Dhana and Single Meal

Dhana and Single Meal

June 9, 2011 by asokaplus

Single most important principle in Buddhist Practice is its Dhana, the giving away ones possessions, without expecting anything in return.

This is something of an antithesis to modern world, where, self, image and one’s possessions are dear and belonging.

How it is practiced by Buddhist monks is discussed here briefly to make a novice monk adopt to modern trends in a demanding world.

A Buddhist monk ought to be light in baggage and belongings. A monk could have only two cloths (Chivara), one for wearing and another for change. 

How it should be made is also under strict and elaborate instructions. 

The eating habits are also under strict code of practice. I would discuss that in detail here. When it comes to eating, if one ignores the morning meal, which is very light indeed, a monk has to survive on a single meal, and that has to be taken in the early evening not late as is modern day practice.

You may wonder why I took some interest in this.

This examination is scientific in nature and if you need satire read American Pie elsewhere.

There are many reasons, and I would jot down only a few.

If a monk in the west practices this according to the strict code, it is a severe test for them, adopting this regime in the winter months. 

Equally, I have seen some monks who try to adhere to the regime regimentally and religiously have ended up sick and malnourished. If one becomes a Buddhist monk in adult life who had enjoyed somewhat a liberal life, changing to a single meal is a severe restriction on their diurnal habits. 

Ones hormonal status, glycogen storage and status of the acid secretion in the stomach are habituated by ones daily routine (life style). 

Changing this having become a monk should be done on a staggered basis giving time for the body to adjust.

Additionally, many of them do not have an understating of what is a balance diet.

What I stated above is obvious, but over years, I have seen many Buddhist monks suffering from food related diseases, especially diabetes mellitus. 

This is something not welcome and unexpected for my own consumption. I have no intention of going into how one becomes a diabetic but for me somebody on a single meal getting diabetes mellitus was something of an enigma.

In this scenario, having thought a bit about it, I put the blame squarely on the layman.

Hope one is not amazed by this statement.

I would go into this briefly. The upper and the higher middle class families are the ones who get quota for the Dhana for the residential monks in the city. Their, idea of a meal is a lavish one. Many of them are also diabetic because of their over indulgence. The offer of Dhana is not done on a regular basis. So on the day all the sugary, starchy, heavy but nutritionally unbalanced is offered. These Dhana days also happen to fall on weekends and holidays. The monk has no choice. They consume a diet heavy in carbohydrates which stimulate their pancreas to the limits on weekends and practically having an austerely meal rest of the week. My theory of this up and down (erratic) stimulation of the insulin status, make them prone to diabetes in middle age. 

This may be aggravated by lack of exercise and having sugary drinks (tea) to counteract the late evening hypoglycemia.

It is the duty of the layman to look after their welfare on a regular basis instead of lavish feast once a month.  

Medical education is in its prime stage now especially on nutrition, the doctor should advise the upper middle class families what is a balance single diet for a monk who are practically at the mercy of the rich laymen who impart their inherent diseases to the clergy.

I would give some advice later regarding what to be offered and what ought not to be but for now let me digress a little.

I wanted to test myself whether I can survive on a single diet.

(For the record, I have not taken a single rice meal over 10 years and it is my health secret!)

I am more than convinced that it is possible and healthy. But it takes time and it cannot be practiced overnight.

Prehistoric Time -15,000 to 30, 000 ago Having proved it to myself, I delved into man’s prehistoric period and how man survived in adverse climatic conditions and food scarcities. 

Hunter gather never had three meals a day. 

At best he had only a single square meal never three meals. He mainly survived on big games in a community life style. He was omnivorous and supplemented his diet with fruits and nuts. They probably did not suffer from diabetes mellitus and his teeth were strong, the enamel was thin but the dentin was thick, hardly had caries. In times of food shortages and diseases there were signs of enamel deficiency and bone diseases. These changes are recorded in prehistoric fossils which date back to 15,000 to 30,000 years. Until such time he became nomadic man milk was in short supply. Only milk supply was maternal. The average woman was thin, and she only had children once in four years or so. (It is now believed that when a woman is thin -prehistoric women had to work hard, almost equaling man’s efforts-like modern day women athletes the ovulation does not occur. Additionally, prolong breast feeding without weaning suppresses ovulation).

The man probably was sturdier and taller but comparatively thinner since he had to work hard in hunting exercises. He probably lived a shorter life than a woman (45 years), probably 35 years or so died not of modern day diseases but by injuries sustained in hunting.

As far prehistoric man is concerned a single diet existence is not a fantasy but a fact.

Paleolithic Period- 5000 to 13 000 years Why man became an agricultural man is a mystery but available evidence suggests dramatic changes in climate at the end of the ice age and population expansion. With the emergence of the nomadic life and mans entry into agricultural endeavours, he entered into a sedentary life style. 

However, he never gave up game and hunting until such time he domesticated adequate livestock. I would like to figure out that he was never a pure vegetarian.  

The Asian wolf became associated with man around 13,000 years ago probably scavenging around man’s domain. The dogs and wolf can live on a single diet perhaps even longer and with the loss of mammoths and huge games, wolf also found living difficult but drifted with the man for game. His eating pattern, scavenging to begin with which our present day dogs inherit and illustrate by scavenging city dumps, is a reminder that even this period the man existed (present day practice of feeding a single meal to a pedigree dog which I don’t agree with) on a single main diet.

Even though the agricultural practices were extensive, failure of crops were common phenomena, the demise of Maya Dynasty was a true example of catastrophe in history. In spite of extensive agriculture, food was not plenty and the food preparation from harvest to meal was labour extensive and man continued to supplement meal on animal and animal sacrifices. In this period population expanded probably because women becoming comparatively fatter and fertile (it is interesting to note that when a woman is too fat, like present day, fertility drops) and their body composition was ideal for reproduction. But with success there was impending catastrophe too. Famines were common due to reduction of crops, failure of rains or floods. The man became shorter and less sturdy due to sedentary life.

We may be able to surmise that even in this period man ate a variable diet, characteristically a single meal which was supplemented by animal, fish, shells, fruits and nuts.

How and when man discovered use of salt and spices is an open to question probably towards the latter stage of Paleolithic time.

Contemporary History from 5000 years to 2500. During this period man was eating mixed diet containing milk (animal), sugar, salt, spices and animal and fish products. In spite of agriculture man never ceased to consume animal food, in fact it became a major constitute, judging by the tribal and religious practices from 5000 to 2000 years. This is probably the period where single supper or a single meal changed to multiple meals especially the upper classes but slaves and lower classes subsisted on an average single large meal.

The longevity and average health increased proportionately to double the prehistoric period.

Most of the sages and philosophers except hedonists lived an austere life while recommending the same to the masses.

2500 and the emergence of the Vegetarian Life Even though some Jainers advocated vegetarian life, it was with the emergence of the Buddhists way of life in India that preceded the current wave of vegetarian (purported to be healthy) food fads. Neither, Ten Commandments, the Jesus Christ’s Sayings nor Muslim Koran abhors sacrifices of animals.

The vegetarian life is comparatively new one probably only 2500 years old in the history of mankind and that is why, there are so many misconceptions. Unlike monkeys, baboons and gorillas who are mostly vegetarians, from which man originated in an evolutionary point of view, the man had always been a carnivorous mammal.

2500 years is a small time in evolutionary time scale, a healthy dialogue on vegetarian diet is mandatory in the present context.

Our intestine and teeth bear different relationships to tree dwelling mammals, some are morphological in nature (genetic) and some are based on the diet (environmental) we eat. That is the view I hold not an opinion substantiated.

As far as the growth and development of children are concerned my view is that single diet is not adequate.

That is my entry point to discuss another point of view.

Can a young novice monk who has not gone through puberty be sustained on single diet? This is a question I find it difficult to answer even thought I have stated my gut feeling above. This is another reason I defer on ordaining young underage monks (there are other reasons stated elsewhere) apart from psychological maturity to go on an austere life as prescribed by Vinaya.

Parents should have a say in these issues. They should not plunge a young one into priesthood early in their tender years.

What should an average Dhana (Single Meal) should contain? The physiological effect and the calorie intake of an average meal should last 18 hours.

That is the time when the glycogens storage starts to become depleted.

The diet should not have high sugary (desert) components that stimulate surge of insulin and late dumping syndrome due to insulin surge at the time of the meal. 

The vegetarian diet has no problem since the fiber makes the release of dietary sugar gradual. 

The best desert for the monks is not ice cream but fruits.  

Out of the fruits, the best is bananas which releases its sugars slowly without upsetting insulin surges and maintaining a stable blood sugar. Milk and curd are preferred, since they give a supply of fat for starving intervals.

Missing ingredient is nuts, not only they contain short fatty acids which supply nutrition for starving intervals and also healthy vitamins.

I would encourage the young monks to go liberal on fruits and nuts.

A supply of nuts (not aggalas and jaggery and sweets), fruits, papaw, banana and proper breakfast cereal containing millet (Kurrakkan) should be the breakfast for our monks.

Somebody should invest and develop a proper breakfast cereal for our kids (which can be used by young monks in their growing years) instead of foreign breakfast cereals.

For the monks in the West a Buddhist dietitian with knowledge in Vinaya practice should investigate how their mid day Dhana should be constituted.

My belief is many of them are having an inappropriate diet for winter conditions. I hope a good breakfast cereal will emerge from the west for the monks on a meagre diet.

My prescription for priesthood is entirely different. When I see young monks in the TV giving emotional speeches rather than mature sermons, I become sometimes terrified.

Even my twilight years, I sometimes reserve my judgment or giving advices on certain issues. Never over the telephone, only, when I can have an eye to eye contact with the person concerned where I, can have an immediate assessment of the person’s psychological makeup and the reactions.

One can do more damage by volunteering advice not appropriate.

My advice goes as this. Let the young one follows a simple observational life. In other words learn to observe in a simple scientific and logical fashion. Teach them science in simple terms as we tend to understand them from facts to fiction.

Children learn fiction better in the early years and they should be allowed to mature into scientific and factual way.

They have the philosophical views embedded in their brains. Encourage them as much as possible

This is why they always asks mommy why?

Encourage the philosophical views at an early age, even though we do not have ready made answers always.

Then only they should be allowed to think of a religion or religions in their life. If we are to stop, young from being taken into terrorist or religious cadres, that is the only way out left. That is the very thing we are not doing at present and ignoring. We are slowly encouraging and allowing young militants being made out of innocent minds because of our failure in commonsense education.

 Most of the religious and militant groups know this very well, the best currency to propagate their rigid views is the young mind.