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March 19, 2016; revised October 19, 2023; March 2, 2024

Āhāra in Buddhism (Buddha Dhamma) refers to “mental food” and not “physical food.”

1. The first part of the Udayavaya Ñāṇa involves the causes for the arising of saṅkhata (and hence, the arising of pañcupādānakkhandha). Out of the five main factors (avijjā, taṇhā, kamma, āhāra, and nibbatti lakkhaṇa), we discussed the nibbatti lakkhaṇa in the previous post of the series.

▪Many posts on the site discuss the first three factors, so we will now discuss the remaining factor, āhāra (food), which is both a cause and a condition for the arising of pañcupādānakkhandha.

▪Note that “kāya” can mean several different things, generally “a collection of entities.” Here, it refers to the mental body (gandhabba) and the physical body (karaja kāya.)

2. When we think of āhāra (food in both Pāli and Sinhala), we automatically think about the food we consume to stay alive. However, it is clear from the previous posts that a physical body is just a shell “controlled” by a gandhabba. There are many other posts on gandhabba in the “Gandhabba (Manomaya Kāya)” section. Here is a summary of some concepts discussed there:

▪The physical body (karaja kāya) is what usually associate with perceiving a “me.” But we have a “manomaya kāya” (or “gandhabba,”)  which is more important.

▪In a way, the physical body is just a shell that we use for about 100 years or so and discard at death; the gandhabba leaves that dead body and waits for a suitable womb to make another physical body, if there is kammic energy left in the human bhava.

▪The foods for the origin (not the maintenance) of the physical body are called kabaḷīkāra āhāra. There are cravings for “sensual pleasures” or kāma rāga. Since such physical bodies arise only in kāma loka, once one loses craving for kabaḷīkāra āhāra, rebirths in kāma loka will be stopped as in the case of an Anāgāmi. [kabaḷīkāra : (1) Things that need to be used for work (things like eating, drinking, etc.). (2) Work done (oil, resin, fertility). Do the job. made solid. kabaḷīkārāhāra : Kavalīkārāhāra [Kavali Kara + Nutrition] The food that needs to be absorbed by the work. kabaḷa : m. n. [Sk. kavala, BSk. kavaḍa] 飯塊，飯球; rice cubes, rice balls.]

▪Other three “mental foods” (phassa āhāra, mano sañcetanā āhāra, and viññāṇa āhāra) can give rise to all births.

3. A given kammaja kāya was created at the cuti-paṭisandhi moment by a powerful previous kamma, and its energy gets depleted with time. For example, if a particular human bhava came into existence with enough kammic energy to support human life for 1000 years, that energy will be slowly spent over 1000 years. In other words, kammaja kāya does not need additional energy, i.e., āhāra.

▪In a way, all three types of mental foods are consumed by the cittaja kāya. And some of the energy from the kammaja and cittaja kāya are converted to suddhaṭṭhaka (matter), and that is what makes the fine body (utuja kāya) of the gandhabba, which is too fine for us to see.

▪As I mentioned in the previous post in this section, “Nibbatti Lakkhana in Udayavaya Ñāṇa,” the critical component that is under OUR CONTROL is the cittaja kāya. We can overcome our “loosely preset destiny” embedded in the kammaja kāya by cultivating our cittaja kāya, or basically our thoughts and thereby our behavior (gati). This is what makes it possible to attain Nibbāna!

4. Let us first discuss the kabaḷīkāra āhāra. There are two relevant meanings for this name. The first meaning is associated with what this type of āhāra does: to energize the physical body. Here “kabaḷīkāra” comes from “kayata bala dena” in Pāli or Sinhala where “kāya” is body, “bala” is energy or power, and “dena” means provide.

▪Therefore, kabaḷīkāra āhāra here means the food we eat to make our bodies grow and keep energized. Without food, a physical body that starts in the womb of the mother cannot grow to a baby and then, once it comes out cannot grow into be an adult. Without kabaliṅkāra āhāra that particular saṅkhata cannot survive, and thus is an essential factor contributing to part of the pañcupādānakkhandha.

▪This kind of kabaḷīkāra āhāra is essential for the survival of humans and animals (and also devas). Devas consume just one kind of kabaḷīkāra āhāra called “amurtha”; it is a drink that they consume, which leaves no residuals. Thus, they don’t need to worry about sweating, urinating, or defecating.

▪Thus kabaḷīkāra āhāra are needed only in kāma loka. As we will see below, when one loses craving for kabaḷīkāra āhāra, one will never be born again in the kāma loka, i.e., one becomes an Anāgāmī.

▪There are no solid bodies (karaja kāya) in either rūpa loka or arūpa loka. In rūpa loka there is only the “thrija kāya” or the three mental bodies of kammaja kāya, cittaja kāya, and utuja kāya. Thus in the rūpa loka beings are essentially gandhabbas but that term is normally reserved for humans and animals when they are in the para loka waiting for a womb; see, “Hidden World of the Gandhabba: Netherworld (Paraloka).”

▪In the arūpa loka, there is no utuja kāya either. Except for the hadaya vatthu, there is no rūpa associated with an arūpa brahma.

▪It is not essential to know all these details, but these details are needed to complete the “big picture”, especially for those who are interested in finer details.

5. The second meaning of kabaḷīkāra āhāra has a deeper meaning; here it is a CAUSE for the arising of FUTURE saṅkhata. Craving kabaḷīkāra āhāra means one is hoping for rebirth in the kāma loka to enjoy them; see, “How Perceived Pleasures (Assāda) lead to Dukkha.”

▪Thus, the stronger the craving is, harder it is to “escape from the kāma lokas.”

▪This is a good example of how (abhi)saṅkhāra or strong cravings/hopes/desires lead to corresponding bhava and thus corresponding births (jāti).

▪In Paṭicca Samuppāda, “avijjā paccayā saṅkhāra” is followed by “saṅkhāra paccayā viññāṇa,” and leads to “upādāna paccayā bhava” and “bhava paccayā jāti.” Thus generating (abhi)saṅkhāra for kabaḷīkāra āhāra leads to rebirths in the kāma loka, but most times in unexpected ways, as we discuss below.

6. One NEEDS to consume kabaḷīkāra āhāra to provide one’s body with the nutrients it needs to live a healthy life. However, if one craves tasty foods in excess, kabaḷīkāra āhāra can become a CAUSE to for the arising (udaya) of future births in the kāma loka.

▪This is why it is NOT the actual consumption of tasty foods that contributes to making “kāma bhava.” It is the excess greed for tasty foods (kāma assāda); see the section on , “Assāda, Ādīnava, Nissaraṇa – Introduction.”

▪This second type of “pada nirutti” or the “origin of the phrase” kabaḷīkāra āhāra comes from “kāya bali karana” which means “leading to the distorted body.” Here the word “bali” or “distort” applies because the body that one acquires in a future life due to such greedy saṅkhāra could be much different than expected. This is the deeper meaning of kabaḷīkāra āhāra in the udayavaya ñāṇa.

7. Such excessive greed for food matches the “gati” of pretha beings. Thus when one cultivates such greedy (abhi)saṅkhāra, it leads to corresponding “pretha bhava” and thus “pretha jathi” in the future.

▪When encountering delicious food, some people lose any sense of decency. The greediness shows, and when eating such a meal some display “animal-like” behavior, spilling food and getting the food all over their face. That is a display of “greedy animal-like” saṅkhāra. When they cultivate such saṅkhāra, the corresponding birth could be that of a pig.

▪And then some do not like to share such food and like to keep others away from enjoying such meals. That could cultivate saṅkhāra of a “vicious dog.” We see such dogs all the time; they growl when another dog comes even close to their food.

8. Once one gets the basic idea, it is easy to see various kinds of pretha and animal saṅkhāra can be cultivated even without realizing it and can lead to future births corresponding to such “gati.”

▪And the cultivation of such extreme gati is a consequence of not knowing or not comprehending Buddha Dhamma, specifically Paṭicca Samuppāda (“pati ichcha” leading to “sama uppada”); see, “Paṭicca Samuppāda – “Pati+ichcha”+”Sama+uppāda.”

▪And such saṅkhāra CANNOT be suppressed by sheer willpower alone. One needs to learn Dhamma and realize that they DO LEAD to bad consequences. Again, see the section on “Assāda, Ādīnava, Nissaraṇa – Introduction.”

9. There are “good births” in the kāma loka too: the human realms and the deva realm. Bhava (and birth) in those realms also are according to one’s (abhi)saṅkhāra, which of course are generated according to one’s dominant gati.

▪Those who cultivate the human and deva saṅkhāra like to enjoy sense pleasures, but they are not excessively greedy. They don’t have the mentality of “may all good things come to me, AND not to others.” They are content with what they get and willingly share the excess with others.

▪One is not released from the kāma loka until one’s cravings for sense pleasures completely go away when one comprehends not only the futility of such sense pleasures but also the possible dangers.

10. At an even deeper level, the tendency to generate such extreme greed goes away AUTOMATICALLY when one starts comprehending the “anicca nature.” It is not possible to achieve and maintain pleasurable worldly things (including food or beautiful bodies that result from eating such foods) as one desires.

▪And this change in the mindset and the change in corresponding personal behavior may not reverse in a short time. But as one learns Dhamma, one will be able to see the change over time: Sometimes in a few weeks or even several months.

▪The Buddha compared this “gradual transition” to the growth of a tree or a plant. One cannot see the change in the growth of a plant day by day; there is no point in checking it every day to see whether one can see the growth. But if one takes care of the plant by providing it with nutrients and keeping the weeds away, one will be able to see the growth over a few weeks or months. And then, one day, we can reap the benefits of all that work when the plant blossoms and provides the flowers/fruits.

11. Therefore, the key is to LEARN Dhamma and also to comprehend it by contemplating it, which is MEDITATION. But it is critical to learn the correct Dhamma.

▪A good example of the wrong way to meditate is what many people are doing with the paṭikūla manasikāra bhāvanā. Many translate “patikūla” as “pilikul” in Sinhala, which means “to be rejected because it is repulsive.” They meditate on contemplating the repulsiveness of the body (sweat, urine, and feces generated by the body) and also the fact that once one chews on even the most delicious food, it becomes “vomit.”

▪But the Buddha did not advise that. Just as we should not desire extreme sense pleasures, we also should not be repulsed by the things that we mentioned in the above paragraph. They both generate taṇhā, in the first instant by attachment (craving) and in the second by aversion (paṭigha). The neutral mindset (upekkhā) comes from understanding the true nature of things.

12. Now we can see that the connection of kabaḷīkāra āhāra in the udayavaya ñāṇa has two facets:

▪One plays a role in taking care of the physical body that we have inherited due to past causes. If we are not mindful of what we eat, it can lead to bad consequences for the body that we already have. If we are mindful, we can make that body work optimally to achieving our goals, both mundane and transcendental. And of course, if the physical body does not get enough kabaḷīkāra āhāra, it will die.

▪The other is to be aware of the role kabaḷīkāra āhāra plays in generating physical bodies for us in future births via generating (abhi)saṅkhāra related to pleasurable foods. One can permanently stop generating future physical bodies (nirodha or “nir” + “udā”) by getting rid of the “upādāna” or craving for kabaḷīkāra āhāra.

▪One can become an Anāgāmī (i.e., stop rebirths in the kāma loka) by comprehending the true nature of kabaḷīkāra āhāra. Then one loses the craving for any sensory pleasures in the kāma loka. But such a mindset is unfathomable for a normal human who only sees the immediate sense of satisfaction. Furthermore, such a mindset CANNOT be achieved by sheer willpower; it has to be through understanding the anicca nature of kāma loka.

Next in the series, “Udayavaya Ñāṇa – Importance of the Cittaja Kāya.”