Death eating on Thanks Living? (video)

Amber Larson, Seth Auberon, Editors, Wisdom Quarterly  HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Eat well. We are what we eat: "All You Can Eat" (Sean Norvet/stay-gallery.com)

(Cristina/Rodney on the Roq 1) "Is That All There Is?" Peggy Lee cover better than original.

Discourse on the "Son's Flesh"

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), "Similes for the Four Nutriments"

Big Buddha high in the Himalayas of Thimphu, Bhutan (D.A. Scott/dascayman/flickr)

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Life of the Buddha (moviepilot.com)

SAVATTHI, ancient India - "There are, O meditators, four nutriments [Note 7] for the sustenance of beings already born and for the support of beings seeking birth [8]. What are the four? Firstly, edible food, coarse and fine [9], secondly, sense-impression [10], thirdly, volition [11], and fourthly, consciousness [12].

"How, O meditators, should the nutriment edible food be considered?

"Suppose a couple, husband and wife, have set out on a journey through through the desert, carrying only limited provisions. They have with them their only son, dearly beloved. Now, while these two traveled through the desert, their limited stock of provisions ran out and came to an end, but there was still a stretch of desert not yet crossed. Then the two thought: 'Our small stock of provisions has run out and come to an end, yet there is still a stretch of desert that is not yet crossed. Should we not kill our only son, our dearly beloved, prepare dried and roasted meat, and eating our son's flesh, we may cross in that way the remaining part of the desert, lest all three of us perish?'

 

"And these two, husband and wife, kill their only son, so dearly beloved by them, prepared dried and roasted meat, and, eating their son's flesh, crossed in that way the remaining part of the desert. And while eating their son's flesh, they were beating their breast and crying: 'Where are you, our only and beloved son? Where are you, our only and beloved son?'

• Vegan Thanksgiving around Los Angeles (happycow.net)

Eating Meat?

Gilded Buddha, Thailand (hezbunch/flickr.com)

"What do you think, O meditators? Will they eat that flesh for the pleasure of it, for enjoyment, for self-beautification's sake, for (the body's) embellishment?" [13]

"Certainly not, O venerable sir."

"Will they not instead eat that food merely for the sake of crossing the desert?"

 

"So it is, O venerable sir."

 

"In the same manner, I say, O meditators, should edible food be considered. If, O meditators, the nutriment 'edible food' is comprehended, the lust for the five sense-objects is (thereby) comprehended.

And if lust for the five sense-objects is comprehended, there is no fetter enchained by which a noble disciple might come to this world again [14].

 

"And how, O meditators, should the nutriment sense-impression be considered? Suppose, O meditators, there is a skinned cow that stands close to a wall. Then the creatures living in the wall will nibble at the cow. And if the skinned cow stands near a tree, then the creatures living in the tree will nibble at it. If it stands in the water, the creatures living in the water will nibble at it. If it stands in the open air, the creatures living in the air will nibble at it. Wherever that skinned cow stands, the creatures living there will nibble at it.

 

"In that manner, I say, O medtiators, should the nutriment sense-impression be considered. If the nutriment sense-impression is comprehended, the three kinds of feeling [pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral sensation] [15] are thereby comprehended. And if the three kinds of feeling are comprehended, there is, I say, no further work left to do for the noble [enlightened] disciple. [16]

 

"And how, O meditators, should the nutriment volition be considered? Suppose, O meditators, there is a pit of burning embers, filled to cover a person's height, with embers so hot that they are glowing without flames or smoke.

"Now a person comes that way, one who loves life and does not wish to die, who wishes for happiness and is repulsed by suffering. Then two strong men would seize both that person's arms and drag that person to the pit of burning embers.

"Then, O meditators, far away from the pit would recoil that person's will, far away from it that person's  longing, far away that person's inclination. And why? It is because the person knows: 'If I fall into that pit of burning embers, I shall meet with death or deadly pain.'

 

"In that manner, I say, O meditators, should the nutriment volition be considered. If the nutriment volition is comprehended, the three kinds of craving [for sensuality, for continued existence, for annihilation] [17] are thereby comprehended. And if the three kinds of craving are comprehended, there is, I say, no further work left to do for the noble disciple.

 

"And how, O medtitators, should the nutriment consciousness be considered? Suppose, O meditators, people have seized a criminal, a robber, and brought that person before the king saying: 'This is a criminal, a robber, O majesty! Mete out to the punishment you see fit!'

"Then the king would tell them: 'Go, and in the morning strike this person with a hundred spears!' And they strike him in the morning with a hundred spears. At noon the king would ask his men: 'How is that person?' — 'That person is still alive, your majesty.' — 'Then go and strike that person again at noontime with a hundred spears!' So they did, and in the evening the king asks them again: 'How now' — 'Still alive.' — 'Then go and in the evening strike that person again with a hundred spears!' And so they do.

 

"What do you think, O meditators? Will that person, struck with three hundred spears during a day, suffer pain and torment owing to that?"

 

"Even if one were to be struck only by a single spear, one would suffer pain and torment owing to it. How much more if one is being struck by three hundred spears!"

 

"In that manner, I say, O meditators, should the nutriment 'consciousness' be considered. If the nutriment consciousness is comprehended, mind-and-matter are thereby comprehended. And if mind and body are comprehended, there is, I say, no further work left to do for the noble disciple." — SN 12.63 

Commentary: "Son's Flesh" Sutra

(Ven Buddhaghosa's Saarattha-ppakasini, the Commentary to the Samyutta-Nikaya)

Golden Buddha (Herward J Bunch/flickr)

In explaining the "need arisen" (atthuppatti), that is, the particular reason for the Buddha giving this discourse, the commentator says that, at that time, the monastic community (the Buddhist monks, nuns, and novices) received abundant support by way of alms food and other requisites. Considering this, the Buddha asked himself:
 

"Will the monastics be able to eat almsfood and still keep to that mindfulness and clear comprehension that lays hold (of the true nature) of nutriment? Will they be detached and free of desire and greediness?"

And he saw that there were some offspring of good families, recently ordained, who ate almsfood without due reflection. Seeing this he thought: "When I practiced the perfections (parami) for four incalculable periods and 100,000 kalpas (ages, either normal lifespan or aeons), I did not do so for the sake of monastic requisites -- such as robes, alms food, and so on -- but for the sake of the highest fruition, of sainthood (arhatship, enlightenment), did I practice them. Also these monastics who went forth under me did not go forth for the sake of these requisites, but for the sake of attaining sainthood did they go forth. And now they take the unessential for the essential, the worthless for what is worthy!"

Such concern arose in him and he further thought: "If it were possible to declare a fifth grave offense (parajika), monastics partaking of food without due reflection should be made a fifth grave offense. It is, however, not possible to do so, because food is constantly used by beings.

"But I shall speak to them in such a way that they will consider (such thoughtlessness) as if it were a fifth grave offense. I shall place before them a 'mirror of the Dharma' for their self-control and restraint so that contemplating it again and again, the monastics of times to come will make use of the four requisites only after due reflection." [This is why he gave the ghoulish and strange simile of the son's flesh. Eat with care and reverence, with consideration and for the sake of enlightenment.] More