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 (“food”) 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.
Appendix 1 - Buddha's teachings on Ahara (Pali texts and English translations)
8 (of 38)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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305
nāmarūpapabhavam. Nāmarūpañcidam, bhikkhave, kimnidānam kimsamudayam
kimjātikam kimpabhavam? Nāmarūpam viññāṇanidānam viññāṇasamudayam
viññāṇajātikam viññāṇapabhavam. Viññāṇañcidam, bhikkhave, kimnidānam
kimsamudayam kimjātikam kimpabhavam? Viññānam sankhāranidānam
sankhārasamudayam sankhārajātikam sankhārapabhavam. Sankhārā cime, bhikkhave,
kimnidānā kimsamudayā kimjātikā kimpabhavā? Sankhārā avijjānidānā avijjāsamudayā
avijjājātikā avijjāpabhavā.
"Iti kho, bhikkhave, avijjāpaccayā sankhārā; sankhārapaccaya vinnānam...pe...
evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa samudayo hoti. Avijjāya tveva
asesavirāganirodhā sankhāranirodho; sankhāranirodhā viññāṇanirodho pe
evametassa kevalassa dukkhakkhandhassa nirodho hotī” ti. Paṭhamam.
"
(Samyuttanikaya II, 11, Nidänavaggapāḷi, Āhārasutta No. 11.)
Sustenances
(The conditioned Nature of food)
...
"Thus have I heard: The Exalted One was once staying near Sāvatthī, at Jeta
Grove, in Anathapiṇḍka's Park:
There are these four sustenances, brethren, for the maintenance of beings that
have come to birth or for the forwarding of them that seek to become. Which are the
four? Material food, coarse or fine, secondly, contact, thirdly, volition, fourthly,
consciousness. These four are the sustenances for the maintenance of beings that have
come to birth, or for the forwarding of those that seek to become.
And of these four, brethren, what is the base, whence is the uprising? How are
they produced? What causes them?
Craving is their base, from craving is their uprising, craving produces them, causes them to be.
What is the base, whence is the uprising of craving? What produced it? What causes it to be?
Feeling is its base, its uprising, produces it, causes it to be.
And contact is the base, the uprising, the producer, the cause of feeling, sense of
contact, name-and-shape of sense, consciousness of name-and-shape, activities of
consciousness, and ignorance of activities. Such verily, brethren, is this: 'conditioned
by ignorance are activities, conditioned by activities is consciousness,' and so on.
Such is the uprising of the entire mass of ill. But grom the utter fading away and
