Chapter 1 - Introduction

15
we need in this moment for good, strong energy. 15 The food itself is no
harmful but the manner and thought of a man who wants to consume it,
this matter should be considered. When we are asked: who are you
feeding? The answer cannot be the food itself or father and mother, but
the very feelings or emotions of joy, anger, or anguish that arise when we
are eating that are feeding ourselves. Thus, the importance of food will be
evaluated by the very decision of awareness about how to eat, what to eat,
and for what purpose to eat.
From the above discussion and based on the Buddha's teaching on
nourishment, the importance of nourishment in human life that contains
both food for mind and food for body can be mentioned as follows:
1. It is important because it is the only medicine to save the
hunger and thirst of body and to maintain longer life. Being aware of food
like a medicine or antidote, man who will take moderate in food, will eat
at right time. As a result, he can control his mind and his sexual pleasure
and can develop mindfulness and responsiveness to his inner being.
2. It is vital because it nourishes the inner energy of man
through the touch of sense organs. This means when one take moderate in
food, his eyes or ears become flexible, consequently his eyes will be
lucidly aware of the nature of forms and sights, lust for forms will not
arise in him, and his mind will not be contaminated.
3. It is important because it nourishes will that is inclined to the
responsibility for others, to the respect for others as man does for himself,
to the development of compassion for all beings, to the protection of the
environment like the protection of one's mother.
4. It is important because it has the ability to purify one's mind.
or consciousness. Our consciousness is like a store, which contains both
15 Halé Sofia Schatz, If The Buddha Came To Dinner: How to Nourish Your body to Awaken Your
Spirit, New York: Hyperion, 2003. p. 15.