Loathesomeness of Food

General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
User avatar
Khalil Bodhi
Posts: 2250
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:32 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Khalil Bodhi »

Annabel,

Thanks for the advice. Eating is definitely an area for I find myself consuming simply out of pleasure and distraction. It's not that I eat often or even much it's simply that I tend to lose mindfulness when eating. What a heart-wrenching picture! That poor baby. It's a crime that we live so well when babies all over the world are allowed to starve to death before their mothers' eyes. Anyway, be well and thank you again.

Mike
To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.
-Dhp. 183

The Stoic Buddhist: https://www.quora.com/q/dwxmcndlgmobmeu ... pOR2p0uAdH
My Practice Blog:
http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com
User avatar
Lazy_eye
Posts: 996
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:23 pm
Location: Laurel, MD
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Lazy_eye »

Khalil Bodhi wrote: I do find that simply reflecting on the process of mastication and digestion helps to reframe the experience of eating and gives me enough space to disentangle myself from the sticky strands of sensuality when I'm eating a particularly tasty food. Anyway, thank you all again. Be well. :anjali:

Mike
Mike,

I've found it interesting to gauge my reactions to food that isn't particularly tasty. For example, I usually eat soup for lunch, but the soup I was getting had a heavy sodium content. So I switched to a low-sodium version. Along with the heavy sodium went the delicious flavor. It was really startling to see how my enjoyment of the soup depended on it being overloaded with salt.

Similar things could be said with regard to sugar -- or, more to the point, the high fructose corn syrup that's ladled into practically any food product sold in the US.
User avatar
Annapurna
Posts: 2639
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:04 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Annapurna »

Khalil Bodhi wrote:Annabel,

Thanks for the advice. Eating is definitely an area for I find myself consuming simply out of pleasure and distraction. It's not that I eat often or even much it's simply that I tend to lose mindfulness when eating. What a heart-wrenching picture! That poor baby. It's a crime that we live so well when babies all over the world are allowed to starve to death before their mothers' eyes. Anyway, be well and thank you again.

Mike
You're welcome, Mike, if it helps you then I am happy.

(I have a little problem there myself) ;)

Best wishes I guess for both of us!
User avatar
Dhammabodhi
Posts: 295
Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 12:25 pm
Location: New Delhi, India

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Dhammabodhi »

:offtopic: About the picture:
The haunting photo of a vulture stalking an emaciated Sudanese girl who'd collapsed on her way to a feeding station won photographer Kevin Carter a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. Carter also become notorious for sticking to the journalistic principle of being an observor and not getting involved -- he left after taking his photo and neither he, nor the New York Times, which first published the photo on 26 March 1993, knew what happened to her. (Looking at the photo, it's hard to imagine a pleasant ending.) A few months later after collecting his Pulitzer, Carter committed suicide, the violence he'd encountered in his life as a journalist, especially in South Africa, becoming too much to live with.
From about.com.

:focus:
"Take rest, take rest."-S.N.Goenka
User avatar
zavk
Posts: 1161
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:04 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by zavk »

Oh man.... I love food--or more precisely, seeking out well-made food. :pig:

But others have suggested, I have on retreat found the act of eating quite insightful.
With metta,
zavk
User avatar
pink_trike
Posts: 1130
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:29 am
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by pink_trike »

Having studied Classical Asian food cures for years, I regard food as substances that have an effect on the body/mind. All foods, without exception, have an energetic quality that in premodern cultures was used medicinally - both preventatively and as cure...this is how food was at one point regarded in most cultures, not as entertainment or just as fuel. It was known that some foods are dampening, some are drying, some are cooling, some induce heat, some are diuretic, some are stimulants or sedatives, etc... For example: green beans are a diuretic, black beans are an internal lubricant, honey lubricates the intestines but has an overall drying effect on the body, buckwheat can overstimulate the mind, sweeteners can dull the mind. Some foods have specific effects on specific organs of the body. Everything we ingest has some sort of energetic qualitative effect on the body and internal energetic processes. The body also does better with certain foods/herbs/tastes in certain seasons - this is where the term "seasonings" comes from. For example: premodern people knew not to eat drying foods during dry seasons or cooling foods during cold seasons, which we do routinely in our culture to our detriment. Food is medicine, but this has been forgotten as we follow our sensory cravings...today we tend to gorge our way through nature's medicine cabinet unaware of the potential effects of what we eat on the body/mind as we're driven and suffer the consequences of our mindlessness (with the help of corporate advertising that has transformed food into near sexual fetish). In premodern cultures "taste" wasn't regarded as sensory pleasure, it was regarded as a diagnostic tool...if a person craves certain tastes this can indicate an imbalance in the body that is re-balanced with either the taste being craved, or a different taste that has a different energetic quality, depending on other indicators such as the quality of the tongue coating, now the skin feels, quality of the hair, inherited energetic qualities and patterns, etc... In addition to being mindful of how we obtain, chew, taste, swallow, digest, and eliminate food, its also beneficial to note the effects of what we ingest on the internal processes of body/mind. This awareness can surface over time as we develop our sitting practice and can be useful in balancing the body/mind in relationship to internal and external conditions so that we remain healthy and functioning optimally as long as we can as we attend to the mission of life and awakening.
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss

- Dawa Gyaltsen

---

Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
User avatar
zavk
Posts: 1161
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:04 pm
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by zavk »

pink_trike wrote:HIt was known that some foods are dampening, some are drying, some are cooling, some induce heat, some are diuretic, some are stimulants or sedatives, etc...
You know... I grew up in a cultural environment were there was very general understanding of these properties of food. In fact, based on a combination of a very, very watered down understanding of these ideas and various old wive's tales about food/nutrition, my mom would often restrict me from eating all sorts of junky but oh so delicious food. Those foods were said to be too 'heaty' for my own good..... :cry:

Anyway, for us contemporary folks living in post-industralised societies, it might be more productive to think in terms of the ethics of the food we consume rather that its 'loathsomeness'. For example, there are pressing issues about various food industries that we could be mindful of when choosing what we eat.

Just a thought....
With metta,
zavk
User avatar
pink_trike
Posts: 1130
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:29 am
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by pink_trike »

zavk wrote:
pink_trike wrote:HIt was known that some foods are dampening, some are drying, some are cooling, some induce heat, some are diuretic, some are stimulants or sedatives, etc...
You know... I grew up in a cultural environment were there was very general understanding of these properties of food. In fact, based on a combination of a very, very watered down understanding of these ideas and various old wive's tales about food/nutrition, my mom would often restrict me from eating all sorts of junky but oh so delicious food. Those foods were said to be too 'heaty' for my own good..... :cry:

Anyway, for us contemporary folks living in post-industralised societies, it might be more productive to think in terms of the ethics of the food we consume rather that its 'loathsomeness'. For example, there are pressing issues about various food industries that we could be mindful of when choosing what we eat.

Just a thought....
Agreed. I find that eating locally grown organic food and avoiding animal products as much as possible addresses a wide range of ethical problems plaguing modern society.
Vision is Mind
Mind is Empty
Emptiness is Clear Light
Clear Light is Union
Union is Great Bliss

- Dawa Gyaltsen

---

Disclaimer: I'm a non-religious practitioner of Theravada, Mahayana/Vajrayana, and Tibetan Bon Dzogchen mind-training.
User avatar
Annapurna
Posts: 2639
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:04 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Annapurna »

Dhammabodhi wrote: :offtopic: About the picture:
The haunting photo of a vulture stalking an emaciated Sudanese girl who'd collapsed on her way to a feeding station won photographer Kevin Carter a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. Carter also become notorious for sticking to the journalistic principle of being an observor and not getting involved -- he left after taking his photo and neither he, nor the New York Times, which first published the photo on 26 March 1993, knew what happened to her. (Looking at the photo, it's hard to imagine a pleasant ending.) A few months later after collecting his Pulitzer, Carter committed suicide, the violence he'd encountered in his life as a journalist, especially in South Africa, becoming too much to live with.
From about.com.

:focus:
Dhammabodhi, why do you think this foto is off topic?
User avatar
Annapurna
Posts: 2639
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:04 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Annapurna »

pink_trike wrote:Everything we ingest has some sort of energetic qualitative effect on the body and internal energetic processes. The body also does better with certain foods/herbs/tastes in certain seasons - this is where the term "seasonings" comes from. For example: premodern people knew not to eat drying foods during dry seasons or cooling foods during cold seasons, which we do routinely in our culture to our detriment. Food is medicine, but this has been forgotten as we follow our sensory cravings...today we tend to gorge our way through nature's medicine cabinet unaware of the potential effects of what we eat on the body/mind as we're driven and suffer the consequences of our mindlessness



:goodpost:

So many people are out of balance today, and ill, largely based upon our alienation from a natural simple life, physical work and living in tune with nature.
Last edited by Annapurna on Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Clueless Git
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:44 am

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Clueless Git »

Annabel wrote:
hang this image at the fridge (etc)

Image

edited for typos
Poor little mite ...

According to WHO figures one of those dies every six seconds.

Another idea would be to post this piccie on our fridges with the caption; "Whilst just one child in the world goes hungry this fridge is on a total boycott of any products that come from well fed chickens or pigs or cows ..."

The obvious flaw in that idea is that if too many people stop buying animal products then the whole process of breeding and feeding animals soley for the purpose of salughter would become unprofitable.

That cannot be allowed. If it did then the whole current batch of animals that have already been bred and are being currently fed soley for the purpose of slaughter would then have to die.
User avatar
Annapurna
Posts: 2639
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:04 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Annapurna »

:jumping:
Sanghamitta
Posts: 1614
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:21 am
Location: By the River Thames near London.

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Sanghamitta »

zavk wrote:
pink_trike wrote:HIt was known that some foods are dampening, some are drying, some are cooling, some induce heat, some are diuretic, some are stimulants or sedatives, etc...
You know... I grew up in a cultural environment were there was very general understanding of these properties of food. In fact, based on a combination of a very, very watered down understanding of these ideas and various old wive's tales about food/nutrition, my mom would often restrict me from eating all sorts of junky but oh so delicious food. Those foods were said to be too 'heaty' for my own good..... :cry:

Anyway, for us contemporary folks living in post-industralised societies, it might be more productive to think in terms of the ethics of the food we consume rather that its 'loathsomeness'. For example, there are pressing issues about various food industries that we could be mindful of when choosing what we eat.

Just a thought....
:focus:

I think that contemplating the ethical dimensions of our diet may be a worthy topic, but it is not the one which forms the point of this thread, which is about detaching oneself from building a false sense of self by means of sensory and sensual experience. This false sense of self taken as an experience in itself is just as easily served by organic carrots as it is by a Big Mac and chips. I am not arguing about which is the more healthy, or ethical, or environmentally sound, that is a matter which is fairly obvious, but I dont think that was the thrust of the thread.
The going for refuge is the door of entrance to the teachings of the Buddha.

Bhikku Bodhi.
User avatar
Annapurna
Posts: 2639
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:04 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Annapurna »

I think that contemplating the ethical dimensions of our diet may be a worthy topic, but it is not the one which forms the point of this thread
Sometimes, the best parts of topics are in the side alleys.

Here, I think, that contemplating the collapsed child or overfed pigs helps to detach ourselves from rotating around our own bellybuttons pretty good.
Sanghamitta
Posts: 1614
Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:21 am
Location: By the River Thames near London.

Re: Loathesomeness of Food

Post by Sanghamitta »

Perhaps it should form the basis for another thread. The OP refers specifically to the traditional practice of contemplating the loathsomeness of the body and its functions. This practice is no less valid for a vegan than for a meat eater. a vegan diet might be more healthy and ethically sound, but vegan food still ends up as a waste product, or as blood, bile, mucus, etc just as much as does a meal of meat. That is the basis of that practice. It is not Hatha Yoga, or another attempt to prolong the life of the body.
Not long ago I watched Ajahn Sumedho tucking into a burger because that is what had been dropped into his bowl. Now, a salad of fresh vegetables might have been better for his long term health, and it might have been better for the environment, the point is however, that Luang Por Sumedho ate his meal with his usual carefully cultivated Upekkha in order to fuel his body, not for the sensual experience, nor for personal concerns. He would have eaten organic fruit with exactly the same mind set, Upekkha. In part that Upekkha has no doubt been cultivated by just the kind of practice being explored by the OP.
Last edited by Sanghamitta on Thu Nov 19, 2009 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The going for refuge is the door of entrance to the teachings of the Buddha.

Bhikku Bodhi.
Post Reply