Eating Yoga

Rinpoche gave this teaching on eating yoga after a trip to town whilst staying in Buddha Amitabha Pure Land:

"So as to give Anet (Ven Anet Engel) a break from cooking all the time for the house, I suggested that we go to town for dinner. Roger wanted to eat at the house, as she makes very nice food. So Roger asked Anet if she minded cooking. Of course if you ask, then the person will say that they are happy to cook. Of course it is possible to say no, but that would be quite rude. So Anet replied to Roger 'that it mainly depends on you'. So from this you can tell that she wants to go out to eat. So we went out. But Roger didn’t realize that we were going to eat out, as I asked him 'do you want to go shopping?' And he replied 'yes'. The reason to go shopping was to buy a vase and wealth for the seat of the Medicine Buddha statue at the house, and along with that to have dinner.

The Breadline Cafe was where I met with the group of students during the last visit. But as it was almost closing time, maybe the waiters would be upset at having to delay going home, so we went to another restaurant called 'Dairy Queen'.

First of all I had an ice cream that was okay for diabetics, and then I was served a veggie burger and french fries. Then it came into the mind to eat the french fries whilst thinking Guru Deity. There were quite a lot of french fries, so with each one, can collect more merit than making offering to all the Buddhas, Dharma, Sangha, statues, stupas, scriptures, and all the holy objects.

I can’t say every one, but most of the french fries were done like that. And not all of the veggie burger, but some. I haven’t had ice cream for a long time so can’t say, maybe hardly done. In fact I can’t remember."

This article is taken from the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).