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WE ARE WHAT WE EAT 01 We are what we eat. Taoists and Buddhists meditate by eating products from plants but not animals because plants are peaceful and quiet while animal are active and noisy. Meditation is the way to the Way of both Taoism and Buddhism,so eating products from plants is helpful for them to be in peaceful mind, that is, meditation. That is the reason why the people who need to remain in peace don’t like to eat food that easily makes them in excitement such as onion, garlic and ginger as the listed foods are powerful to put them in that state. I am stubborn to stick to the belief in that life lies in peaceful cultivation but not in excessive sports. Eating peaceful food is harmonious with this idea. 02 Pepper, for example is popular among those who are aggressive and conceited. It is said that a great man in China liked to eat pepper extremely and even declared that the more revolutionary a man was , the more he liked to eat pepper.I have really observed the people around me and found that it is true of common people: those who are bold and aggressive like to eat pepper which is so hot that it makes them sweat but they will shout that they enjoy themselves to the full. When they are served pepper not so hot they immediately feel flat and insipid as if they were eating something of no taste. They would rather drink a cup of boiled water. 03 One of my friends is a pious adherent of Buddhism who eats only products out of plants. He often tells us that he feels relieved since he has become a vegetarian. I believe in him and think he was telling a true story,but I can’t resist temptation to eat some meat now and then. Because we eat differently, we are different in temperament: He is peaceful and steady while I am uneasy and impetuous. 04 It is natural for a man to be tempted to eat some meat but I admire those who can resist temptation to do so. A man can be great when he can defeat desire and follow his moral or religious principles without any suffering. In my opinion, the greatness of a man is increasing with his willingness to resist temptation. Those who can do right things, facing the temptation of tasty food as well as power, money, beauty and anything that satisfies his instinct desire are worth respecting. When they abandon above-mentioned things to do right things, they are becoming what they have eaten. Because if they eat what can make them in a peaceful mind, they can do things with wisdom which is originated from peaceful mind. A philosophy of ancient Chinese people is that peaceful mind breeds wisdom so in the long history of China there were too many wise men who were tired of earthly life and began to build abode in a mountain with pine trees as a recluse. What they ate were products from plants in the forest so that they were able to keep peaceful mind,that it, in meditation, thus to find the Way for a perpetual soul. 05 Confucius must have known much about the relationship between food and humanity as he ever remarked that rice could never be white enough and mince meat could never be chopped fine enough. He refuse to eat “when meat was not served with its proper sauce,” “when it was not cut square,” “when its color was not right” and “when its flavor was not right”. To be a gentleman is to eat what is right. A man who has learnt to eat right is unlikely to do evil. When we understand this, we can understand Buddhists who are aware of what they are eating and Taoists who are particular about what they are eating, too. 06 What I have stated here is just the philosophy from Confucianism and Taoism and Buddhism. They are quite different from each other in doctrines and Confucianism in a strict sense is not a religion but we are surprised to find that they hold the same view that we are what we eat and therefore the believers in each religion of the three lay stress on what they are eating, which is worth our consideration indeed. 07 That means that food not only provides nutirtion for our body but nutrition for our thought as well. What we eat decides our heads as well as our shapes. “脑满肠肥（heavy-jowled and potbellied）” is a Chinese idom used to describe the men who have eaten too much meat food, which decide they are idle and foolish while the poor who can’t get too much meat food and have to eat plant foods so that they are pure and wise. While the former are leading a meaningless life , the latter are leading a creative and valuable life. I am always doubt it because if you are pure and wise, how is it possible to be so poor? The only explanation to it is that the society is unfair so the men who are idle and foolish can become rich whle the men who are pure and wise have no chance to possess fortune. The contradiction lies in that when the poor become rich, they also begin to belong to the group of the rich who are idle and foolish. The reason, we can only say, is that they start eating differently when they are rich,so the wise become foolish.you may have realised how importan food is, right? |
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