Some eat to live, some live to eat, but you can eat towards enlightenment!
Disclaimer: The diet described here has not yet been scientifically endorsed. If you have a medical condition, you might wish to seek your doctor’s advice before trying! I ate lunch today at 3pm. Or was it tunch (tea plus lunch) or an early dinner? It doesn’t really matter what you call it. I call my eating style the ‘Zen Diet’. It is based upon two celebrated teachings by Master Baizang – ‘When hungry, eat. (When tired, sleep.)’ and ‘One day without work, one day without food.’ How does this work? Instead of looking at an external clock as to when to eat, we look at our internal clock. The moment you are hungry is precisely the time to eat. No regular meals are skipped as there are not regulated ones! Finally! A dieting system that doesn’t require you to skip any meal!
But how does this help weight loss? What if you’re hungry ‘all the time’? Here is where mindfulness comes in. ‘When hungry, eat.’ We need to be aware of whether we are truly hungry. The reverse of the saying is equally valid – ‘When not hungry, don’t eat’ and ‘When no longer hungry, stop eating.’ With mindfulness, we would know when to start eating, and when to stop! The Zen Diet is not just for those who wish to slim down, but for everyone who wishes to live a simpler but more naturalistic life, where there are no enforced or contrived meals or mealtimes, thus freeing up more time, while saving more food and energy. With mindfulness as the key to discern need from greed, the Zen Diet can definitely be part of spiritual practice too.
If we eat according to the Middle Path, we would eat only the ideal foods in the right amount – neither too much to cause sensual indulgence nor too little to cause self-mortification. It is wise to eat only when hungry because depending on our energy input and output, we are not always hungry at fixed times. As such, why eat too early or too late? Next, how can we practise the ‘No work, no food’ teaching? We should work ethically and earnestly to deserve our food, and harness the energy from our food for our ultimate work – of bettering our spiritual practice, to advance towards enlightenment for the sake of one and all. With such a clear purpose in life, the why, when, what and how of eating would all fall into place!
Our work is for supporting the spiritual life.
Our true work is furthering the spiritual life. – Stonepeace
Related Articles:
Why ‘No Work, No Food’?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zeph/message/751
The Five Contemplations of Food
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zeph/message/374
A Kinder Zen Diet: Shojin Ryori
https://moonpointer.com/new/2009/02/gastronomy-shojin-ryori
The Zen Meal that Took Some Time
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zeph/message/707