food and meditation?

[johnny]

what is the best dietary condition for meditation?

empty stomach?

full?

certain foods over others?

[Micheal Kush]

According to my expierence, its best to have a somewhat empty stomach relatively. Full stomach is just another nusiance and hindrance and your mind will be too preoccupied with it as concentration becomes more harder to work with.

A slight snack is supportive for meditation i guess. Also try more healthy foods and ones that dont deterioate your conditon and eat wholesome foods that provide much energy. Excessive amounts of sugar and fats tend to make one easily lazy and therefore drowsiness can play a vital factor in hindering your meditation.

But all in all, whatever works for you.

With metta,mike

[johnny]

According to my expierence, its best to have a somewhat empty stomach relatively. Full stomach is just another nusiance and hindrance and your mind will be too preoccupied with it as concentration becomes more harder to work with.

A slight snack is supportive for meditation i guess. Also try more healthy foods and ones that dont deterioate your conditon and eat wholesome foods that provide much energy. Excessive amounts of sugar and fats tend to make one easily lazy and therefore drowsiness can play a vital factor in hindering your meditation.

But all in all, whatever works for you.

With metta,mike

thanks, specifically what foods?

[Micheal Kush]

According to my expierence, its best to have a somewhat empty stomach relatively. Full stomach is just another nusiance and hindrance and your mind will be too preoccupied with it as concentration becomes more harder to work with.

A slight snack is supportive for meditation i guess. Also try more healthy foods and ones that dont deterioate your conditon and eat wholesome foods that provide much energy. Excessive amounts of sugar and fats tend to make one easily lazy and therefore drowsiness can play a vital factor in hindering your meditation.

But all in all, whatever works for you.

With metta,mike

thanks, specifically what foods?

I would find vegetables most delightful. Also much asian food such as rice, oriental chicken, egg rolls etc. Green tea is fine as well. Pasta and steak with some juice on the side.


Just stay away from junk food though a little chocolate is good. Also just explore and fine what works best for you. Rotate around with the choices you make and set up differenr cuisines that make a satisfying meal.

With metta, mike

[johnny]

According to my expierence, its best to have a somewhat empty stomach relatively. Full stomach is just another nusiance and hindrance and your mind will be too preoccupied with it as concentration becomes more harder to work with.

A slight snack is supportive for meditation i guess. Also try more healthy foods and ones that dont deterioate your conditon and eat wholesome foods that provide much energy. Excessive amounts of sugar and fats tend to make one easily lazy and therefore drowsiness can play a vital factor in hindering your meditation.

But all in all, whatever works for you.

With metta,mike

thanks, specifically what foods?

I would find vegetables most delightful. Also much asian food such as rice, oriental chicken, egg rolls etc. Green tea is fine as well. Pasta and steak with some juice on the side.


Just stay away from junk food though a little chocolate is good. Also just explore and fine what works best for you. Rotate around with the choices you make and set up differenr cuisines that make a satisfying meal.

With metta, mike

i love theravada and it's logical acceptance (obviously based on the buddha's own words) of eating meat! regardless of whether i go too the market or not, that chicken is already dead! unless i start buying from the same person, and in MASSIVE quantities, the seller will continue too kill the same number of chickens whether i buy one or not! especially since i shop at giant super markets that have huge piles of thousands of chicken breasts all cut and frozen. i would have to buy at least a few hundred chicken breasts once a week too make any difference in how many the store orders.

that said, if i lived in a small community and the only way too get meat was too have a butcher kill an animal for me, i would be strict vegetarian. i fully agree with the three rules: not killed for you, not seen killed, not heard killed. then eat it!

wow that was a rant.

anyway, thanks for the info! i'll try too implement these ideas into my practice.

[Kim O'Hara]

wow that was a rant.

Yep ... but only a little one. If you really want to get into vegetarianism, this -> http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9229 is the place to do it.


Kim

[johnny]

wow that was a rant.

Yep ... but only a little one. If you really want to get into vegetarianism, this -> http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9229 is the place to do it.


Kim

not really. the buddha allowed meat eating, i don't see where there is room for debate. as long as the three conditions are met anyway. thanks though

[Magoo]

Johnny, obvioulsy you are perfectly entitled to your view so I have no problem with that. But if 100 million Buddhist in the world made a collective decision to not eat meat, it would then have an impact on the meat/slaughter trade?
Taking oneself as an individual in the grand scheme of things, then you are right, your decision to eat meat will not have an impact and more particular would not have meant that a particular chicken you had eaten would not have been killed anyway.
It is personnel choice, but it also could depend on the conditions of the landscape in which one lives. Some places dont have good soil or climate for growing vegetables and thus meat is a staple of the diet. Other places such as Australia, where I am from have easy access to every food imaginable. Therefore there is a choice of what to eat?
I may be wrong here, and probably am once again, but maybe the part of India that the Buddha lived, there was not much choice but rice and meat for sustainance?

With Metta
Eamonn

[marc108]

in my experience a mostly empty stomach is most conducive to concentration... when the stomach is not full, but not so empty you're feeling strong hunger.

not really. the buddha allowed meat eating, i don't see where there is room for debate. as long as the three conditions are met anyway. thanks though

there is much room for debate. i would be happy to discuss this with you in the vegetarian debate thread.

[johnny]

Johnny, obvioulsy you are perfectly entitled to your view so I have no problem with that. But if 100 million Buddhist in the world made a collective decision to not eat meat, it would then have an impact on the meat/slaughter trade?
Taking oneself as an individual in the grand scheme of things, then you are right, your decision to eat meat will not have an impact and more particular would not have meant that a particular chicken you had eaten would not have been killed anyway..
It is personnel choice, but it also could depend on the conditions of the landscape in which one lives. Some places dont have good soil or climate for growing vegetables and thus meat is a staple of the diet. Other places such as Australia, where I am from have easy access to every food imaginable. Therefore there is a choice of what to eat?
I may be wrong here, and probably am once again, but maybe the part of India that the Buddha lived, there was not much choice but rice and meat for sustainance?

With Metta
Eamonn

if ALL of them did then yes. however this is never going too happen. if this were a possibility, i too would stop eating meat. i will eat meat as long as it makes no difference. and please don't try too say that if i get on the band wagon then everyone else will or some version of that, like if everyone thinks the same it will work. look at the green initiative, a tiny fraction of people actually "go green" the majority do whatever is easiest. this is the way of man and always will be.

if the pali canon said "no meat" then there would be hope, but it does not, so a massive amount of buddhists will never stop. and that's just pali canon buddhists! the mahayana sutras specifically speak out against meat eating. so that's not too mention all the lay mahayana buddhists who are not that dedicated too all of this. many meditate once a month or not at all, drop a stick of incense on a statue once a week and call it a day. other than that they do what they please and are no more "buddhist" than your average person who claims no religion. heck i know at least five "buddhists" personally who don't even drop the incense or meditate! they do nothing! they drink alcohol and party, they just say "i'm buddhist" because they were raised that way and their parents and grandparents were "buddhist", probably in the same way. these categories of buddhists actually constitute a large amount of people who call themselves "buddhist". as long as this is the case, your idea has ZERO hope. actually it might be in the negative. totally impossible. although it is a beautiful idea just the same and i appreciate the thought .

too be clear, i have nothing against these types of buddhists, the ones i know personally are very close friends actually, but as a demographic they are a big part of the reason there will never be enough buddhist vegetarians too make a difference and so it was necessary too mention them.

[Ben]

The advice regarding having a partially empty stomach is good.

Another important point is not to fetishize food. I think the modern "foodie/masterchef" fad in the west is nothing short of craving and lust unbound.
kind regards,

Ben

[johnny]

The advice regarding having a partially empty stomach is good.

Another important point is not to fetishize food. I think the modern "foodie/masterchef" fad in the west is nothing short of craving and lust unbound.
kind regards,

Ben

yeah you're absolutely right! i'm very much a "foodie" and i need too get away from this kind of attitude. I typically don't overeat but i do greatly enjoy my food and prefer specific dishes.

[Kim O'Hara]

The advice regarding having a partially empty stomach is good.

Another important point is not to fetishize food. I think the modern "foodie/masterchef" fad in the west is nothing short of craving and lust unbound.
kind regards,

Ben

Yep. It has been called - aptly, I think - 'gastro-porn'


Kim

[Alobha]

According to my expierence, its best to have a somewhat empty stomach relatively. Full stomach is just another nusiance and hindrance and your mind will be too preoccupied with it as concentration becomes more harder to work with.

A slight snack is supportive for meditation i guess. Also try more healthy foods and ones that dont deterioate your conditon and eat wholesome foods that provide much energy. Excessive amounts of sugar and fats tend to make one easily lazy and therefore drowsiness can play a vital factor in hindering your meditation.

But all in all, whatever works for you.

With metta,mike

Especially watch out for those excessive amounts of sugar. I also found out that cold ice-cream can be very tiresome for the body when it's very hot outside, because the body has to work much more. Hot beverages work in a more calming way.

Also eating meditation is worth a try to better know when enough food has been eaten.