On the definition of "substantial" food

2.15.2012 Waianae Public Library When trying to limit mealtimes to the traditional monastic interval between dawn and midday according to a strict interpretation of the sixth Theravada precept "Do not eat any substantial food after midday or before dawn", "I get a powerful urge to eat more than necessary at the midday meal in anticipation of the hunger pangs that will follow that night. Years of practice don't seem to make it easier. A kind of panic reaction takes over when the meal is in progress. The inevitable result of overeating is discomfort due to sluggish drowsiness which can last for hours wasting most of the afternoon. The suttas relate that when a bhikkhu returns from his alms round after finishing his midday meal, he sits down under a tree to practice concentration. This is an unrealistic ideal far beyond my powers. I have not even seen it practiced in yogic retreats where a main meal is usually followed by a rest period. Drowsiness can be more uncomfortable than hunger. It is one of the five major hindrances to spiritual practice (lust, ill will, drowsiness, restlessness and doubt). Considering that drowsiness has been a problem for me for a long time, I am coming to the conclusion that eating a light supper in the evening would be a fair tradeoff for limiting the quantity of food consumed at lunch. It would be better than lurching from one extreme to another. In my case, a reasonable limit for lunch on a typical day of light physical activity would be a volume of about one pint. One pint is the volume of a small Rubbermaid Twist-N-Lock food container, the same volume that worked for me during my retreat at Boonkanjanaram in Thailand in 2004. It is also the volume of food mentioned in the suttas [Samyutta Nikaya, Book I Ch III 13] which King Pasenadi found to be the right amount to overcome his obesity (see a Bucket Measure of Food). When I took the sixth precept among the full set of eight Theravada precepts at Wat Metta in 1996, my vows had to be taken in the canonical Pali language at the insistence of Ven. Thanissaro who administered them to me. I had to memorize and recite the lines without fully understanding all the nuances of their meaning. Of course many contracts or commitments are entered this way without fully understanding the terms at first. In Pali, the word describing the kind of foods prohibited outside of the allotted time is "bhojana" meaning "staple" or "substantial". Ven. Thanissaro goes into a lot of detail about the allowed foods at accesstoinsight.org. The subject of food is especially interesting to bhikkhus, long distance hikers, mariners adrift in an open boat and anyone with a keen appetite. There are foods which are permitted as snacks and there are others considered as medicines (salt, tea, cocoa, oil?). Fruit is a recommended snack at any time. Note that fruit juice and sugary sodas are not allowed in my personal list because of concerns about obesity and heart health. I used to think that snacks should be discouraged because nibbling or munching often gets out of hand. However now I concede that they serve a useful purpose as a safety valve. In fact, I would accept a snack of a rice cake or a similar vegan food with an afternoon cup of tea, even if rice is considered one of the "staple" foods according to the traditional rules. Likewise a light supper could be justified for a lay person observing a modified sixth precept if it helps sustain energy and motivation overall. The English translation of "bhojana" as "substantial" can be interpreted in this case in a quantitative caloric sense. For Theravada monks, however, the problem with eating an evening meal or snack is more complicated than the issue of allowable foods. Even if some foods could be construed as allowable snacks, Theravada monks can not freely help themselves to anything at all, not even snacks, unless given to them that day and saved for consumption later. They cannot hoard food overnight and they cannot eat anything not given, not even an orphan fruit fallen from a tree and picked up off the ground. The problem with supper is there might not be any lay person around to give them food at a late hour if they might not have been able to save any allowable snacks to tide them over. This happened to me. One evening as I happened to be walking past a wash up area behind the main hall of Wat Metta, a young monk visiting from Thailand standing there noticed my approach, brightened up and motioned at me to come over. Then he asked me to hand him a jar of instant coffee sitting there on a shelf in plain view. Feeling pleased to be of service in a humble way but also amused to be caught up in a role-playing scenario, my role being "layman" and his being "monk", I willingly picked up the jar and handed it to him. Actually it may not have been technically "mine" to give, but if my giving it was all right with him, then it was all right with me. I just assumed that the jar was for everyone to use but this visiting monk, perhaps not sure of all the local protocols, correctly did not make any assumptions. While handing him the jar I asked him if he needed coffee to stay awake all night, as monks sometimes do. "No," he replied truthfully, "I just like coffee." Important note: Having said the above in defense of a modified definition of "substantial" food, I have to backpedal a bit to reaffirm that mild nocturnal hunger is healthy and can produce some interesting dreams, provided it can be tolerated without panic attacks. The main object is to avoid drowsiness from eating too much at midday but not at the expense of throwing out the baby (caloric restriction) with the bathwater (the sixth precept).  Caloric restriction is still necessary for health and vitality even if the sixth precept is relaxed from a hard and fast rule. The right amount for my aging metabolism seems to be about one-half pint of a light early supper. After that, the kitchen is closed until the following dawn. Also note that coffee is not drunk after midday because it exacerbates hunger and restlessness. A blind adherence to rules and regulations may not be wholesome. The suttas state that a belief in external observances is one of the first fetters to drop away on the path to enlightenment. At stream-entry the first three of the ten fetters to drop away are identity view, doubt and wrong grasp of rules and observances.