Offerings

Last week I wrote a little bit about generating  a mind of gratitude that understands our interconnectedness with all beings before delving into a meal. Many Buddhists say prayers or do specific offering or other visualisation practices before eating. Following are five contemplations that are recited and examined at Sravasti Abbey before a meal.

Five Contemplations  Before Meals

1. I contemplate how much positive potential I have accumulated in order to receive this food given by others.
2. I contemplate my practice, constantly trying to improve it.
3. I contemplate my mind, cautiously guarding it from wrongdoing, greed, and other defilements.
4. I contemplate this food, treating it as wondrous medicine to nourish my body.
5. I contemplate the aim of Buddhahood, accepting and consuming this food in order to accomplish it. 

Pretty amazing, eh? They also say a variety of prayers while imagining that the food becomes blissful nectar that transmits wisdom to those who consume it. They then offer the nectar to a small Buddha visualised at their heart chakras. 

Food offering  is one of the oldest Buddhist practices and can take the form of offering food to monks and nuns, those in need, or animals. Offerings are also made in sometimes elaborate rituals to Buddhas and the like, not because the Buddhas are going to eat them but as a mind training practice for ourselves. These practices assist us in developing a mind of generosity and in loosening the grasp of attachment. If you look closely you will often see Buddhist altars decorated with food offerings. Cookies/biscuits, fruit and chocolates are probably the most common. During specific ceremonies intricate sculptures are made of butter and flour. 

One time I helped prepare for a special Tibetan Buddhist ceremony for which food offerings were integral. I went to a local market and picked up yummy foods including dried pasta and jarred sauce, peanut butter and vegetables as well as the usual sweet  treats. My offerings elicited some smiles and laughter, but they were true offerings from the heart and we were able to donate them to a local food bank afterward. Venerable Thubten Chodron explains the practice of offering further in this article.

A good beginning offering practice is the offering of water. Water is something most of us have at home so it is easy to offer. The practice is to find some sort of clean containers and each morning fill the bowls with water while offering it to the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas. In the more advanced practice each of 7 bowls is filled with water while one visualises a variety of offerings (flowers, incense, music, water for drinking, water for washing, food, and light). The  bowls are then emptied and cleaned at the end of the day. Here is an article from the Tara Institute that explains the practice of keeping an altar at home including the water bowl offering practice. 

Another offering practice might be to offer food to people or animals in need, your elderly neighbour or a friend who hasn't been well.

Practice: Let's try some offering practice this week. Even if you don't feel comfortable with the concept of offering food or water to imagined Buddhas, try visualising yourself giving the food to those in need. You might even wish for those in need to have food and drink materialise for them. Do you think these practices will assist us in loosening our attachment? I am going to try....

p.s. I came across this fun little article about one woman's realisation about her Nutella fixation. Enjoy! :) 

Have a great week!

Dharma Mama

Grace

A number of years ago, my mother invited our extended family over for Thanksgiving. My step father got to work organizing the menu (he is a fantastic cook) and my mom worried about cutlery and seating. My task was to come up with some sort of "grace" to say before the meal. Sounds simple enough, and it would be in most families, but not in mine. We have an odd mix of lesbians and republicans, vegetarian hemp-wearing animal activists and good old boys, atheists, Buddhists, and Mormons. I wanted to say something meaningful without offending the Christian set. I spoke from the heart about gratitude and interdependence and when I finished there was a dead silence in the room. "Well this is awkward",  I thought. I then asked if anyone else wanted to say something, thinking the Mormons might want to thank God for the abundance before us. My cousin piped up, "Wow, how can any of us say anything after that?" We then began to eat with gratitude in our hearts (at least I hope so, they may have just been stunned). Below is something similar to what I said that night. Wouldn't it be great if we took the time to think of this before each meal every day? I am going to try to do so more often.

A Buddhist "Grace"

Today a great meal is on the table before us. Aren't we fortunate? Think of all the effort that has gone into the preparation of this meal for us. Wow, what kindness we have received! We can think of the people who planted the seeds, nurtured them and harvested the crops, for us. The minute beings who helped the plants grow and those who gave their lives in the process of growing and harvesting them. The people who prepared the goods for sale and those who transported them. The people in the supermarket chain who prepared and delivered them. Those who stocked the supermarket shelves and those who sold them to us. Even those who baked and stirred and minced and mashed them into a meal today. Beyond these easy to see kindnesses there are more, as we are all connected in the web of interdependence. The farmers and the supermarket workers would not be able to do their work if they did not have homes made for them by builders or farm equipment manufactured by factory workers. The seeds themselves would not be present if there weren't plants before them, similarly cared for by those who grew them. The truck drivers could not transport the produce if it weren't for the truck manufacturers or the road crew who built the highways. And all of these beings would not be able to do the great work that they do if it weren't for their parents who gave them life (and perhaps the doctor who saved it as well) and their parents, and their parents, and so on. When we look further we will see that every single sentient being has put great effort into the preparation of the meal before us. Let us be grateful and endeavor to repay the kindness we have received. Let us eat the food before us to gain energy to do good work in the world with an aim to benefit all sentient beings.

Practice: This week let's try to stop before putting anything into our mouths. Let's pause and think of all of the effort put into creating the food or drink we are about to consume. We can then generate a mind of gratitude aimed at benefiting others. Let me know how it goes!

Here are a few new links and tidbits to explore...

A World of Grace (a beautiful poster of examples of grace from cultures around the world)

Practicing Buddhism in Daily Life by Ven. Thubten Chodron

Exploring the 8 R's of Meditation: 

The Value of Nothing (from a yogic perspective rather than a Buddhist one):

Buddhist Blessing for Food
by Annie B. Bond

Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space
combine to make this food.
Numberless beings gave their lives
and labors that we may eat.
May we be nourished
that we may nourish life.

Have a great  week!

Metta,

Dharma Mama