Lzh Sarv Bu Pm Sk 67Not Eat Selecting Good Parts

Discourse on Not Selecting the Good Parts of Food

Background

This discourse belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Early Buddhist Dharma tradition, where the rules of practice and conduct of the Buddhist Sangha during the time of Buddha Shakyamuni are recorded. The Vinaya Piṭaka is not a collection of dry prohibitions, but a set of profound instructions that help monks and nuns practice and protect their spiritual life.

The rules related to eating and drinking in the Vinaya Piṭaka reflect a basic principle: material requisites are only means to support practice, not the goal. The issue of “not selecting the good parts” arises from a warning against greed and discrimination in the life of practice. These are conditions that create mental notions, craving, and attachment to material things, major obstacles on the path of liberation.

Main Content

This rule reminds monastics that when they receive rice porridge and food offered by the people, they are not permitted to select the good parts and the delicious morsels for themselves. This careful selecting expresses a mind of greed, a nurturing of craving (lobha). It violates the spirit of receiving material things purely, without attachment.

When a bhikkhu selects the best part of a meal, this is not merely the smallest physical action. It is the expression of a consciousness not yet well trained, a mind that still likes and still wants what is better for itself. This is contrary to the principle of the basic Five Precepts and Eight Precepts, as well as the spirit of non-self (anattā) in the Buddha-Dharma.

The discourse teaches that eating and drinking by monks and nuns should be consistent and without discrimination. Whether the rice is tasty or not, whether the food suits the palate or not, the monastic should receive it with an even and grateful mind. Food should be seen only as oil for lighting a lamp, the material basis for maintaining the body for practice, not as an object for satisfying boundless desires.