Essay name: Ahara as depicted in the Pancanikaya
Author:
Le Chanh
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages
This critical study of Ahara (鈥渇ood鈥�) explores its significance in Buddhism, encompassing both physical and mental nourishment. The Panca Nikaya, part of the Sutta Pitaka, highlights how all human problems, including suffering and happiness, are connected to Ahara. Understanding this concept is crucial for comprehending and alleviating suffering, aiming for a balanced, enlightened life.
Chapter 2 - Concept of Ahara in the works of modern scholars and other religions
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46
to feel good about being alone, to encourage you to celebrate
yourself, however you choose, so you can continually discover your
own kind of food for solitude.
997]
Francine Schiff believed that 鈥榖elieve yourself, or believe the answer
in you' is food for being alone. He thought that only man could decide or
solve all his problems, not any other. 鈥楤elieving in you' means you can
control yourself, can do the right way. She again wrote:
"I'm the best friend I ever had; I like to be with me.
I like to sit and tell myself, things confidentially.鈥�
3972 Generally, Francine Schiff's concept of food is close to the Buddha's
teachings as described in the Bhaddekarattasutta (Discourse on Auspicious) of
Majjhima Nik膩ya and the Khaggavis膩nasutta (of Sutta Nip膩ta). Yet, food for
solitude (alone) of Francine Schiff as a purpose to heal body, mind and soul is
still bounded in the ideal 'food' is not just a symbol of or for the culture but it is
integral to the Hindu's ultimate reality in the same as 'self' is.
73 From Francine Schiff's view, it makes us recollect one of the phrases
that concerns the meaning of food mentioned in many dictionaries is
'food for thought' or 'intellectual nourishment'. Food in 'food for
thought' does not mean something to eat. The phrase means something
that makes one thinks carefully, or anything that provides mental stimulus
for thinking, or if something is food for thought, it is worth thinking
about or considering seriously, or this is something one should think
about. This meaning implies that careful thoughts and noble actions of a
person will nourish his mind, or food for his mind. There are many things
in life to stimulate us to think about, but choosing a right way of thinking is
not easy. Each person has a different way of thinking, but mostly the ways of
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid., p. 2.
73 R. S. Khare, The Eternal Food: Gastronomic Ideas and Experiences Of Hindus and Buddhists,
Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1993, p. 19.
