Food for Thought

For some number of years, Thich Naht Hanh has been a kind of hero of mine. His book, The Raft is Not the Shore--composed of transcripts of a series of conversations in the 1974 in Paris between Thich Naht Hanh and Father Daniel Berrigan--is one of the best things I have read about how to be a spiritual person who takes action in the world.

I had looked into going to a retreat with Thich Naht Hanh last year and I was curious if they would be holding any more retreats with him this year, and so I ended up at the Deer Park Monastery's website and I found this letter, which I read tonight. It was from last fall, so it's not exactly new but ...it was new to me. At any rate, the letter talks about what was going on in Burma with the uprising of the monks there, and about global warming.

In the letter, he tells a story attributed to the Buddha, about a couple who sets off across the desert with their young son, and they get lost. Realizing that they will all die if they have no food, they kill their son and eat him bit by bit. He compares our failure to eat mindfully to the situation of this couple, eating their son.

It's a gruesome analogy, but worth some thought. In the letter, he makes the case that eating "vegetarian" (but really meaning "vegan") is one of the best things that we can do to help save the Earth, and he makes a compelling case. It's kind of staggering to realize how many crops are grown just to feed animals. That it takes 25,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat.

I am not a vegetarian. I try to be careful about the kind of meat I eat, but I can't say I always am. I love eggs. The thought of giving up eggs makes me feel...well, suffice it to say I would probably miss eggs and milk more than meat. I don't think I'm ready to give them up--but I'm willing to consider cutting back. In the letter, he talked about abstaining from meat (and eggs, and dairy) for 4 days, or 10 days, or a 15 days a month. I'm not quite ready to make that commitment yet, but it's got me to thinking.

Link:
Thich Naht Hanh October 2007 letter
The Raft is Not the Shore (on Amazon.com)