“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” (31). The four kinds of nutriments are edible food, sense impressions, intention, and consciousness. These nutriments can either affect our lives in a positive way resulting in happiness or in a negative way resulting in suffering. It’s your choice whether you want to enhance good nutriments or not. Buddhist principles can be applied to all of these nutriments to help enhance the positive aspects of each nutriment and depress the negative aspects. Enhancing the good nutriments allow suffering to be minimized in order to live a life full of happiness.
The
first nutriment is edible food. What we
chose to feed our body can either cause us happiness or suffering both mentally
and physically. We only get one body, and if we want to experience happiness, we
need to take care of our body and respect it. “We need to practice Right View
when we shop, cook, and eat” (31). For
college students this can be especially difficult because with busy schedules
it can be challenging to eat healthy on the go or later in the day when the
dining hall is closed. I’ll admit that when I came to college it was hard
trying to eat healthy when there were so many unhealthy options all around
myself, like vending machines and the dining hall food. However, I knew I had
to make a decision and enhance the first nutriment in a positive way. I knew
that if I fell into the lifestyle of a “typical college student” I had
consequences to face that were dangerous to my health, like the freshman
fifteen. I overcame the challenge and have found ways to make the options in
the dining hall healthy. “Much of our suffering comes from not eating mindfully”
(32). I make sure to grab a piece of fruit when I am on the go instead of being
drawn to a candy bar in the vending machine. I was able to minimize my
suffering by learning ways to eat that preserve the health and well-being of my
body and spirit. By practicing one of
Buddha’s Right practices, Right View, I am able to enhance good nutriments like
edible food. Also, by following Right
Action of the Noble Eightfold Path, I can lead myself from temptations and make
good and healthy choices. Eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle makes
me feel better and have more energy throughout the day leading to overall
happiness.
The
second nutriment is sense impressions, which is impacted by all of our senses
such as sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste, and thoughts. Our senses are
always in constant contact with sense objects everywhere we go and the input
our senses receive becomes food for a person’s consciousness. “Advertisements
that stimulate our craving for possessions, sex, and food can be toxic” (33).
Television, newspapers, magazines, and advertisements all provide food for
people’s consciousness. Many people such as myself are exposed to these types
of media and can it affect us. We all see these perfect models and actresses on
television or in magazines and our mind perceives these images as “ideal” and start
to believe that this is perfection and then we all want to look like that
person on the cover of the magazine. I was one to do the same thing many other
people probably did. I would compare myself to actresses or models in
magazines. I thought skinny was better and my mind was consumed with that idea.
I later came to realize that nobody is that perfect in magazines. These
pictures gave people the mindset of living up to unrealistic and unhealthy
expectations. The people are either anorexic or extremely edited in the picture
to seem perfect. Once I realized this and that being fit was better than being
skinny, I was able to relieve some suffering and make room for more happiness. “If
we are mindful, we will know whether we are “ingesting” the toxins of fear,
hatred, and violence, or eating foods that encourage understanding, compassion,
and the determination to help others” (33). We will know what to avoid and what
to be in contact with. In order to enhance this nutriment and to minimize
suffering is to follow Right Mindfulness. I need to be alert and mindful when
ingesting sense impressions and making
sure I do not let these impressions affect me in a negative way. 
The third nutriment is intention, will, or volition. This is the desire in all of us to obtain
whatever it is that we want. Everyone has a desire to obtain what they want and
it is intention that directs them towards their goals in life. Volition is the
ground of every action we make in our lives. “Our life is motivated solely by
the desire for revenge, and everything we say, everything we plan, is to punish
that person” (34). We believe that revenge is the solution to suffering and to
experiencing happiness when in reality it just causes more pain, anger, and
suffering. Revenge, possessions wealth, and fame can act as obstacles interfering
with our happiness. We all want to be the best and compete against others to be
better than that other person. I can admit that I sometimes will get
competitive with other people. It’s like I have to prove that I am better than
them, which can lead to suffering because I am always worrying about beating
someone else, whether it be in a sport, school, or even or games. By trying to
enhance this nutriment, I started having the mindset that the only person I
should try to compete with or be better than is myself. That way I can only
achieve greater things and no one gets hurt, which also reduces suffering for me
and others. Right Concentration leads to Right Action which are two Buddhist
principles that can help reduce suffering and maximize happiness for the third
nutriment. By focusing on myself with good intentions and not trying to seek
revenge on others, it can lead to making good actions in my life to minimize
suffering.
The last 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” (36). All of our thoughts, words, and actions help create
our body, mind, and world. My consciousness is heavily influenced by my family
and friends, who are a very important aspect in my life. I make sure to
surround myself with other people who are also positive to avoid my mind and
consciousness be consumed by negative thoughts leading to more suffering and
less happiness. Any negative parts in my consciousness I try to replace with positive
thoughts and actions because if I do not my consciousness may lead me to more
suffering. “We suffer, and our suffering spills out to those around us” (37).
By talking to my friends and my mom on a regular basis I can speak openly about
my problems in my life and I can determine the reasons of my suffering in order
to eliminate those aspects from my life. By practicing the First Noble Truth,
recognizing suffering as suffering allows me to enhance the last nutriment
in a positive way. “When we are able to identify our suffering and see its
causes, we will have more peace and joy, and we are already on the path to
liberation” (38).
In
conclusion, by living a life of trying to always enhance the four nutriments,
we can allow ourselves to maximize our happiness and decrease the amount of suffering
in our lives. The Buddhist principles, The Noble Eightfold Path and The Four
Noble Truths, have helped me in enhancing good nutriments in my life.
References:
Hanh, Thich Nhat. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching.
New York: Broadway, 1999. Print.
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