Discourse on the Four Kinds of Nutriments - Edible Foods (2018) (1 of 5)

March-December 2018 

In this talk, Dharma teacher Fred Eppsteiner discusses the nutriment of Edible Foods. The Buddha taught that as human beings, we consume four basic types of nutriments: Edible Foods, Sense Perceptions, Volition and Consciousness. What we choose to consume in each of these areas greatly affects the wellbeing of our bodies and our minds. This talk is on the first of these four nutriments, and further talks will elaborate on the other three nutriments. Fred explains that as human beings, we must eat in order to survive; we must take in edible foods in order to sustain and nurture our bodies. This day and age there are many options of what we can eat, but as Buddhist practitioners we are compelled to look deeply into what we are eating and why we are eating. We want to look into the suffering that may arise in our bodies from what we eat, as well as the suffering that may be inflicted on the planet, to animals, and to others in the production of the food we choose to consume. We want to also look into whether we are eating to sustain and nurture our bodies or if we are eating to satisfy our desire for pleasurable foods or perhaps to meet a deep psychological need? Looking deeply in this way, we can see the connection between what and how we consume edible food and the suffering or wellbeing of our body and our mind.