With an exception of monks and lamas how many
of you do actually recite prayer before taking food or tea? I think very few!!!
As a Buddhist we should always remember and respect the Triple Gems. Whenever we take food we should make a point to recite the food offering prayer visualizing the food being blessed by the three seed syllables: OM, AH, HUNG.
You know by reciting OM AH HUNG, the food immediately transform into nectar and than by saying prayer it is offered to all Buddha, Bodhisattvas, Lama, Yidam, Dhakini, and Dharmapalas.
Than you should consume it.
Recite the following prayer before you eat food.
The food don't come by it's own, there are chain of activities involved before
you actually put food in your mouth.
There are farmers who grow the foods; there are groceries shops who buy and make it available; there are transporter who carry food from one place to another; there are employers who employ you and make you earn money to buy the food; there are cook who cook food for you.
See, if you think about every hand that is involved from mere seed to a palatial food on your plate, you must realize that this food is the culmination of countless labors.
If you add to that everyone who has touched the lives of the farmers, the grocers, the cooks and truck drivers who made this food ultimately reach in front of you. Suddenly your meal becomes an act of communion with vast numbers of people in the past, present and future.
Give them your gratitude through recitation of prayer before eating meals.
It is also said, even if someone poisoned your food, by the power of prayer it is turn into medicine.
So my dear friends do recite prayer before consuming your meal.
There are farmers who grow the foods; there are groceries shops who buy and make it available; there are transporter who carry food from one place to another; there are employers who employ you and make you earn money to buy the food; there are cook who cook food for you.
See, if you think about every hand that is involved from mere seed to a palatial food on your plate, you must realize that this food is the culmination of countless labors.
If you add to that everyone who has touched the lives of the farmers, the grocers, the cooks and truck drivers who made this food ultimately reach in front of you. Suddenly your meal becomes an act of communion with vast numbers of people in the past, present and future.
Give them your gratitude through recitation of prayer before eating meals.
It is also said, even if someone poisoned your food, by the power of prayer it is turn into medicine.
So my dear friends do recite prayer before consuming your meal.
