Good Nutriments for Nourishment

The Buddha said, “When something has come to be, we have to acknowledge its presence and look deeply into its nature. When we look deeply, we will discover the kinds of nutriments that have helped it come to be and that continue to feed it” (Hanh 31). Nutriments are aspects of our lives that can either be healthy or detrimental to our well-being. Some give us great pleasure, but may harm us and make us suffer. Others may be hard to control, but will ultimately benefit our well-being. The four nutriments Buddha elaborated on were edible food, sense impressions, intention, and consciousness.

The first nutriment is edible food. What we ingest can directly contribute to our mental and physical suffering. Distinguishing between harmful and healthful foods and drinks is a challenge. Who doesn't want a greasy bacon cheeseburger with ketchup while they’re out for dinner or a double chocolate fudge sundae afterwards? The truth is, these toxins that we fill our body with are destroying our heart. The countless beers that we consume while out partying every weekend are eating away at our liver, and the same goes for smoking and our lungs. I’ll be the first one to admit that I cannot have a single healthy food item without dumping on a bunch of ranch dressing or salt to make it taste better. As a matter of fact, I’m diving into a bag of oreos as I’m typing this. I am not a good example of a mindful eater. Buddha argues that when we don’t eat mindfully, we are eating our children’s flesh. When we do harm to our body, we are doing harm to our children’s also. If we eat unhealthy, were setting a bad example for them, and when we stock the pantry with chips and cookies all the time, what do you think little Susie is going to eat after she gets home from school? That’s right, junk! I need to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and cut down on the fats so that when I have children someday, they won’t weigh as much as me by the time they’re 15 years old. “We have to learn ways to eat that preserve the health and well-being of our spirit” (Hanh 32).

 

The second nutriment is sense impressions. This applies to our six sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. These organs are always in contact with sense objects such as the smell of dinner cooking, the sight of a television screen or a cool breeze across your body. “When we pick up a magazine, the articles and advertisements are food for our consciousness. Advertisements that stimulate our craving for possessions, sex, and food can be toxic” (Hanh 33). In this example our eyes are interacting with the advertisements (the sense objects). The negative images that we are seeing are food for our consciousness because humans crave these things and we can’t get enough of them. The more we see of them, the more likely we are to go out and eat that baconator or buy that new Mercedes that we saw on the advertisements. From my own experience, they are difficult to resist because the advertisements make them look appealing. Aside from visual sense objects, on a daily basis I receive bad ideas that college peers suggest and I hear negative words being used during conversation. These corrupt my thinking and my hearing, and worst of all I’m used to it! There are no escaping negative sense objects. What we must do is be mindful of them; we must know whether or not they are harmful to us so we can avoid them.

The third nutriment is intention, the desire to obtain what we want. Every decision or action we make is based on our intentions. Our goals can even impact our decisions. “If we think the way for us to be happy is to become president of a large corporation, everything we do or say will be directed toward realizing that goal” (Hanh 34). One example in my life is the intention of profit. In this day and age everyone is striving to make more money; it essentially puppets our lives. As a broke college student, it’s imperative that I make a few bucks here and there to put gas in the take and keep my stomach filled. Now, if I get too greedy and start making bets or dealing drugs because I am so caught up in making money, I will put myself in a very bad situation. I do not want my every action or word directed towards fattening my wallet. It is a selfish and unhealthy way to live. “We need the insight that position, revenge, wealth, fame, or possessions are, more often than not, obstacles to our happiness” (Hanh 35). Once we are mindful of this, we can deplete the suffering our intentions have caused us.

Finally, the fourth nutriment is consciousness. “Our consciousness is composed of all the seeds sown by our past actions and the past actions of our family and society” (Hanh 36). Our own unique world is created by our consciousness. The first three nutriments contribute to our consciousness along with the projection of our personality. We should not feed it with greed, hatred, ignorance, suspicion and pride. We should instead feed it with love, compassion, joy and equanimity. I cannot think of one day that greed, hatred, ignorance, suspicion or pride hasn't been present. However, it’s not like they overpower all of my other kind emotions. I am trying my hardest to keep them out of my life, but somehow they just keep popping up. Our consciousness is always feeding, so we must choose carefully to ingest the nutriments that are going to benefit us and avoid the ones that don’t.

 

To enhance my good nutriments I can look deeper into the Buddhist meaning of suffering and what causes us to suffer. One of the main causes of suffering is attachment. This doesn't have to be as extreme as addiction, but any connection with a possession, person, or idea that is keeping you from living a healthy life. Someone could have an attachment to a particular type of food. This could be problematic if they go out of their way to buy it or eat it daily. When I first read Part 1 of the book I was surprised when I realized that I could be negatively attached to certain foods like egg nog, cheeseburgers, and gold fish. Gradually I am learning to let go of these cravings, because I now understand that suffering is inevitable as long as I’m attached, especially when the food isn't good for you. I have also realized that I am attached to certain things as sense objects. I enjoy certain visuals on my phone, television or xbox. I like listening to loud music. I also like the feel of a warm comfy bed instead of the cramps and sweat during a workout. When I am attached to these sense objects, it is hard to let go. I can enhance my good nutriments by getting more exercise, not checking my phone every 15 minutes, and turning down the volume of my car stereo. The less I am attached, the more good nutriments I ingest.