Buddhist notion of food and its implication with hygiene

Abstract

Food, which maintains a healthy life, is one of the basic requirements of all living beings. Though the Buddhist vision is to make sure a healthy mind in the healthy body it is not systematic health science in the modern sense. Therefore, the insights of Āyurveda and health science may be utilized in order to understand the Buddhist standpoint. The Āyurveda says that the people should refrain from three kinds of modes of taking food, namely; non-use (ayoga), wrong-use (mittyāyoga) and excessive use (atiyoga). According to the principle of middle path (majjhimāpaṭipadā) adherents should refrain from self-mortification and self-indulgence because self-mortification (kāmasukhallikānuyoga) can be leading to the high nutrition whereas self-indulgence (attakilamathānuyoga) can be leading to malnutrition. By considering quality of food, the Buddha prohibited taking solid food at wrong time and recommended four soft foods (catumadhura) for monks and nuns. They should refrain from taking meals after mid-day and therefore, the energy has to be protected for their mind culture. The uniqueness of the Buddhist concept of food is that it is not limited to the material food. Psychological base is important for all activities. The practice of reflection (paccavekkhaṇā) on food helps to understand the psychological standpoint of it. Though the person can claim freedom from suffering of bodily diseases for one year or more beings, except arahants, are hard to find in the world who can claim freedom from mental disease even for a moment.