Food in Dhamma, Dhamma in Food

The Saturday service on 2 August was a combined service held at SBM (Singapore Buddhist Mission) with the youths from BFY and SBF (Singapore Buddhist Federation) as guests. Such combined services are held once a year at each of the youth groups (BFY’s was earlier this year). The speaker was Brother Brian from SBM who talked about “Food in Dhamma, Dhamma in Food”.

This was a rather interesting talk as it was interactive. First for the “Food in Dhamma”, plates of food were passed around.  Each of us had to choose a drink, a Skittles sweet and a snack such as chocolate, Oreo, waffle etc. We could only choose one and could not change our mind after choosing.

Only after choosing our food did we learn of the catches in some of the food e.g. concentrated/ diluted drinks, non crispy Oreo etc. Some members of the audience were asked to share what went through their mind when choosing e.g. if they deliberately choose a certain food or simply picked without much thought, if they had trouble deciding what to choose and if they regretted their choice.

Now, for the “Dhamma in Food”, not being able to change our mind was meant for us to question ourselves if we are willing to accept responsibility for the choices we make. Keeping Noble Silence as we chose our food was meant to help us be mindful of our own thoughts, because if we are too busy talking we may be too caught up with listening to others. The mind can only be at one place at a time.

From this simple exercise, we could observe the functions of the mind:

1.       Collecting information

2.       Differentiating (the different types of food)

3.       Decision making (choosing the food)

4.       Mental proliferation – excessive thinking (e.g. pondering over what to choose)

The real food for the mind is mindfulness, because if the mind is not looked after properly, it is uncontrolled.

How does mindfulness help us?

-          Collect info better

-          Understand the causes (conditions that allow something to arise)

-          Make better decisions

-          Be aware of our regret etc and hence deal with it appropriately

-          Enhances mental development and helps us be more aware in practising the Noble Eightfold Path, especially Right Speech which is difficult for many of us

-          These benefits are a reminder for us to practise

At first, quiet and peaceful physical conditions are needed to be mindful. Later we realise that mindfulness comes from mental stillness, not physical posture. What we try to cultivate from meditation is to maintain the residual stillness outside of meditation.

- Pei Si