The phrase “reduce food as a medicine for illness” is from the fourth of the twenty rules of the jungle of the Zen master Baizhang Dazhi in the Tang Dynasty.
The jungle thrives on nothing;
The practice of nembutsu is stable;
The precepts of discipline are the first;
In sickness, reduce food as the remedy;
The bodhi is patience and humiliation;
(If there is right and wrong, it will cause strife, and you will not be able to practice at ease.)
To stay with the people is to be true;
To be devoted to one’s duties is meritorious;
To reduce language is straightforward;
To be kind to the young and the old is to advance virtue;
To learn is to study diligently;
To understand cause and effect is no fault;
Old age and death are warned by impermanence;
The practice of Buddhism is to be precise;
Sincerity in treating guests as an offering;
The disciples of the mountain are dignified by the old;
Preparedness in all things is not an effort;
To be courteous and modest in dealing with others.
In the event of danger, the strength is to remain unruffled;
Compassion is the basis for helping others. (See “The Daily Recitation of the Zen School”)
The meaning of these twenty rules is very deep, so for the sake of space, we will only explain why we should use food reduction as a medicine.
1. Eating less is a natural human reaction when one is sick. Eating less allows the stomach to rest fully, and reduces the overload on the body’s functions, so that the physiological tissues are revitalized and the white blood cells and antibodies give full play to their effectiveness in repelling germs.
2, there are many diseases caused by too mixed and too much diet, so the ancients said: “disease from the mouth, disaster from the mouth.” Moderation in diet can prevent and control diseases.
3.The Mahabharata Auxiliary Actions says, “Eat less so that your mind can be clear,” and only when your mind is clear can you benefit from the practice of cessation of mind and use it to cure diseases.
4, the more you eat, the more drowsy people: over-eating, not only will hurt the stomach and intestines, and too much nutrients left in the body, can not be excreted, will become toxins, especially fat or vitamin A, D, E, K, the four oily vitamins too much, can not be excreted out of the body, will cause vascular sclerosis and other terrible diseases reduce diet, can be left in the body of toxins out, for strengthening the body function is very useful.
5, although the “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” divided all the food into upper, middle and lower three products, the upper product is often eaten and beneficial and harmless food. The middle grade is the food that is beneficial to eat less and harmful to eat more; the lower grade is the food that is toxic in itself and cannot be eaten unless it is used as medicine to cure diseases. Now due to mass production, crops are commonly sprayed with pesticides and pesticides, many good things have deteriorated, in addition, most of the food processing adulterated with coloring and preservatives, dishwashing detergents on the remains of poison and it is difficult to wash clean, so again good food or should not eat more, so as not to harm the liver and body functions
6, food is not to seek full, as the case may be, in order to concentrate on monasticism, exercise the mind, every day about the delicious, greedy mouth blessing, will inevitably arise from the separate and worrying mind, so, how can the mind be pure? Therefore, it is more comfortable to eat less. If you eat less, your dependence on material things will be relatively reduced, and it is easy to achieve the state of contentment and happiness, so that you do not have to run around for life, and you can give your best to your ideal.
7. The most obvious reason for reducing food is perhaps because modern people generally eat too much. Eating too much will cause the body function to be overloaded and over-operated. Long-term hyperactivity of body functions may eventually lead to damage or collapse of body tissues, resulting in dysfunction or other diseases. Diabetes is a good example.