Lzh Sarv Bu Vb Sk 82Eating With Attention on the Bowl
Pāli / Sanskrit:Pattasaññī
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Pattasaññī Sutta: Eating with the Mind on the Bowl
Background
The Pattasaññī Sutta is found in the Vinaya Piṭaka of early Buddhism, a detailed code of training for bhikkhus and bhikkhunīs. In the context of the early Sangha, eating was not a free act but an active part of the path of practice. The bowl (patta) is the sign of one who has gone forth, bearing deep symbolic meaning concerning the monastic embodiment of renouncing everything.
This sutta reflects regulations connected with the use of the bowl by bhikkhus when eating. Through attentive presence with the bowl and the meal, the Buddha Dharma teaches that every daily action can become an opportunity for practice, an occasion to contemplate the nature of eating and of what we receive from the external world.
Main Content
Saññī means "perception" or "mindfulness," and pattasaññī refers to keeping the mind on the alms bowl. This sutta teaches that when eating from the bowl, a practitioner must:
First, not allow the mind to scatter into external joys and sorrows or useless thoughts. The mind must be clear, knowing that one is eating, that one is receiving. This is the most basic practice of mindfulness (sati), first observing the very action the body is performing.
Second, keeping the mind carefully on the bowl is a way of recollecting that this bowl is not my private possession. It belongs to the common life of the Sangha and has been provided through the trust of laypeople. With each mouthful of rice, the practitioner contemplates the faith of the donor and the debt of gratitude that must be repaid through the conduct of practice.
Third, mindfulness of the bowl is a doorway to observing the nature of suffering (dukkha) and the mechanism by which craving (taṇhā) arises. When eating with a mind of clear acknowledgment, the practitioner recognizes that one eats in order to live and continue practicing, not to nourish ambition or the desire for novel pleasant sensations. Rice is only nourishment, not an object of craving.
Practical Meaning
Pattasaññī is not an intrusive or coercive rule.
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