Why one meal a day?

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markf
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only eating breakfast

Post by markf »

Any tips on only eating breakfast?

I sort of decided through introspection to do this a while ago, not do do with Buddhism. I'v just realized my beliefs concour with what monks do.

I'v been to a couple of meditation classes at a Burmese vihara but not for a long time.

Many thanks
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Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: only eating breakfast

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

I wouldn't recommend it if you're doing any kind of physical work, and especially not if you do anything like driving where being inattentive may kill someone. It is OK for monks to eat only one meal a day, if they meditate all day. I eat most of my food in one meal after walking for alms, but I also eat some fruit or other light snacks before midday. I don't do any heavy manual work.
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Re: only eating breakfast

Post by DNS »

markf wrote:Any tips on only eating breakfast?
It can be done, if you eat quite a bit of food for breakfast, but otherwise as Bhante said, you may get tired or less attentive later. You may also get too hungry in the late afternoon / early evening. I have found that for me, it works better eating later in the morning, at or close to 12 noon to 1 pm.
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Re: only eating breakfast

Post by ground »

markf wrote:Any tips on only eating breakfast?
It is far more beneficial to abandon delight in eating than to ritualistically cling to such a rule. If delight is abandoned eating will function to just keep the body alive.
If you are eating only breakfast but then before breafast are greedy for food then it is unwholesome conduct.
But if you can abandon any delight and greed and still eat only for breakfast then its fine. But actually there is no additional benefit from following the "only breakfast" rule if you abandoned delight and greed for food in any possible situation.
The "only breakfast" rule may however be beneficial to get to know the ignorance arising from the body in dependence of the nutriment edible food.
"There are these four nutriments for the maintenance of beings who have come into being or for the support of those in search of a place to be born. Which four? Physical food, gross or refined; contact as the second, intellectual intention the third, and consciousness the fourth. These are the four nutriments for the maintenance of beings who have come into being or for the support of those in search of a place to be born.

"Where there is passion, delight, & craving for the nutriment of physical food, consciousness lands there and increases. Where consciousness lands and increases, there is the alighting of name-&-form. Where there is the alighting of name-&-form, there is the growth of fabrications. Where there is the growth of fabrications, there is the production of renewed becoming in the future. Where there is the production of renewed becoming in the future, there is future birth, aging, & death, together, I tell you, with sorrow, affliction, & despair.

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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by Jhana4 »

Eating one meal a day is probably a good thing for a monk doing nothing but meditating all day, all of the time. Such monks aren't the norm. In the course of my sutta studies I learned that the one meal a day rule was also implemented to not overburden the community that supports the monks.....either in resources or being disturbed several times a day by the monks.

On retreats and Buddhist holiday observances I've kept the no eating before noon rule.

I don't think it works so well in reality, in modern times for ordinary people ( not meditating 8 or more hours a day ).

People end up eating all of their food clumped together. I don't think that is good for a person's blood sugar, health, energy levels or clarity of mind.

As with many religious customs and rules, it probably made sense for a situation which no longer exists.
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The second mistake is to recognize the principles but not apply them to your own mind, so that you waste time and just make them into causes of entanglement.
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by Cittasanto »

hi Jhana4,
As someone who has lived in a monastery eating "at one time" (as the rule is, the one meal is a dutangha practice) it is more than possible to do it even with work.
remember it is advised that the majority of food should be taken in the morning, and each subsequent meal should be smaller than the last for normal people - eat like a king at breakfast, the middle classes at lunch, and a pauper at dinner.
ones weight levels out and the body knows if it needs more food, it is just a case of paying attention to the bodies needs, and the situation does indeed still exist.
Jhana4 wrote:Eating one meal a day is probably a good thing for a monk doing nothing but meditating all day, all of the time. Such monks aren't the norm. In the course of my sutta studies I learned that the one meal a day rule was also implemented to not overburden the community that supports the monks.....either in resources or being disturbed several times a day by the monks.

On retreats and Buddhist holiday observances I've kept the no eating before noon rule.

I don't think it works so well in reality, in modern times for ordinary people ( not meditating 8 or more hours a day ).

People end up eating all of their food clumped together. I don't think that is good for a person's blood sugar, health, energy levels or clarity of mind.

As with many religious customs and rules, it probably made sense for a situation which no longer exists.
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by Goofaholix »

Jhana4 wrote:People end up eating all of their food clumped together. I don't think that is good for a person's blood sugar, health, energy levels or clarity of mind.
In my experience I feel much more healthy eating once a day.
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,

My experience is in accordance with Goof's.

Metta,
Retro. :)
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by Alobha »

Jhana4 wrote:I don't think it works so well in reality, in modern times for ordinary people ( not meditating 8 or more hours a day ).
People end up eating all of their food clumped together. I don't think that is good for a person's blood sugar, health, energy levels or clarity of mind.
When you eat may be as important as what you eat - By Peter Janiszewski, Ph.D.
The study has its limitations, but it shows that the matter is not as clear as nutritionists sometimes show it to be. Giving the stomach and the lever an extended time of the day to rest and repair itself may actually be very good for one's health! :smile:
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Re: Why one meal a day?

Post by manas »

Hi all,

rather than start a new thread, thought it would be better to report a few things here. Over the last year, I have gradually striven to get control over eating, in the sense of knowing when I've had enough, and trying to stop at that moment, rather than continuing on due to enjoying the taste. With that gradual preparation, over the last week I'm once again attempting the extra step of basically eating breakfast, then lunch, but no dinner. (If I do have something at night, if the process is unsettling me too much, I have something very light and easily digestible, so that the anxiety is quelled, but the digestion is not taxed.) Here's what I am noticing, real observations: I sleep better, without the usual interruptions due to food fermenting away in my gut while the rest of the body tries to get some rest; mindfulness is a little easier to establish and maintain, as well as being a bit clearer; and sexual lust is easier to keep under control. (Note, I said 'easier' and not easy - but any help is better than none! :) )

I'm finding so far that on two meals a day - having a decent breakfast, then lunch, and avoiding junk like sugary foods (getting there), and instead having balanced and healthy meals as much as possible - that I'm not feeling weak (I did in the first few days, but that's almost gone now); rather I'm feeling normal but just more calm, and so far, I like this.

(And by the way, I advise everyone to get a decent water purifier, so that one can make oneself herbal teas, and other sustaining drinks, or even just enjoy water without the toxic substance sodium flouride that many governments now put into it - your body will thank you. :smile: )

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what is the relevence of eating before noon?

Post by jason c »

i was reading through the why one meal a day thread, and it raised this question. what is the relevance in eating your meals or meal before noon? it is my understanding that in the buddhas time when he created the order of monks there was no set time to go out for alms, but one day a monk went out later in the evening and a pregnant woman became scared at the presence of a stranger at her door, she miscarried and lost her child. upon hearing this incident the buddha imediately took action to prevent this from happening again, and created a specific time for the gathering of alms. if this is so (and i'm not 100 percent on this) why is this rule necessary in todays world when so few monks go on alms gatherings. why can't the monks eat at different times if it suits there own bodies needs. i understand the buddha was a practical man and i am confused with this precept.
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Re: what is the relevence of eating before noon?

Post by Polar Bear »

I figured (and read somewhere) it was so the monks wouldn't be a bother to people during the day when they're working and doing chores. Imagine if monks just kept showing up randomly. It works out better if the monks just show up once in the morning and then the lay people have the rest of the day to carry on with normal things like work and child raising
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Re: what is the relevence of eating before noon?

Post by jason c »

hey polar buddha,
i can totally get on board with the practicality of that reason, so if a monk is recieving his food from a devotee and the devotee has to take their kid to the doctor and drops the food off to the monks at 2 pm can the monks eat this food then?
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Re: what is the relevence of eating before noon?

Post by Polar Bear »

well I think it slowly became more for tradition's sake than for practicality so they have a rule in the vinaya about it that is followed to the letter, at least in the Theravada I think. In mahayana I don't think they have the one meal in the morning rule but they have a rule about being vegetarians that Theravada doesn't. So rules vary. Also, I think that there is a sutta where the Buddha talks about sloth being associated with eating dinner but I may have just read that from some Bhikkhu, or both, I'm not sure.

Anyway, I'm sure there are other people on this forum that actually know these things unlike me, so hopefully they'll come and satisfy your curiosity.

:namaste:
"I don't envision a single thing that, when developed & cultivated, leads to such great benefit as the mind. The mind, when developed & cultivated, leads to great benefit."

"I don't envision a single thing that, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about such suffering & stress as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about suffering & stress."
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Re: what is the relevence of eating before noon?

Post by daverupa »

It came about in stages. At first, eating morning, noon, and night seems to have been the standard. I don't think that monks would necessarily go each time every day, but who knows. Maybe bowls were smaller then.

In any event,
MN 70 wrote:I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was wandering on a tour of Kasi with a large community of monks. There he addressed the monks: "I abstain from the night-time meal. As I am abstaining from the night-time meal, I sense next-to-no illness, next-to-no affliction, lightness, strength, & a comfortable abiding. Come now. You too abstain from the night-time meal. As you are abstaining from the night-time meal, you, too, will sense next-to-no illness, next-to-no affliction, lightness, strength, & a comfortable abiding."
So here is a health reason.

Later on, Ven. Udayin recounts:
MN 66 wrote:For in the past, lord, we used to eat in the morning, in the evening, and in the day at the wrong time (the afternoon). Then there was the time when the Blessed One addressed the monks, saying, 'Monks, please discontinue that daytime meal at the wrong time.'...

So we ate both in the evening & in the morning. Then there was the time when the Blessed One addressed the monks, saying, 'Monks, please discontinue that evening meal at the wrong time.'
This Sutta then offers a number of anecdotes, including the episode of a woman being startled at night.

I expect that the Buddha began implementing this policy similarly to that of the robe policy; in the Vinaya, the Buddha puts on a total of three robes throughout the course of a night (near the Gotamaka shrine, for a helpful keyword), each time adding a robe solely as a practical measure against the cold. So too here: helping to ensure that meals were dealt with as solely practical measures against hunger seems to be the primary issue.* The social issues seem to me to be simply additional, and humorous, support for a fait accompli.


*(For what it's worth, both cold & hunger are among the asavas "to be abandoned by tolerating" per MN 2)
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    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
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