I am eating the clouds.

Did you know that when you eat, you are eating the sun, the rain, and the wind? Just as children, pets, and plants depend on us to care for them, we depend on the world to nourish us. We do not exist in isolation.

Background: Rock soup the little boy next door and I made together. Foreground: Lentil Soup I am preparing for my dinner (hopefully without rocks).

To get fulfillment from our meals, we have to truly enjoy eating. Many of us may make a great effort to eat well. We acquire the best quality ingredients. We take special care in meal preparation. If we’re reading while we eat, using the smartphone, lost in our own thoughts, or we’re busy talking to our dinner companions, we may never actually get to taste the wonderful food before us. Those of us who struggle with healthy eating habits or even an overeating addiction may find we feel more satiated when we make an effort to be present with our meals.

In Buddhism, the practice of contemplation during eating is intended to help us stay present with our food. Traditionally, monks begged for their food among the laity once per day. This offered the laity the chance to practice generosity and to request teaching from the monks. Begging also gave the monks living in monasteries a chance to experience the daily life of the people they served. To show their gratitude and to enrich their faith in the teaching, monks developed methods to transform the act of eating into a mindfulness meditation practice.

Today, food preparation is much less involved than it was in days of yore. We are also more aware of differences in metabolisms, nutritional needs, and other physiological conditions. We don’t have to practice the one meal tradition of monks of old in order to benefit from mindful eating.

Before eating, I like to recite the following contemplation I put together based on Buddhist literature documenting monastic practices (See Sources for Buddhist Monastic Practice below). The purpose of this exercise is to get my mind focused on the food in front of me.

The Three Refuges

I take refuge in the Buddha,
The complete and perfect Dharma,
The harmonious Sangha,
The Bodhisattva Ancestors,
whose Joy is beyond all understanding.
With these Three Treasures of the Dharma,
I share the Joy of this meal.
All creation within the universe shall enjoy this offering.

The Three Recollections

The first bite is to ingest Fear and Sorrow.
The second bite is to nourish Joy.
The third bite is to embrace all beings.
I pray that all may become enlightened.

The Five Remembrances

I must think deeply of the ways and means
by which this food has come.
I must consider my virtue when accepting it.
I must protect myself from Greed
by embracing Greed in my heart.
I eat lest I become lean and die.
I accept this food so that we all
may continue becoming Buddha.

This contemplation has three sections, the Three Refuges, the Three Recollections, and the Five Remembrances. As I eat, I further contemplate each of the Five Remembrances.

I must think deeply of the ways and means by which this food has come.

Eating this food is a dance in my mouth with all those who have brought this gift to my bowl (or plate, or other food vessel) and into my being.

I must consider my virtue when accepting it.

Although my virtue is abundant, I will work even harder. I accept this offering and I shall continue my effort with even more vigor.

I must protect myself from Greed by embracing Greed in my heart.

I will only eat enough until my heart is satiated and my stomach is smiling.

I eat lest I become lean and die.

This food is medicine that keeps my body healthy.

I accept this food so that we all may continue becoming Buddha.

With this meal, the world nourishes me and I nourish the world.

Sometimes I can’t avoid having to do other things while I eat. In these situations, I pick one contemplation to help bring my attention back to each bite.

The Lotus Sutra of the Mahayana has parallels to Martin Luther’s Reformation. At the time of the Reformation, religious services were conducted in Latin and a person could only have a relationship with God through an intermediary. Martin Luther not only asserted that an individual may have their own personal relationship with God, he also advocated for religious services to be conducted in local languages. The Mahayana tradition in Buddhism was a similar revolutionary break from tradition, presenting the Lotus Sutra as a new interpretation of the Buddha’s original teachings.

The Lotus Sutra encourages us to aspire to something greater than mere realization; we all have the capacity to become a Buddha. The path to Buddhahood requires us to save others from fear and sorrow. The Diamond Sutra, another important Mahayana Buddhist text, teaches us that to save others we must cut through our constructed notions of self, personhood, living beings, and life span. The secret to transforming the suffering of all beings (a.k.a. the path to Buddhahood) lies in inter-being.

What do flowers eat? How do flowers breathe?

We directly experience inter-being when we eat. When eating, we accept the bounty of the Earth into our bodies so that we may continue to live, nourishing the world through our actions.

• Consider writing your own contemplations onto a notecard that you can carry with you or hang in your usual eating place.

Additional Reading

• The Diamond Sutra, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh
• Hanh, Thich Nhat. The diamond that cuts through illusion. Parallax Press, 2010.
• The Lotus Sutra, translated by BDK Tripiṭaka
• Hanh, Thich Nhat. Peaceful action, open heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra. Parallax Press, 2009.

Sources for Buddhist Monastic Practice

• Jiyu-Kennett, Roshi PTNH. Zen is eternal life. Routledge, 2016.
• Hua, Hsuan. The Vajra Prajña Paramita Sutra: A General Explanation. Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2013.
• Hanh, Thich Nhat. Old path white clouds: Walking in the footsteps of the Buddha. Parallax press, 1987.