gruesome and seemingly fantastic story indeed. But knowing from the records of history that, at times of famine, war or shipwreck, men did resort to cannibalism, people have to admit that what the story tells may have substantially happened ever so often, in one way or another. In his incessant search for food, or for better food or for control of food resources, - how often has man killed, cruelly crushed or exploited his fellow creatures, even those who are close to him by common blood or race! For an unfathomable time, caught in the everturning Wheel of Life, man has been everything: the prey and devourer of all, parent and child of all, this human beings should consider while contemplating the edible food and the Buddha's simile for it. If men wish to eat and live, they have to kill or tacitly accept that others do the killing for them. When speaking of the latter, they do not refer merely to the butcher or the angler. Also for the strict vegetarian's sake, living beings have to die under the farmer's ploughshare, and his 247 The Four Nutriments of Life, p. 6.

132 lettuce and other vegetables have to be kept free of snails and other pests, at the expense of these living beings who, like himself, are in search of food. A growing population's need for more arable land deprives animals of their living space and in the course of history, has eliminated many a species. It is a world of killing in which man lives and has a part. Man should face this horrible fact and remain aware of it in his reflection on edible food. It will stir him to effort for getting out of this murderous world by the ending of craving for the four nutriments. 248 In one short life-time, how many train loads of food have passed in and out of this puny body! How many people have had to labour in the production, preparation and distribution of that food, for keeping unbroken the traffic line that runs straight through this small body! It is a grotesque picture if man visualizes it. There is yet another aspect of that life-giving function of eating. To illustrate it, man should think of a silo, or store house or food bag: after it has been emptied, a few grains will mostly remain in it. Similarly, there will always be left some tiny remnants of food in his body that is neither assimilated nor expelled but remain and putrefy. Some physiologies say that it is this putrefaction of residual food that ultimately brings about the ageing and death of the organism if there are no other causes. If they are right, the food is not only life-giving but also death-bestowing, and it appears that man has in this life of his choice between death by starvation or by putrefaction. 'The food devours the eater', this close connection between nutriment and death is very poignantly expressed in Greek myth, according to which Demeter is the Goddess of corn (that is, food) and of death as well. Bach 248 Ibid., p. 7.

133 ofen, that great explorer and interpreter of classic myth, has expressed the significance of it very succinctly: "She feeds man as a prey to her. "249 People, as far as they give any thought to the humdrum act of eating, have taken very different attitudes towards food. Some, who became tired of the dull routine of eating dull food, have made a fine art of it and became gourmands. To them the Buddha says, "All nutriment is miserable, even divine food." Others keenly aware of the importance of food for good health, have devised various ideas about pure food: man has here the dietetic rules of several religions and the belief of ancient and modern sects in man's 'purification by nutriment' (aharaparisuddhi,) of which already the Buddha made mention, down to nowadays with the ersatz - religions of numerous food-reformers. Others again, have tried to solve the problems of the body's dependence on food by reducing nourishment below sustenance level and by long periods of fasting. This harsh and futile method of self-mortification the Buddha, too, had tried out and rejected before His enlightenment, and had vividly described His experience in the Discourse on the Noble Quest (Ariyapariyesana sutta, M. I, sutta No. 26.) Also later on, the Buddha never recommended periods of fasting, beyond the abstention from solid food after noon enjoined upon bhikkhus, and in the periodic observance of the Eight or Ten Precepts. The deep contemplation will help human beings to realize the truth of suffering not only comes from search for food but also comes from not eating mindfully. Indeed, human beings need to learn the right ways to consume edible food in order to preserve the health and well-being of their body and spirit. When they smoke, drink, or consume toxins, they are eating their lungs, liver, and heart. If they have children and do these 249 Ibid.

134 things, they are eating their children's flesh. Their children need them to be healthy and strong. Human beings have to look deeply to see how they grow their food, so they can eat in ways that preserve their collective well-being, minimize their pain and the pain of other species, and allow the earth to continue to be a source of life for all of them. If while they eat, they destroy living beings and the environment, they are eating the flesh of their own sons and daughters. They need to look deeply together and discuss how to consume, what to eat, and what to resist. This will be a real Dharma discussion. 250 The above discussion reflects the real situation of human society on the way of search for food, but the more important matter is what the Buddha, as a teacher of the Middle Way, taught was moderation in eating, non-attachment to the taste of food, and wise reflection on nutriment. He advised while consuming edible food not for amusement or for enjoyment or for the sake of physical beauty and attractiveness, but only for the sake of crossing the desert of suffering. 4.3.1.3. The peril of kabalinkarahara When the edible food fulfils of nourishing, its peril is to be seen that is craving for physical body, the peril of desire 251 in the case of physical food as nutriment. But for what reasons are they peril? Having desire for the edible food, people, taking up various crafts for the sake of food, undergo many hardships, like enduring cold, etc. Others, having become monks in this dispensation, seeking food in a way wrong for a monk, engage themselves in a physician's work, etc., and thereby incur blame in this very life; and hereafter they become hungry monk-ghosts as described in the Lakkhana-samyutta as follows: 250 251 Thich Nhat Hanh, The heart of the Buddha's teaching, London: Rider, 1999, p. 32. This is said because the craving for taste is strong when taking edible food. By being the cause of much harm, it is a peril (bhaya).

135 "I saw a bhikkhu moving through the air. His Outer robe, bowl, waistband, and body were burning, blazing, and flaming while he uttered cries of pain... That bhikkhu had been an evil bhikkhu in the Buddha kassapa's Dispensation... 99252 For these reasons, it should be understood that desire is an element of peril in edible food. When body is nourished by edible food with much nutritive essence, it becomes beautiful and strong, the very taste of the nutritive essence concurrently attaches the mind and makes it defile, as said, edible food is the basic need of human beings in the Desire Realm (kama-loka.) 253 Because of this urgent need, human beings must work hard and can do the unwholesome such as, killing, stealing, deceit of each other etc. Even animals, due to food, must harass one another, wound, and lose their lives. Many accidents, unexpected things, evil ones, and degradation of environment as well have caused from the wrong ways of quest for edible food. Hunger that is great fear, always press upon human's mind, is a serious disease never stop. Generally, ones use proper medicine when they are sick and will get better, but the illness of hunger is refractory, "Jighacha parama roga: Hunger is the greatest disease. "254 The Catuma sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya II has stated these four perils for one going down to the water are to be expected: Peril of water, peril of crocodiles, peril of whirlpools, and peril of fierce fishes. Similarly, monks four perils 252 253 S. II, 17. Triloka or Tiloka in Pali: The 'triple world' of samsara or rebirth. Buddhist cosmology adopts an ancient Aryan conception of the world having three strata or layers (earth, atmosphere, and sky) and renames these as the Desire Realm (kama-loka), the Form Realm (rupa-loka), and the Formless Realm (arupya-loka). Human beings live in the Desire Realm, the lowest of the three, and they (along with other denizens of the six realms of rebirth) are reborn here because they are still subject to desire. In the Form Realm there is no desire but corporeality remains, and in the Formless realm there is neither desire nor corporeality. Access from one world to another is by two methods: by being reborn there in accordance with one's karma, or through the meditational practice of the dhyanas. These worlds are alternatively known as realms (dhatu) or spheres (avacara), thus kamadhatu, kama-avacara, etc. 254 Dhammapada , 203.

136 to be expected: Peril of water, peril of crocodiles, peril of whirlpools, and peril of fierce fishes. Out of the four, peril of crocodiles is a synonym that of hunger and for gluttony. Without enduring lack of edible food, some monks can disavow the training and return to the low life of the world because of hunger. The following story 255 is evident: -Prince Tissa was the scion of a wealthy house at Rajagaha. One day he came to the Bamboo-grove and there hearing a discourse from the Master, wished to join the Brotherhood, but, being refused because his parents would not give their consent, obtained their consent by following 256 Rattha-pala's example and refusing food for seven days, and finally took the vows with the Master. -After admitting this young man, Tissa went to Savatthi and dwelt at Jetavanavihara training his round for alms from house to house, omitting none, so he called Cullapindapatika Tissa. -A festival having been proclaimed at this time at Rajagaha, the Elder's mother and father laid in a silver casket the trinkets he used to wear as a-layman, and took it to heart, bewailing thus, "At other festivals our son used to wear this or that bravery as he kept the festival; and he, our only son, has been taken away by the sage Gotama to the town of Savatthi. Where is our son sitting now or standing?" Now a slave-girl who came to the house, noticed the lady of the house weeping, and asked her why she was weeping; and the lady told her all. -"What, madam, was your son fond of?" "Of such and such a thing," replied the lady. "Well, if you will give me authority in this house, I'll fetch your son back." "Very good," said the lady in assent, and gave the girl her expenses and despatched her with a large following, saying, "Go, and manage to fetch my son back." 255 Jataka, I, Vatamiga No. 14. 256 M. II, No. 83.

137 -The girl rode in a palanquin to Savatthi, where she took up her residence in the street which the Elder used to frequent for alms. Surrounding herself with servants of her own, and never allowing the Elder to see his father's people about, she watched the moment when the Elder entered the street and at once bestowed on him an alms of victual and drink. And when she had bound him in the bonds of the craving of taste, she got him eventually to seat himself in the house, till she knew that her gifts of food as alms had put him in her power. Therigatha she feigned sickness and lay down in an inner chamber. -In the due course of his round for alms at the proper time, the Elder came to the door of her house; and her people took the Elder's bowl and made him sit down in the house. -When he had seated himself, he said, "Where is the lay-sister?" "She's ill, sir; she would be glad to see you." -Bound as he was by the bonds of the craving of taste, he broke his vow and obligation, and went to where the woman was lying. -Therigatha she told him the reason of her coming, and so wrought on him that, all because of his being hound by the bonds of the craving of taste, she made him forsake the Brotherhood; when he was in her power, she put him in the palanquin and came back with a large following to Rajagaha again. Again, if a person takes food with much nutritive essence, his body will become good-looking. This person can attach to clinging for his body and try to get kinds of cosmetic and various instruments to make this body more beautiful. Thus, the mind is sunk and reborn in the Desire Realm (kama-loka,) this is one of perils of edible food.

138 Again, the following stories 257 are proof: Abhirupananda who was one of some famous women figures prominent in the early Buddhist texts. She was the daughter of a Sakya noble named Khemaka. She was called Nanda the Fair for her great beauty and amiability. Her beloved kinsman, Carabhuta, died on the day on which she was to choose him from amongst her suitors. She had to leave the world against her will. Though she entered the order, she could not forget that she was beautiful. Fearing that, the Buddha would rebuke her, she used to avoid his presence. The Buddha knew that the time had come for her to acquire knowledge and asked Mahapajapati Gotami to bring all the bhikkhunis before him to receive instruction. Nanda sent a proxy for her. The Buddha said, "Let no one come by proxy." So she was compelled to come to him. The Buddha by his supernatural power conjured up a beautiful woman, who became transformed into an old and fading figure. If had the desired effect, and Abhirupananda disabused suddenly and became an arhat. Therigatha Lord Buddha taught the verse: "After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is covered with flesh and blood, and there dwell in it old age and death, pride and deceit: Atthinam nagaram katam. Mansalohitalepanam; Yattha jara ca macu ca. Mano makkho ca ohito. 99258 Khema was born in the royal family of Sagala. She was very beautiful and her skin was like gold. She became the consort of Bimbisara. One day she heard that the Buddha was in the habit of speaking ill of beauty, since then she did not appear before the Buddha. The king was a chief supporter of the Buddha. He asked his court-poets to compose a song on the glories of the Veluvana hermitage and to sing the song very loudly so that the queen might hear it. The royal order was 257 Theri. Commentary , pp. 25-26. 258 Dhammapada , 150.

139 carried out. Khema heard of the beauty of the hermitage and with the king's consent she came to the Veluvana Vihara, where the Buddha was staying at that time. When she was led before the Buddha, the latter conjured up a woman to be a celestial nymph who stood fanning him with a palm leaf. Khema observed this woman bieng more beautiful than she and was ashamed of her own grace. Sometime after she noticed again that the woman was passing from youth to middle age and then to old age, till with broken teeth, grey hair, and wrinkled skin, she fell on earth with her palm leaf. Therigatha thought Khema that her beautiful body would meet with the same fate as that of the nymph. Therigatha the Master, who knew her thoughts, said that persons subject to lust suffer from the result of their action, while those freed from all bondage forsake the world. When the Master had finished speaking, Khema, according to the commentary, attained arhatship and according to the Apadana, she was established in the fruition of the first stage of sanctification and with the king's permission she entered the order before she became an arhat. Thereafter she made a name for her insight and was ranked foremost amongst the bhikkhunis possessing great wisdom. In vain Mara tried to tempt her with sensuous ideas. After that, the Buddha said: 259 ,,260 "Brethren, who contemplates the enjoyment that there is in all that makes for grasping (upadaniya dhamma), craving grows. Or: Looking with satifastion on things that bind like fetters (Samyojaniyesu dhammesu assadanupassita.) "262 261 259 Op. cit., p. 126 f.; cf. Manorathapurani, p. 205; cf. A. I, p. 25. 260 S. II, 261 84. The Ten Fetters claimed by the Buddha specifically and Buddhism generally as standing in the way of Enlightenment: 1. personality belief, 2. skeptical doubt, 3. adherence to wrongful rites, rituals and ceremonies 4. sensual desire, 5. literal meaning of this term is "to hit against", but it is often translated into English as "ill-will or hatred", 6. attachment to the form realms, 7. attachment to the formless realms, 8.conceit, arrogance, self-assertion or pride, 9. restlessness, 10. ignorance, but this is ignorance in a special sense. The first five Fetters are known as Lower Fetters (orambhagiya-

140 In regard to the edible food with its peril, for the sake of eliminating desire for the nutriment physical food, the Fully Enlightened One taught the simile of a couple, foodless in the midst of a desert, eat their little child, to enable them to reach their destination (see above). For this purpose, they did not eat it with gusto and full of greed for it, but ate it in a detached way, without lust and desire. When eating they did not leave aside what was attached to bone, sinew and skin, selecting only the choice, substantial pieces; but they ate just what came to their hands. They did not take their fill, gorging themselves, but they took only very little of it, just sufficient to sustain them for a day. They did not grudge or envy each other the food, but free from the stain of selfishness they ate it with a pure heart. They did not eat it with the illusion that it was deer's meat or peacock's meat, but they were well aware that it was the flesh of their beloved son. They did not eat it with longing, but they ate it without any such longing. They did not hoard a portion of it, thinking: "That much we shall eat in the desert, and the remainder we shall eat when we are out of the desert, adding to it salt and spices." But having reached the end of the desert and fearing that the town people would see it, they would have buried any remainder in the ground or burned it. They did not harbor any such pride and conceit as: "There is none like us who has the chance of eating such meat!"; but they rather ate it with quite the opposite of such pride (that is, with shame and humility). They did not eat it with disdain, "Oh that saltless, tasteless and evil-smelling thing!"; but they ate it without such disdain. They did not quarrel with each other, "This is samyojana) because they bind us to the sensuous world. The second five Fetters are known as Higher Fetters (uddhambhagiya-samyojana) because they bind us to the rupa and arupa worlds. 262 A. I, 50, 搂 6.

141 your share, that is my share! It is your son! It is my son!"; but they ate in concord and harmony. 263 The above evidences have pointed out that the peril of edible food is the craving and grasping of physical body and bound by the ten fetters and leading to rebirth. Indeed, edible food is one of four sustenances, for the maintenance of beings that have come to birth or for the forwarding of them that seek to become (Cattarome, bhikkhave, ahara bhutanam va sattanam thitiya sambhavesinam va anuggahaya).2 Lord Buddha taught: 264 "If there be passion, brethren, if there be delight, if there be craving as to solid food, it is there that consciousness is firmly placed and becomes fruitful. Where consciousness is firmly placed and fruitful, there is descent of name-and-shape. Where there is descent of nameand-shape, there is growth of activities. Where there is growth of activities there in the future is renewed becoming and rebirth. Where in the future is renewed becoming and rebirth, there in the future is decay-and-death. Where there is in the future decay-and-death, I declare, brethren, that with it is grief, affliction, despair. "265 The above passage has pointed out that edible food that will bring the maintenance of beings or be reborn in the future and that is the extreme peril of edible food. In order to liberate its peril and to dominate desire for it, the above simile should be carefully considered. This is the most valuable and peruasive advice of the Buddha to all human beings. Because of an extreme peril of edible food, the Buddha strongly recommended monks to be moderate in eating. He taught edible food should not be taken for pleasure, should not be taken for indulgence 263 The Four Nutriments of life, p. 32. 264 S. II, 97, 搂 63. 265 Ibid., 101, 搂 64 (The Book of The Kindred Sayings, part II, PTS, p.71.)

142 (madaya,) should not be taken for personal charm (mandanaya,) should not be taken for comeliness (vibhusanaya,) but merely for the sheer necessity of living or for maintaining and supporting the body, avoiding 266 harm and assisting noble life, as parents with their child in the jungle, when their provisions have run out, forced by extreme hunger and faced with the prospect of certain death, would be driven to kill the child and eat its flesh etc., even so, without passion of the senses should material food be taken. The Buddha, considering in such food its aspect of being taken without greed and attachment, wanted also the community of monks and householders to appreciate that aspect. He declared should solid food be regarded thus. When such food is well understood, the passions of the five senses² are well understood. 267 268 "If the nutriment edible food is comprehended, the lust for the five sense-objects is thereby comprehended." Here, the five strands of sense desire are the five kinds of sense-objects cognizable by five senses organs: Shapes cognizable by the eye, longed for, alluring, pleasurable, lovely, bound by with passion and desire. Sounds cognizable by the ear smells by the nose... tastes by the tongue contacts by the touch, longed for, alluring, pleasurable, lovely, bound by passion a desire. If a person who enjoys these five strands of sense-pleasures enslaved and infatuated by them, addicted to them, not seeing the peril in them, not escape from them - he will come to calamity, to misfortune and it is to be done to by the Evil One as he wills. It is like a deer living in a forest who might be lying caught on a heap of snares - this may be said of it: It has come to calamity, it has come to misfortune, it is one to be done to by the 266 267 A. I, 114. Forms cognizable via the eye - agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Sounds cognizable via the ear... Aromas cognizable via the nose... Flavors cognizable via the tongue... Tactile sensations cognizable via the body agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing (M. Suttas No.26, 122.) - 268 A. IV, 457 (ix, vii, 搂 iii (65.)

143 trapper as he wills, for when the trapper comes it will not be able to go away as it wishes." In order to understand fully the five sense-desires, ones have to realize their satisfaction, misery, and escape from them. When pleasure that arises owing to the eye, - that is the satisfaction of the eye. The impermanence, that ill, that instability which is the eye, - that is misery of the eye. That restrain of desire and lust, that renouncing of desire and lust which are in the eye, - that is the way of escape from the eye. Likewise pleasure that arises owing to the ear, nose, etc. When the five sense-desires are well understood, the fetters do not exist bound by which the Ariyan disciple could come again to this world. 270 If edible food is fully understood: it is fully understood by these three kinds of full understanding (parinna): (i) the full understanding of the known (nataparinna;) (ii) the full understanding by scrutiny (tiranaparinna;) the full understanding as abandonment (pahanaparinna.)271 The first one, a monk understands: What is called the "nutriment edible food" is the material group with nutritive essence as the eighth factor (i.e., nutritive essence), with (the other component factors of) its material basis. This material octad, where does it impinge? At the tonguesensitivity (jivha-pasada.) On what is the tongue-sensitivity based? On the four great primaries of matter (the elements.) Hence (on this occasion of eating), the material octad with nutritive essence as its eighth factor, tongue-sensitivity, and the conditions of it, the four great primaries, these things constitute the aggregate of corporeality (rupakkhandha.) The group of mental factors having contact (sense-impression) as the fifth factor, which takes it up (i.e., the aggregate of corporeality,) these are the four mental aggregates. All these (phenomena constituting the) five - 269 M. I, 172. 270 S. IV, 6 (xxxv, ii, 搂 13.) 271 Tran. by Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, Boston: Wisdom Publication, 2000, p. 772.

144 aggregates are just "mind-and-matter" (nama-rupa.) Thus, he understands (the ultimate facts underlying the act of eating.) Having defined these phenomena according to their individual functions and characteristics, he searches for their conditionality and finds it in the dependent origination (paticca-samuppada,) in its ascending and descending order. By such correct understanding of mind-and-matter with its conditions, in the instance of the nutriment edible food, the latter has in so far been understood (parinnata) "as known" (nata-parinna; i.e., as an object of knowledge in ultimate terms). The second, to that very (instance of) mind-and-matter with its conditions, he now applies the three characteristics: impermanence, suffering and not-self- and discerns it (sammasati) by way of the seven contemplations (satisambojjhangassa.) 272 Hereby the nutriment edible food has been comprehended by way of the investigating comprehension consisting in the full penetration of the three characteristics and the knowledge of discernment (sammasana-nana). The last one, by discarding attachment and desire in regard to that very mind and matter, and comprehending it through the attainment of the path of non-returning, the nutriment edible food has been comprehended by comprehension as abandoning (pahana-parinna).²7: