Essay name: Ahara as depicted in the Pancanikaya
Author:
Le Chanh
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages
This critical study of Ahara (鈥渇ood鈥�) explores its significance in Buddhism, encompassing both physical and mental nourishment. The Panca Nikaya, part of the Sutta Pitaka, highlights how all human problems, including suffering and happiness, are connected to Ahara. Understanding this concept is crucial for comprehending and alleviating suffering, aiming for a balanced, enlightened life.
Chapter 4 - Concept of Ahara in Buddhism
34 (of 76)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
142
(mad膩ya,) should not be taken for personal charm (ma峁囜笉an膩ya,) should
not be taken for comeliness (vibh奴san膩ya,) 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 senses虏 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.)
