143 The Buddhist Diet
Part II
CW43_No.143
(Vajrayana Diet)
The Buddhist Yogi C. M. Chen
III. The Vajrayana Diet
The Buddhist Tantric Diet is used by the yogi of Annutara yoga who has accomplished some realization of the first and second initiations. This means that he has become the yidam and he has achieved the breathing power to hold his breath for at least two minutes. Also, a necessary condition is that he has practiced and is going to practice with a flesh Dakini. Both yogi increase their power of Tummo and must have attained the power to keep their red and white Bodhi inside without discharge. For this, animal meat is a crying need.
Such a person who has already gathered many powers from incantations can bless the meat and it will not inflict a disease on him. When he blesses the dead animals, they will be benefitted by their sacrifice to him and will get a good rebirth. Some of the good yogis, such as Tilopa, takes the fish alive as food and then vomits it out alive. A yogi such as this has already made the ghosts and demons his protectors. In this manner, there is not any trouble caused by the animal meat.
However, there is not any Tantric diet mentioned in Tibetan Yoga doctrine. Certain things such as particular vegetables, meats, or spices have been negatively forbidden, but the various Tantric doctrines had never settled upon a Tantric diet for all practitioners to follow. It seemed to have been taught secretly to individuals but nothing common to every Tantric practitioner. I remember in the biography of Milarepa there is a special edition other than the one translated by Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup. It is an edition translated orally by Mongolian Lama Dargee Geshi and written by Mr. Chang Hsin Yow of Shihchuan in Chinese. It mentioned that Milarepa opened a secret bag which was favored to him by his Guru Marpa when he took departure from him. Milarepa had been advised, "When you feel some doubt inside your mind, and you can't settle it, then, you may open the bag and get a secret teaching inside." When Milarepa met his fiancee and his sister, they gave him many good foods which he liked very much. He then doubted whether or not he was lured by the demon of food. He immediately opened the secret bag and found inside a Tantric diet which included beef, wine, and milk, along with an essential instruction of Vajra Love practice. He then practiced it with them and took the Tantric diet accordingly. He attained many supernatural powers. But the complete Tantric Diet was not translated as well in Chinese as the real one written by Marpa himself.
Now, in an age which is stressing the whole system of Tibetan Tantra as I have emphasized, I have to make a Tantric Diet upon which all Tantric Diets should be based:
1)The Tantric Diet should not fall into a one-sided view. It should be neither vegetarian nor carnivorous.
2)Blessing all kinds of meat incantation:
OM. AH. BA. RA. HUM. KA. JA. RA. SO. HO.
Transforming all meat into nectar incantation:
OM. VAJRA. AH. MI. DA. KUN. JRA. LI. HA. NA. HA. NA. HUM. PAY.
It should not only be repeated a few times during eating, but ten thousand times before eating. Then the function of these two incantations can be carried out.
3)To open all the five chackras one should make the five organs of one's body stronger. This makes it easier to receive the transformation into the yidam's body of wisdom and light through Tummo practice.
4)To fit the truth of philosophy of food with their conditions, one should take a lot of care to choose the foods according to their five kinds of form and five kinds of color.
5)The rise and fall of energy should be understood. And when eating one should know the dates and their passing chackras. They are listed below:
From the bottom, energy rises upward
(a) Private Chackra; White month first-third.
(b) Navel Chackra; 4th-6th.
(c) Heart Chackra; 7th-9th.
(d) Throat Chackra; 10th-12th.
(e) Head Chackra; 13th-15th.
From the top, energy travels downward
(a) Head Chackra; Black month 16th-18th.
(b) Throat Chackra; 19th-21th.
(c) Heart Chackra; 22th-24th.
(d) Navel Chackra; 25th-27th.
(e) Private Chackra; 28th-30th.
All of these days of the month are of the Lunar Calendar. Don't use the Solar (Roman) Calendar because it has no connection with the nature of the outside macrocosm nor that of the inside microcosm of our body. This inner energy, as it passes through our body in an upward direction, is called, in Tibetan Tantrism, the white month and the downward energy flow is called the black month. Actually, each possesses half a month.
It was our great Guru Padmasambhava who taught his Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal this secret oral instruction. I have incorporated it into this writing for the Tantric Diet. These statements will be divided into five sections according to the five chackras.
First, we must understand that it is a mistake to think that only vegetables or fruits contain vitamins. Vitamin B6 and folic acid are supplied in a variety of foods of both vegetable and animal origin. Vitamin B12 is found in foods of animal origin such as organ meats. Liver and kidney are an excellent source of Vitamin B6, folic acid, and Vitamin B12. All of these vitamins are supplied by meat, fish, and poultry in significant amounts.
Our bodies when utilized for the Tantric practice--especially for the Vajra Love which enables one to get Full Enlightenment in this lifetime--need sufficient protein to:
1)Form hormones such as insulin, thyroxin, adrenalin, and to nourish gonads that regulate bodily processes connecting all the five chackras.
2)Form antibodies such as gannaglobulin that fights infections connecting with white Tina of Bodhi (Tibetan Tantric term correspondent to globulin).
3)Make hemoglobin--the blood protein that carries oxygen to and carbon dioxide from the cells of the body connecting with the red Tina or red Bodhi, or Tummo.
4)Supply energy connecting the Tantric breath or deep breath.
Protein is very necessary to the practitioner of Vajra Love, yet proteins are combinations of 18 to 22 small basic units called amino acids. All but eight of them can be manufactured in the body. These eight amino acids must be supplied ready-made in the food we eat which generally comes from foods of animal origin, i.e., meat, fish, poultry, egg, milk, cheese, and ice cream. Those proteins from vegetable or fruit sources, cereal grains and nuts, don't supply as good an assortment of amino acids as do those from animal sources. Hence, a Tantric practitioner who practices Vajra Love very often, but is still a vegetarian is as foolish as those exoteric practitioners who practice in the Pureland School but still have sexual intercourse with their wives.
Usually scientists insist that meat protein is of large quantity and high quality but plant protein is not. Vegetarians are forbidden to eat meat but meat-eaters are not forbidden to eat vegetables or fruits. From the philosophic point of view, vegetarianism falls into a one-sided view, but a carnivorous diet is of non-dualism. The following Tantric diets therefore contain both vegetables and meat. Among vegetables some special herbs are also included. Readers, if you are really Tantric practitioners and possessing all the above-mentioned realizations and wishing to purchase these herbs, please bring this booklet to the Chinese Medicine Shop. They can supply you according to the herb's name as I have specially quoted herein.
1. Tantric Diet of the Private Chackra
A. Diet for Nourishment or Tonic
(1)Use Polygonum multiflorum (何首烏) and carrot (紅蘿蔔) cooked with Cyprinus carpio (鯉魚) to make soup.
If you are not a very accomplished yogi like Tilopa, you should not eat the fish alive. You have to get it in a Chinese fish shop where the dead ones have not been there a long time but the meat is still fresh. This kind of fish contains Asparaginic Acid which on the one hand can purify the fever of the testicles and on the other hand can purify much fat and protein which can increase the power of sex. As the Polygonum multiflorum, whose form is like a penis, the color of which is black and in Chinese medicine philosophy black is a color of food to benefit the testicles and kidneys. The form of the carrot is like the penis of a wolfhound, its color is red which is like blood. First, second, and third days of the lunar month are of this chackra--one should take this soup but not its dregs in your dinner. The sexual intercourse time should be after 1:00 a.m. but not before.
When one drinks this soup, one should think like this: "Oh, fish, you are already dead. I have prayed for your good rebirth. Though many of your kind have died in vain, because they did not have a chance to meet me, to pray for them, you are very fortunate to unite with me, to pray with me, to sleep with me, and to join me in my sexual intercourse. You will also be a Buddha whenever I reach Full Enlightenment." One should have the Pride of Buddhahood because one has already practiced for a long time when one has gotten realization of the first initiation, as I have already mentioned above, to use this great Tantric Diet, one should have possessed such a precondition.
If the practitioner does hasten accomplishment in Samatha and is able to control his own mind without falling into drunkenness, he may also drink the juice of Polygonum multiflorum in which some spirit has been added. There is also spirit of the same medicine which is stronger than its juice. If it is easy for him to discharge, he should not drink either.
The same diet applies for a female practitioner. The medicine should be changed with Lycium chinense ( ) which is in a form and color both like the girl's labium. Those other two things are similar. She must possess the same qualification as the male.
(2)Use Stichopus japonicus (or Sea Cucumber) (海參) to cook with Cistanche salsa (肉從容)
Their form and color are both like the penis and black. The former has a special function to purify the cholesterol which is a grand enemy to the carnivores. Too much consumption of the Stichopus japonicus, according to my experience, may also cause thirst. Hence, you have to add a little quantity of panas ginseng which has a function to increase your saliva. Some fake sea cucumbers are made with the skin of a pig. You have to buy Stichopus japonicus whose thorns on its whole body cannot be faked. (Nowadays those adult shops make some plastic penises with thorns like it; but it is not for eating.) The latter, Cistanche salsa, has a special function to reduce hypertension. Usually those medicines which stimulate sexual intercourse may cause, on the other hand, hypertension. But Cistanche salsa possess these two opposite functions. Hence, this Diet has been emphasized by Chinese Doctors for a thousand years.
For female practitioners, use the dried oyster (蠔士). After shells were cut, on its every part, it is just similar to the vagina. Its Labia Majora, nympha, inside clitoris, outside mound of vulva and even pubes are entirely the same as the lady's private organ. It contains ten kinds of necessary amino acids 1.3%; taurine 1.3%, Vitamins A, B, B2, D, F, and Iodine 11.53 ppm; Sphingolipid which contains grape sugar 22%; Hexosamine 7.26%; Methylpentose 10.45%--a rich nourishing sea food. That is why all the Cantonese Restaurants use the oil made of it.
The herb to accompany this sea food in cooking is Rehmannia glutinosa (地黃). It is also a root in the form of a vagina and black in color. It also possesses two opposite functions. On the one hand, it stimulates the power of sex positively; on the other hand it lowers the hypertension.
Ladies should reflect on themselves as to whether or not they are qualified to use this diet. Such a woman must have accomplished her practice of deep breathing to the extent that her period has stopped and never comes back. She must be quite able to keep her ovum without discharge. Then, and only then, can she take this dish without being stimulated by it.
B. Diet for Healing Diseases of this Chackra
(1)Impotence: Usually a Tantric Practitioner who is advanced in deep breathing practice would have no impotence. But for those who are starting to practice Tantric deep breathing, or if they are elderly, they may use these diets.
a)Cook the seeds of Allium tuberosum ( 韭菜子 ) in a thickening juice and drink it.
b)Use Eucommia ulmoides ( 杜仲 ) to cook with pork kidneys.
c)Beef testicles cooked with carrot.
d)Use the lamb testicles to cook with milk.
(2)Diabetes Mellitus
Cook pork pancreas with beard of maize.
(3)Leukorrhea
Use spinal cord of bull to cook with the following herbs:
a)Codonopsis pilosula ( 黨參 )
b)Astragalus membranaceus ( 黃廿氏 )
c)Lycium chinense ( 枸杞 )
d)Dioscorea opposita ( 淮山 )
It was because she lacked the essence herself that she got such a disease. If she takes this kind of soup very often, it can be cured.
2. Tantric Diet of the Navel Chackra
A. Diet for Nourishment or Tonic
(1) Use yellow beef stomach from a Chinese or a Muslin meat shop, but not from an American one because the American one washes the stomach and the spleen too much, and all the best things to digest have been washed away. Through washing, the yellow color becomes very white. It is not as though it were for marriage which needs beauty, but Americans always lose some of the best things only for good looks or cleanliness. It is foolish. Yellow is the color of this chackra which also helps the digestion or appetite; cook it with the medicine Atractylodes macrocephala ( ) which is in the form of a stomach even after being cut into pieces and yellow in color. This medicine contains Atracylol, Atractylon, and a large percentage of Vitamin A1. Its positive attribute is to help the appetite become stronger and it purifies the Glucohemia and sends down the Hypertension.
(2) Use the Euryale ferox ( ) to steam with eggs. The former is round in form, very much like the things which adhere to Atractylodes macrocephala, just as the spleen adheres to the stomach. Its color is brown and very close to yellow. It helps the digestion and purifies the Rheumatism.
B. Diet for Healing Some Diseases of this Chackra
Generally all those Tantric practitioners whose qualifications of Tummo is strong and whose deep breathing is kept for two minutes during which time the breathing is stored inside this Chackra, would not have any disease at all. If something happened accidentally it would be purified very easily with the following diets:
(1) Diet to cure gastric ulcer
Use the middle part of the bone of Sepiella japonica or cuttle fish whose medical name is Sepiella maindromi ( ) to cook with cabbage which contains a lot of Vitamin A and C. The form of cabbage with its layers of leaves round and round together can also make the stomach stronger.
(2) Diet to cure constipation
Even a qualified Tantric practitioner sometimes has such a trouble as constipation because of too much contraction of the muscles of the Anus to control the downward energy during practicing the deep breathing. He should use the pig intestine to cook with the skin of pomelo.
When one uses the beef one should think the following: "Ah! You bull or ox or cow or calf are killed by somebody, but not by me. Now your meat is left here. If you had been so unfortunate to meet the cruel Mao Tse Tung who, as we have mentioned before, did like to eat you, it would have been very sad for you. Now he is in hell and you might have had to follow him and might have had to share his punishment, it is very pitiful. Now you are very lucky to meet me. When I practice the fire sacrifice in my Tantric yidam body using the Tummo-like fire, this chackra is like a fire altar inviting the Healing Buddha to accept all the offerings, including your meat, and then you can share this great merit. Other times I invite Kurukula or the Great Pleasure Vajra, Samvara, to accept it in my Navel Chackra, then you share that merit, too. Even after you become excretions, you will still be useful to benefit all the ghosts through my following incantations, and you will get the merits thereof.
a)Blessing urine into nectar and benefiting the ghosts.
Repeat the following incantation:
OM. AH. MU. JRA. AH. HO. RI. BA. SO. HO.
b)Blessing Stool into nectar and benefiting the ghosts.
Repeat the following incantation:
OM. AH. BE. JRA. AH. HO. RI. BA. SO. HO.
3. Diet of the Heart Chackra
A. Diet for Nourishment
(1) Use the pig heart to cook with Angelica sinensis ( 當歸 ) whose form is just like the heart, even after dried and cut into a whole piece, its form and its walls of four rooms are still like the atriums and ventricles of the heart. The color of its juice is just like the blood. It contains Ligustilide, Chidilide, Isochidilide, Butyl, Phthalide, Sedanolide, and Butyl Alcohol. Through many times of experimentation with rats and frogs by Japanese and German doctors, it has been proven that it can normalize the circulation, increase blood, and control the blood pressure. All these good functions may be utilized by both sexes.
One who uses this diet should think thus: "Ah! You may have been killed by somebody but not by me. Your heart is now with my heart. We both may be sweethearts to each other. The heart of a cruel person is said to be black, while a good practitioner's heart is white. In Tibet, all Lamas know of a dog with black hair on its entire body, but close to its heart, on its breast, there is a heart-size patch of hair which is white. They called it "deity-dog", i.e., an incarnation of a deity. It is recorded through writings of the Chan School that when the second Patriarch's head was cut off by the Tyrant, his blood emitted up to the sky and was white in color, not red. It was to show that he was holy and without sin.
My Guru Lola Rinpoche's heart was intact after all of his body burned up, including his bones. I personally saw it when I worked at his Pagoda. I surely knew his great compassion and Bodhicitta toward all sentient beings--especially his disciples including myself. It was very deep and great. That was the reason why no fire--not even a kalpa's fire could burn his heart.
How nice is your heart that is with me yet!
When I practice Bodhicitta of will,
you share my good wishes.
When I practice Bodhicitta of Conduct,
you work with me.
When I practice Bodhicitta of Significance,
you share the Sunyata.
When I practice Bodhicitta of Samadhi,
you join into the visualization.
When I practice Bodhicitta of Kunda,
you share my four pleasures and four emptinesses.
"Citta" means heart and "diet" means a way of thinking. Men or women, physically are made up of what they eat. But psychically, they are made up of what they are thinking. In ancient Greece, the meaning of diet did contain both meanings. For Buddhism, philosophically we emphasize the latter meaning.
B. Diet for Reducing Hypertension
The ratio of figures used in measurement of Hypertension in common persons who are not Tantric practitioners, are usually of tow kinds. One is for youth, 120 over 80; and for the aged, 140 over 90. But for a Tantric practitioner who practices daily deep breathing, a little over 140 is not really hypertension and such a practitioner might know some exercise to relax the heart chackra so that he may protect himself. Here I just mention some different foods which have the function to reduce hypertension.
(1) Porphyra tenera ( 紫菜 )
(2) Rhopilema esculenta ( 海蜇 )
(3) Crataegus pinnatifida ( 山楂 )
(4) Zostera marina ( 海帶 )
(5) Lycopersicon esculentum ( 番茄 )
(6) Apium graveolens ( 芹菜 )
and many kinds of fruits can help reduce hypertension.
4. Diet of the Throat Chackra
A. Diet for Nourishment of the Lungs
Even though this Chackra is named the Throat Chackra, it actually connects with the Lungs. Use Pig's lungs to cook with Astragalus chrysopterus ( ) whose fruit is like a wing of the lungs and its stem has some carved veins upward which shows how the energy is going through the whole body of the plant. It is like our human energy circulating through our entire body. Hence, a practitioner of Tantra who practices daily deep breathing can make his energy strong to pass through the whole body very conveniently. In the meantime, this helps the circulation of respiration so that the chackras may be opened easily.
When a Tantric practitioner is qualified to take this diet, he might think like this: "Ah! Pig and plant--you are both killed by somebody, but not by me. If you were taken by a tyrant like Mao Tse Tung who eats the people with his inspiration and kills the people with his expiration, you are now with him in hell and accept the cruel punishment with him. But now, you are fortunate to be with me. When I inhale, I take in all sentient beings' sins, when I exhale, I send all my merits to every sentient being. You share all my merits. When I give a talk to any person or a party or a group I talk only of love, compassion, wisdom, and goodness, but not like Mao who taught everybody with doubt, hate, struggle, war, and every kind of sin and evil. When I sing, I sing only religious stanzas, anthems, songs, praising psalms and hymns in a sweet tune but not like the march of an executioner in an angry voice as the mobs of Maoism do. So you will always be happy with me."
5. Diet of the Head Chackra
A. Diet of Tonic for the Head Chackra
(1) Use Pig's brain to cook with Gastrodia elata ( ), the dried root of which has a form extremely like the brain. After being cut into pieces, it is transparent and white. Also, use walnut whose inside and outside both look like the head and the brain. The latter is not only a good fruit for the head, but it can also purify Glucohemia.
(2) Use the so-called "Big Head Fish" whose real scientific name is Aristichthys nobiles, whose head occupies one-third of its whole body. Especially when there is a full moon, the energy rises to its head and the head essence becomes much more in quantity, and much more nutritious in quality. Cook it with the fruit named dragon eye ( ) or Euphoria longan which helps you get sound sleep and makes the head really rest itself.
When one takes this diet one must think thus: "You have been killed by somebody but not me. Your head essence is now with my consciousness which is my life, my soul, and my thought. Whether I live or die, it is always with me. Should I transmigrate in Samsara or transform into Buddhahood, my consciousness is the master. You are also with me. When I develop my central thought of right view, you share it. When I develop my great compassion for every sentient being you are with me in the Samadhi. At last when I get the Full Enlightenment, you also share it. You will never fall again as an animal through Mao's thought which is red and bloody, leading you to hell. Your should be very glad to meet me!"
"Ah! Fish! For you I fell more shameful as my Guru Tilopa could vomit out the fish he ate and let them go back to the Ganges River alive. I cannot do this, but I will continue to practice the Samadhi with your help until I can save you!"
B. Diet to Heal Diseases of Head Chackra
(1) Insomnia
Use Dragon Eye ( 龍眼 ) to cook with lotus seeds and egg. Drink it, and use hot water to wash your feet before you sleep. Use black sesame seeds and walnuts to cook with pig brain.
The above mentioned Tantric diets for the five chackras are only examples. There are so many of them that they cannot be fully introduced even by writing a large volume. I have to stop here.
In Tantra of the lower three yogas, they are also like Mahayana in taking only vegetables and fruits. It is my sincere hope that those who are Tantric practitioners but have no real qualifications should be vegetarians.
How criminal it is for flesh to be stored away in another flesh--for one greedy body to grow fat with food gained from another--for one creature to go on living through the destruction of another living creature. If you are not really an accomplished yidam, then you should not pretend to say you can save it. You should not promise that you may be a Buddha with it.
A poem from Ovid Metamorphoses is worthy to introduce to my readers:
Take not away the life you cannot give,
For all things have equal right to live.
Kill noxious creatures where 'tis sin to save:
This only just prerogative we have.
But nourish life with vegetable food.
And shun the sacrilegious taste of blood.
Conclusion
When one was born, he drew in common air which fell upon the earth. His first diet was only fresh air. That was why every house had big windows to let much of the fresh air in as a fundamental diet.
But, nowadays, since there happens to be some so-called "air-conditioned" buildings, the modern big buildings have forgotten about windows. In big buildings, I have seen at Arizona University, the classrooms have no windows. All they have are a few small vents where "canned" air passes through channels or ducts. It is not like the wind which by nature, directly flows into our rooms. Just as our foods are fresh when raw, but not fresh stored in a can. When one is in his car, he tends to not open the window but instead let a few bits of air pass through small channels. This is why one easily gets tired even though one only sits inside and does not drive. When one goes to the sea shore or a big forest where there is the great and excellent canopy of fresh air, it makes him feel very comfortable, quiet, and refined, as if he has taken some anti-spasmodies. Hence, fresh air in a large quantity is much better than a small quantity. The air that naturally comes into our rooms through open windows is much better than the air that comes through those man-made air conditioners with small vents of metal or rubber channels, or ducts.
Nowadays, hospitals, offices, shops, and even those modern hotel buildings in the mountains use these "air systems" instead of real air. It would appear that the more the Westerners are educated, the more stupid they become!
When one lives in closed, ill-ventilated rooms without open windows where the fresh air is dead and vitiated, it weakens the entire system. No Diet can cure it. It is close confinement indoors that makes many men and women pale and feeble. No diet can cure it. They breath the same air over and over, until it becomes laden with poisonous matter thrown off through the lungs and pores. All impurities are thus conveyed back to the blood, and no diet can cure it immediately.
See! The long life of the tortoise who is very slow to act and move and has a meek temper, never fights with any other animals or among themselves like those communists who struggle even with each other. They deserve a long life even more than a thousand years. They just subsist on a diet of fresh air only.
See again the crane who flies very high and gets fresh air very widely. Its longevity is said to be more than one thousand years. Is it not our good example of the best diet? That is why the Chinese scholars always used the phrase, "Longevity like the tortoise and crane," for praising aged persons. Francis Thompson (1839-1907) has so deeply sighed: "It is better to be a chameleon fed on air than for the multitude to be fed by musty breath."
Furthermore, the best diet of fresh air is not only taken by mouth or breathed in by nose, but also taken by all the pores of the whole body. Hence, all those who wear hats, shirts, coats, gowns, trousers, socks, robes and use bed quilts, carpets, blankets, and shoes should use those made only of leather, pure cotton, wool, silk, hemp, linen or fur. Those man-made plastic materials such as rubber, nylon, and polyester which do not allow fresh air to pass inside the body also block our inner energy from circulating outside the body, and should not be used or mixed with the pure natural materials. Those scientists who know how to make the plastic materials so well never take care of the bad effects which slowly creep up and cause our lives to be shortened.
In the West, we can find many different books on diets and each one emphasizes its own plan of diet. For example, the water diet simply deals with carbohydrates. Low carbohydrate diet work for your weight. They make a chart in which they mention 5,000 foods. Some contain 6 or less grams of carbohydrate. Those are considered very good foods. Others containing 7 to 12 grams of carbohydrates are not so bad, but others containing more than 12 grams of carbohydrate should be avoided.
However, these diets are not for everybody. Some persons may take a little, others may take less. There is not one diet for everybody. Some doctors emphasize the diet of fewer calories to reduce the excess weight; they also have their reasons. Buddhist moderation should be observed in all different diets. One diet may help you for certain period of time, but if you continue it too long, it can make trouble for you later.
Many foolish Buddhist scholars of the west give their criticism of Buddha's ascetic practice of Dhuta on Snow Mountain for six years where he suffered in vain. After which he took a cup of milk, only then did he gain Full Enlightenment. It is a kind of insult to Buddha that these scholars should be so opinionated. Another example was set by Milarepa. Yet, if they did not pass through such a state of asceticism, that milk could not contribute to Full Enlightenment. That is why, if we take milk every day in a large quantity, we will never even get a part of Enlightenment. Buddha Gotama and the Great yogi Milarepa both liked the highest Himalayan Mountains. They were living not only by herbs but also by the fresh air. Their caves had their natural mouths open to the vast canopy of fresh air which was shared by a few birds or deer but never spoiled by any scientist or air pollution or by mobs or communists.
Not only Buddhist monks have accomplished their Full Enlightenment with this best diet, but, Taoists also have achieved many deity positions and longevity in this way. Nobody has yet emphasized this best diet that I speak of, this diet of fresh air, which in the course of spiritual practice had been transformed into gnostic light, which in Buddhist terms should be called spiritual food. Hence, at last, but not least, I have to write a few paragraphs on the spiritual food diet:
1. Spiritual food diet of Hinayana:
Renunciation, 30%;
Impermanence, 30%;
Moderation, 30%;
Heedless of food's quality without fear, 10%.
2. Spiritual food diet of Mahayana:
Double Sunyata, 30%;
Three kinds of Bodhicitta, 30%;
Vegetarian, 30%;
Six paramitas practice and three wheels of active Sunyata, 10%.
3. Spiritual food diet of Vajrayana:
Initiations and practices, 30%;
Red Bodhi and White Bodhi Yoga, 30%;
Non-dualism of vegetarianism and carnivorism, 30%;
Characteristic of Nirvana and Salvation, 10%.
The Hinayana Diet pays most attention to quantity but stresses upon the practice of renunciation. The Mahayana Diet pays most attention to quality but stresses upon the practice of great compassion. The Vajrayana Diet pays most attention to attitude or manner but stresses upon the practice of realization and function of salvation. Hence a Vajrayana practitioner's qualification is very rare and difficult to find in our age. Those who pretend to be such are only evil persons. I have to write a little more about the attitudes of the Vajrayana Diet.
After he utters OM to bless the food, he eats with Dharmakaya in his Samadhi of Mahamudra. He utters AH with Sambogakayas and many Dakinis, and HUM with countless Nirmanakaya incarnations, Gods, and Dragons, and the eight parties of protectors. Under his dining table are dogs and cats with their ghosts. If he is not rid of all his karmic sins, his creditors, enemy spirits, yama's delegates, plague demons, and many kinds of ghosts come all around him to wait for a chance to kill or trouble him with just whatever he is eating at that moment. Many poison bacteria are not only in the meats, fish, but also in vegetables, fruits, and some special ones are sent from the disease bag of Palden Lhamo (a female wrathful protector, sister of Mahakala). Hence, a carnivore has more chances to get a disease than a vegetarian.
A special great power ghost is there. He can cause you to quarrel with your family, or partnership. Your Samadhi is finished and your appetite is reduced. Every kind of sickness, such as hypertension, heart attack, headache, toothache, toxemia, rheumatism, thrombosis, angina pectoris, cancer, scurvy, and anemia may come to you soon. Those who have a narrow mind, selfishness or are pessimistic who always have fear of sickness and doubts about the wholesomeness of foods, will surely have a short life and a better chance to get sick from food. An optimist feels every food is sweet, but pessimists even eat honey and feel it is too bitter. These are all about the attitude.
Diet troubles arising from the quantity or quality of food are much less than that from the mental attitude.
One whose renunciation is not thoroughly practiced, whose attachment to food is much more, whose Sunyata is not exactly practiced with No-egoism, whose lustful mind is accumulated with selfishness, should not be carnivorous at all. He must be aware that those who have died of hunger are very few while those who have died due to over-eating are much more. Those of vegetarian living live longer than those carnivores. Many dishes make many diseases. One animal you eat now, one enemy you will meet very soon.
The Tummo and deep breathing are practiced in Vajrayana. These make you have a strong appetite. The Tantric practitioner should practice them day and night. He must lie down in bed with a strong appetite and next morning he also rises with it. As to the multitude--some have meat but cannot eat, some can eat but have no meat. The Vajra practitioner, if protected by Buddha and God and all the protectors, might have both. That is why the qualification of Tantric Dieter should be well exemplified by oneself. Don't cheat yourself. Yama does not take your lie but your life.
To enlarge your room of appetite, you should open your wide Bodhicitta and great compassion and forbid yourself to be selfish and narrow minded. You will then have a long life.
What I have dealt with here is the physical food diet for the flesh body. Among these three spiritual food diets the first one is for a meditative body of Arhat. The second one is for the Bodhisattva body of partial wisdom. The final one is for the Buddha body of Full Enlightenment. May all my wise readers be able to practice all these diets and get the best body they deserve.
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