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The Way Out Is In

Mindful Consumption (Episode #29)

The Way Out Is In

Plum Village

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Self-improvement, Buddhism, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

0.00 Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2022

⏱️ 78 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to episode 29 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives.  In this episode, the presenters, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and journalist Jo Confino, discuss the Four Nutriments – edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness – and share their own experiences and understanding of this core Buddhist teaching. By further delving into each Nutriment, the two find Buddhist insights and practical ways to explore and shift how we can consume mindfully.  Brother Phap Huu shares his thoughts about practicing moderation and gratitude for our meals (plus, the benefits of chewing each bite a full 30 times); nourishing our consumption when we eat; being mindful in an addictive society and recognising the energies in us; volition as a source of energy; wholesome individual and collective consciousness (and habits); mental formations; lazy days; and: what is enough?  Jo considers food politics and ethics; addiction and suffering; shifts in the mindfulness of eating; the impact of big cities on our consumption; the possible dangers of volition (with a story from the 70s television drama Colditz); collective ‘rivers’ of consciousness; and forgiveness. The episode ends with a short meditation guided by Brother Phap Huu. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/  With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resourcesPlum Village Communityhttps://plumvillage.org/#filter=.region-eu  Sutras: ‘Discourse on the Four Kinds of Nutriments’https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-four-kinds-of-nutriments/  Dharma Talks: ‘The Four Kinds of Nutriments Mindful Cooking Retreat’https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-four-kinds-of-nutriments-sister-tue-nghiem-2019-06-06-mindful-cooking-retreat/ Dharma Talks: ‘Nutriments for Healing’https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/nutriments-for-healing/  Hungry Children Programhttps://donation.plumvillage.org/hungry-children-program/  ‘51 Mental Formations’ https://plumvillage.org/transcriptions/51-mental-formation/ Colditzhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_(1972_TV_series) Sister Chan Duchttps://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-chan-duc/  Quotes “The bread in your hand is the body of the cosmos.” “Don’t eat your thoughts. Don’t eat your project. Eat your food.”  “Whatever we consume, it becomes our energy.”  “When we are lining up for the food, we are practicing moderation. We eat just what is enough. And this is really crucial, because it helps us not take more than what we need from the Earth.”“I think people have a sort of a reverence for the taste of food, but not for the food itself.”“’If you take a single piece of carrot, and before you put it in your mouth, just look deeply at that piece of carrot and you can see that the entire universe is in that piece of carrot.’ He [Thay] was saying that for the carrot to grow, it needs the air, it needs the water, it needs the soil, and it needs the sun. And for the sun to exist, the whole universe has to exist. And then, from a human perspective, it needs the farmer and the person picking the crop, and then delivering it to the shop, and then the shopkeeper to sell it to you. So in just one carrot, if you really stop and look, you would develop a reverence for that carrot because you see that all of life was needed for it to exist.” “We have to speak about very practical things so that we can have a journey, a practice, so that we can become aware of our habits. We have personal habits, and we even have collective habits, as a

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello dear listeners and welcome to the latest episode of the podcast The Way Out is In. I am Joe Comfino working at the intersection of personal transformation and systems change

0:27.0

and I am Brother Fabhoo, a Zen Buddhist monk in the tradition of Zen Master Tichenhann in the Plum Village community in France.

0:35.8

And today brother we're going to be looking at one of the core teachings of the Buddha

0:40.5

which are known as the four nutrients which are edible foods,

0:44.0

sense impressions, volition and consciousness.

0:48.0

Now, I'm not sure if I know what all this means.

0:50.0

I know about edible foods,

0:52.0

but listen, dear listeners, and hopefully we will, by the end of this, have a clue what's going on. The way out of Kestin. Welcome dear listeners. I am Joe Confino. And I am Brother Fabhoo.

1:21.6

And today Brother, we're talking about what's called the four nutrients, edible foods, sense impressions,

1:28.1

volition and consciousness.

1:29.8

Now, I am sort of feeling like, I get a couple couple of these but I'm going to look I'm going to lean on you heavily for

1:36.8

support on this potter's because my sort of basic understanding is that we are in a dynamic relationship with life and often we're not really

1:46.7

conscious of that but actually there are many ways in which we are in relationship so we eat food, we think, we have judgments, we have ambitions and wishes and dreams,

1:59.0

and also we have the sum total of our thoughts and the thoughts of our ancestors and then the thoughts of our community and the world.

2:07.6

And so all those actually in dynamic relationship with each other.

2:11.6

Is that sort of what we're talking about? In a way yes and we will

2:17.0

also be talking about how we take care of our well-being in body and mind and also spirit.

2:25.0

Right, so what's the best way?

2:28.0

Should we go through each one or do you want to talk about the Buddha's teaching as a sort of overall message?

2:32.0

What is he trying to tell us?

2:34.7

So when I was learning how to be more mindful

2:41.0

in my daily life as a monk. This is our bread and butter. Every morning we wake up. We start our day and already when you wake up you begin your day you are training to take care of your mind and take care of your body. So we know that

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