During the vacations I’d like to develop a meditation practice while also participating in family meals and traditional celebrations. After some rather theoretical discussions, I’m now trying to understand how these things work in practice so that I can see the truth by myself.
I heard that certain foods, garlic, onions, fermented foods, strong spices, rich meals, etc are said to disturb meditation. Some foods are allowed in the afternoon and others are not. For lay practitioners aiming at deeper samādhi, I’m wondering how these dietary recommendations apply. Are these foods simply conditionally unhelpful during digestion due to temporary bodily or mental effects, or are they thought to genuinely disrupt meditative development in a more serious, long term way? I would appreciate any references to Suttas in this sense. I understand that the Vinaya applies to monastics so I am not sure if lay people would benefit from those rules.
More generally, are these cautions grounded in observable psychological and physiological effects, or do they reflect monastic discipline and traditional sensibilities that do not need to be applied rigidly in lay life?
On a practical note, based on contemporary nutrition: are there any supplements considered supportive of meditation, and others best avoided? And if one happened to eat some fermented foods yesterday (sauerkraut) should one stop meditating for a while, or just note the effects, if any, and carry on?
I’m trying to balance sensible care for conditions with not turning food into an object of anxiety.
Some foods (such as beets, garlic, etc) can have a aphrodisiac effect which isn’t particularly helpful for monastics! And eating excessively (especially meat) can lead to lethargy.
But in general these effects are quite subtle by modern standards. Most lay people are not living secluded enough for these effects to even be noticable compared to the huge effects of e.g. fighting with your relatives about politics over the dinner table or seeing sexualized adverts on the TV or whatever.
So I wouldn’t really worry about it. Guarding what comes out of your mouth and what you consume with your eyes and ears will likely be more impactful for most lay people trying to meditate at home.
This has nothing to do directly with the foods’ relationship to meditation. Nothing is allowed in the afternoon except a limited number of things to keep you from being sick with hunger or because they were considered tonic medicines or medicine outright.
Other food restrictions are for the most part social (e.g no meat from high or low animals) or some historical event (e.g. a monastic taking an entire garden full of garlic when some was offrered).
And other than overeating, or desire related to food, the texts make little connection between food and meditation for either monastics or lay people. You won’t find anything that talks about specific foods being bad for mediation.
It is interesting to think about things like this, however much of what people offer will be anecdotal and not from the texts of early Buddhism. Later traditions added food restrictions that are supposedly related to their effects on meditation.
There is a mention of food in MN114 in a long list of things, but as is typical, it doesn’t talk about specific foods:
“Sir, this is how I understand the detailed meaning of the Buddha’s brief statement. ‘I say that there are two kinds of robes … almsfood … lodging … village … town … city … country … individual: that which you should cultivate, and that which you should not cultivate.’ That’s what the Buddha said, but why did he say it? You should not cultivate the kind of individual who causes unskillful qualities to grow while skillful qualities decline. And you should cultivate the kind of individual who causes unskillful qualities to decline while skillful qualities grow. ‘I say that there are two kinds of individual: those who you should cultivate, and those who you should not cultivate.’ That’s what the Buddha said, and this is why he said it.
But it’s just talking about not seeking out things that will cause more desire in you. Even the commentary doesn’t list off specific foods.
And you could probably argue that the seeking out of food is more logistically problematic for monastics who rely on almsfood so it may not transfer exactly to lay people other than in the deepest sense.
Edit to add:
You might want to check out the CIPS entry on food It reminded me of this:
Hi there, here’s one lay perspective to the question. I’ve been meditating 20+ years, and so far haven’t noticed any adverse effects of certain food types for meditation. However, I do find that meditating with a full stomach is often more a “bumpy ride” than meditating with a resting digestive system. (Regarding the Vinaya, I’ve been experimenting with not eating after solar noon-ish recently, and this has also had a positive effect on my daily evening meditation experience, even though meditative goals were not the reason why I started experimenting with such practice)
When I was younger, I often boosted my meditation experience by drinking green tea right before meditation. Don’t know why this helped, but it did. Apparently, getting a mood boost and heightened alertness from drinking tea is nowadays called "tea drunk”.
During family celebrations, I consider it more polite and kind not to refuse any food specifically prepared and offered to me, and that perspective overrides other matters related to the practice (such as if the time to eat is good or not).
