Pausing When We Eat

Here are some methods for helping yourself to slow down your eating by creating pauses:

1. Pause before beginning the meal. Look at each item of food, taking it in with the eyes. Notice colors, textures, shapes, arrangement on the plate or bowl.

2. Take a moment to say grace. Thank the animals, plants, and people who brought this food to you. Be aware of their gifts as you eat.

3. Begin the meal by pausing to inhale the fragrance of the food. Imagine that you are being nourished by just the smell.

4. Eat food like a wine connoisseur tastes wine. First sniff the food, enjoying the bouquet. Then take a small taste. Roll it around in the mouth, savoring it. What ingredients can you detect? Chew slowly and swallow. Take a sip of water to cleanse the palate. When the mouth is empty of food and flavor, repeat the process.

5. If you notice that you are eating without tasting, stop and pause to look at the food again.

-Jan Chozen Bays, "Mindful Eating," Tricycle, Summer 2009

The Virtues of Patience

In daily life we experience suffering more often than pleasure. If we are patient, in the sense of taking suffering voluntarily upon ourselves, even if we are not capable of doing this physically, then we will not lose our capacity for judgment. We should remember that if a situation cannot be changed, there is no point in worrying about it. If it can be changed, then there is no need to worry about it either, we should simply go about changing it.

–His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, from The Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Inner Peace (Element)

The Real Reason

The Korean Zen master Hyunoong Sunim was holding a discussion at San Francisco Zen Center. A student asked him the reason human beings persist in habits that cause them harm, sometimes long after they have ceased to be pleasurable.

"In Christianity," answered Hyunoong Sunim, "this is known as original sin. In Buddhism, we call it delusion." He looked around the room. "Why is there delusion?"

He shrugged his shoulders and lifted both hands into the air. "No reason!"

At this he laughed heartily.

- Sean Murphy, One Bird, One Stone, (Renaissance Books)

Tricycle

For great inspirational quotes I would seriously recommend Tricycle: Buddhist Review. I have a Daily Dharma subscription (some of which I will re-post here) and a subscription on twitter.

Tricycle can be found at http://www.tricycle.com/