Lzh Dg Bu Pm Pc 32Eating Successive Meals
Pāli / Sanskrit:Paramparabhojana
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The Paramparabhojana Sutta: Eating Successive Meals
Background
The Vinaya Piṭaka is the collection of moral and disciplinary rules that the Buddha established to govern the community of bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. The Paramparabhojana Sutta (Eating Successive Meals) appears in the Pāṭimokkha of the Bhikkhunī Pācittiya, offenses for which bhikkhunīs must repent if they violate them. This discourse was given to regulate the eating habits of women practitioners, helping them maintain restraint and mindfulness.
The background for the arising of this discourse is related to specific situations in the early community, when bhikkhunīs were not restrained in eating, causing inconvenience and affecting the common spirit of practice. This is especially important because, according to Early Buddhism, controlling the senses in relation to eating is the first step in the cultivation of concentration (samādhi).
Main Content
Paramparabhojana refers to the act of “eating successive meals” or “eating one after another” (paramparabhojana). According to the principle in the Vinaya Piṭaka, after a bhikkhunī has finished a meal from one household, she should not continue to eat food from another household without an appropriate interval between meals. If a bhikkhunī eats at one house, then afterward goes to another house and continues to eat, when it is not a permitted case such as illness or attending events for study and practice, this is regarded as an act lacking restraint.
The reason for this rule is not only material, avoiding the abuse of householders’ generosity, but is also related to the psychology of practice. Eating successively from many places reflects an unfocused mind, lacking composure, and shows the strength of habits of craving (taṇhā). This is a major obstacle to the cultivation of concentration and wisdom.
This discourse reminds us that a true practitioner should eat only enough to maintain health and the energy for practice. If there is an opportunity to receive food from many places, a bhikkhunī should choose with careful consideration and not act under the impulse of greed.
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