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8 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

Food and Insight

By Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo

Ven. Anālayo is a Buddhist monk, scholar, and meditation teacher. He was born
in Germany in 1962, and went forth in 1995 in Sri Lanka. He is best known for
his comparative studies of Early Buddhist Texts as preserved by the various early
Buddhist traditions.

In this article, Ven Anālayo explores the topic of mindful eating from the
viewpoint of its potential to arouse insight. He begins by contrasting King
Pasenadi’s tendency to overeat with the exemplary way the Buddha took his
meals. Then he explores the distinction between worldly and unworldly feeling
tones and survey passages relevant to the topic of fasting. In the final part of the
article he turns to the insight potential of mindful eating.

Eating and Tasting This provides a significant perspective on eating. Tasting
In a recent contribution to Insight Journal (of the as such is not a problem; in fact, it is part of the digestive
Barre Institute of Buddhist Studies) on “the influxes process. The problem is when such tasting leads to, or
and mindful eating”, I took up instructions on occurs in conjunction with, addiction and defilements.
mindfulness given to the overeating King Pasenadi.
In what follows, I place these instructions in a wider The reference in the Discourse to Brahmāyu to
context by exploring various passages from selected Pāli lust, rāga, in relation to taste points to the relevance
discourses that in one way or another are relevant to of the corresponding underlying tendency (anusaya).
the topic of taking food. In an earlier contribution to this journal on the topic
of such “underlying tendencies”, I suggested relating
A stark contrast to Pasenadi’s attitude towards food, their presence or absence to the distinction of feeling
at least before he received instructions on mindful tones, vedanā, into worldly and unworldly types.
eating, is provided by the Buddha himself. Both were
Worldly and Unworldly
members of the warrior class, hailed from the same area
in ancient India, and were of the same age (MN 89). Yet, Distinguishing between what is worldly (sāmisa) and
due to the way they had developed their lives from a what is unworldly (nirāmisa) is part of the instructions
similar starting point, their eating behavior could hardly on contemplation of feeling tones in the Satipaṭṭhāna-
have been more different. sutta (MN 10). This is based on a distinction of feeling
tones into three types: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral.
The Discourse to Brahmāyu, the Brahmāyu-sutta (MN The task of mindful contemplation is to distinguish
91), offers a detailed description of the exemplary these three types further into worldly and unworldly
way in which the Buddha took his food. Besides doing occurrences. According to a discourse in the Aṅguttara-
so in a manner that was pleasing and inspiring to an nikāya, this reflects the variety of feeling tones (AN 6.63).
observer, the mental freedom he had reached through
awakening manifested in his ability to experience the The implications of the two terms, worldly and
taste (rasapaṭisaṃvedī) without experiencing lust for unworldly, require further examination. Particularly
the taste (no ca rasarāgapaṭisaṃvedī).