Food and interdependence: Responsibility in food donation

Giving food to monks and nuns is a form of practicing generosity (dāna) and this is a custom still present today in Theravāda Buddhist countries. It is a practice that originates from ancient Indian Buddhism, which in turn retained this practice from the Brahmanical traditions of the time of the historical Buddha, where the person renounced or left the social obligations of caring for the family, property, and all social responsibilities to dedicate their lives exclusively to religious practices.

This type of contemplative life doesn’t allow for work or an activity that allows you to support yourself, so you depend on the support of other people to feed yourself and maintain your other needs, which turns these people into mendicants, especially for food. This religious custom was maintained by the Buddha and is still present in some Buddhist traditions, such as the Monastic Theravāda tradition. As a result, these people become dependent on the lay community for food, clothing, and even for shelter.

The Buddhist lay community depends on the monastic community to accumulate merit[1] and produce happiness for themselves. The practice of material generosity is one of the ways of doing this. Thus, for Buddhists, the practice of generosity is of great importance, particularly material generosity in traditions that maintain this type of monastic structure. Due to this relationship of dependence between the communities, it also involves a great sense of responsibility.

This kind of relationship between the two communities, expressed through generosity, occurs on both sides. For the monks there is the maintenance of the conditions of livelihood, while for the laity, the practice of material generosity allows the accumulation of merit, which leads to the fruits of happiness manifested as good rebirths, with better bodies and conditions.

In the Aṅguttara Nikāya[2] it is taught that:

Bhikkhus, a donor who gives food gives the recipients five things. What five? One gives life, beauty, happiness, strength, and discernment.(1) Having given life, one partakes of life, whether celestial or human.(2) Having given beauty, one partakes of beauty, whether celestial or human. 3) Having given happiness, one partakes of happiness, whether celestial or human.(4) Having given strength, one partakes of strength, whether celestial or human.(5) Having given discernment, one partakes of discernment, whether celestial or human. A donor who gives food gives the recipients these five things. (…)

However, to accumulate merit and obtain these effects, monks must actually be good recipients[3] for the accumulation of merit. There is an analogy that compares monks who are recipients, dignified of offerings, to fertile fields. Those whose discipline and practice is correct are fertile fields suitable for seeds, so that they can grow and bear good fruit. While those monks who are not dignified are compared to rocky, salty fields that are difficult to irrigate, and when the farmer (giver) plants the seeds, they cannot bear good fruit.

The dignified are those who have controlled conduct, correct practice and ethical discipline, a correct view on reality, based on Buddhist doctrine. In an ideal view, they are free, or are freeing themselves from worldly pleasures, hatred and delusion after having renounced it. This in turn leads to the charging of the monks’ correct practice and behavior by the laity.

Monks also practice generosity by donating themselves as fields for the accumulation of merit, on both sides there must be an intention that is in accordance with the understanding of actions and effects, or kamma.[4] In other words, the monk also donates himself, his own body, so that the layman can produce merit, which leads him to eat what is offered, without being selective.

In addition, there is the monks’ practice of generosity in a more direct way, through the offering of teachings and even religious. These relationships then become formalized, and carefully balanced according to the conditions of the lay community and the needs of the monastic community, allowing for a cooperative society.

These types of relationships also allow for the development of the notion of a relationship of interdependence with the Other, in a salvific value, of needing and being constantly in relationship with others in a network, and not of standing on one’s own. This occurs in generosity, in the act of giving and receiving. This allows for greater closeness between the communities, constant development of empathy and friendship, and can allow for the religious understanding and development of the people of both communities in relationship.

These relationships are also guided by the ethical and moral code, which in the case of the monks is regulated by the monastic code (Vinaya), which has rules about how to accept, how much, how to behave when eating, and what one can eat. However, the lay community, in this tradition, has few moral precepts to follow, and there are no specifications about the foods to be offered, except for the very special foods that monks are not allowed to eat.

Knowledge about the body is part of the understanding of the form of existence, which is important for Buddhist soteriology. Matter is analogically made up of four primary elements (cattāro mahābhūtāni), which give the characteristics of rigidity, liquidity, heat, and movement, and is connected to motion. These elements in relationship generate and maintain the body, and are also interdependent with the nutrients from food. Thus, food participates in the relationships that generate and maintain the physical body. However, food goes beyond the physical, material constitution. The body and mind are mutually dependent, the mind being made up of four mental aggregates. Food also nurtures the mental faculty, as it generates and nourishes the consciousness and other mental aggregates of the individual.

These analyses are part of understanding the interdependence of all the dhammas or elements of existence, which are made up of factors of the material and mental world that exist in an integrated way. Thus, understanding this system is important because it allows for an understanding of the emergence of desire in this relationship, which is central to practice that has the purpose of achieving nibbāna, the definitive peace.

The monastic code (Vinaya) of Theravāda tradition[5] establishes several rules of behavior and types of food allowed by those who seek to maintain a life dedicated to religious practice, which generally should not be special foods. Eating is something that should keep the body well for practice, not something done for pleasure. There are also various practices and meditations directed at working on the question of the desire for food. However, the lack of rules regarding the lay community can lead to diet-related problems, which are more common today. Weight gain and worsening health amongst mendicant monks in the Theravāda traditions of Thailand have been reported. These problems emerge due to the types of food offered, which may have low nutritional quality and due to the food’s characteristics may also uncontrolled cravings.

Therefore, it is necessary to raise the point of responsibility in this relationship. This relationship must not only be a social one or one grounded in the exchange of goods, merits and services. It must be an honest practice oriented towards Buddhist soteriology, according to its own principles of cause and effect and interdependence, which are geared towards a correct practice that considers various elements towards a certain end. This might manifest as a focus on the quality of the foods in order to maintain good health or on food stuffs that don’t get in the way of the monks’ abilities to control their desires but instead help them in their religious quest. This will also allow for better returns for the lay community in terms of greater production of merit, for example.

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References

[1] Action that generates effects of happiness. For a better comprehension, it is essential to understand the concept of Kamma. This concept is central to the Buddhist doctrine. However, it is a topic much too extensive to be covered here, and it is recommended the reading of Chapter II of: Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering (Buddhist Publication Society, 1999).

[2] Bhikkhu Anālayo, “Overeating and Mindfulness in Ancient India,” Mindfulness 9 (2018): 1648–1654.

[3] Recipient because it is the basis that allows the action that generates the effect, for better understanding, try to understand the structure of Kamma in the same reference indicated.

[4] Kamma in general can be understood as action and effect, however, the correct term in this case, which covers cause and effect is punya.

[5] Today there are three types of monastic code, that of the Theravada Tradition and two others, for more information see: Andrew Skilton, A Concise History of Buddhism (Windhorse Publications, 2013), 77-78.

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© Thaís Moraes A. Maetsuka, 2024.

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Cover Image: “The monks walk along as the faithful drop food into their baskets” by shankar s. is licensed under CC BY 2.0.