Religious Significance of Fasting

　　禁食

　　Many people in the world face untimely death owing to over-eating.

　　這世界有很多人因爲暴飲暴食而導致死亡。

　　In Buddhism, fasting is recognized as one of the methods for practising self-control. The Buddha advised monks not to take solid food after noon. Lay people who observe the eight Precepts on full moon days also abstain from taking any solid food after noon.

　　佛教的禁食，是一種自我抑製的修行方法。佛陀告誡僧衆，過午不食。持八關齋戒的在家信徒，一般也在月圓日(農曆十五)過午不食。

　　Critics sometimes regard these practices as religious fads. They are not religious fads but practices based on a moral and psychological insight.

　　某些評論家認爲：禁食只是宗教修持在某一時期的風尚。但是，禁食絕對不是一種風尚，而是奠基于道德和對心靈的展望。

　　In Buddhism, fasting is an initial stage of self-discipline to acquire self-control. In every religion, there is a system of fasting. By fasting and sacrificing a meal once a day or for any period, we can contribute our food to those who are starving or who do not have even a proper meal each day.

　　”A man who eats too much”, writes Leo Tolstoy, ”cannot strive against laziness, while a gluttonous and idle man will never be able to contend with sexual lust. Therefore, according to all moral teachings, the effort towards self-control commences with a struggle against the lust of gluttony; commences with fasting just as the first condition of a good life is self-control, so the first condition of a life of self-control is fasting.”

　　俄國大文豪 L.托爾斯泰說：

　　「一個人吃得太多，就無法克製懶惰，一個貪吃又懶惰的人，絕對不會對欲望有所滿足。因此，依照道德規範，有效的自我製約，往往始于戰勝飲食，始于禁食。如果，要擁有優良的生命，首先需要懂得如何自我製約，而自我製約的第一件事，就是──禁食。」

　　Sages in various countries who practised self-control began with a system of regulated fasting and succeeded in attaining unbelievable heights of spirituality. An ascetic was kicked and tortured, and then his hands and feet were severed on the orders of a rakish king. But the ascetic, according to the Buddhist story, endured the torture with equanimity and without the slightest anger or hatred. Such religious people have developed their mental power through restraining from sensual indulgence.

　　世界各地的聖哲，都實踐于自我製約，通過一套有系統的方法來節製飲食，從而獲得更高的心靈發展。印度的修行者也一樣爲了培訓自我製約而禁食，往往獲得難以令人相信的高成就。在佛經故事裏，有一位修行者，被暴君嚴刑拷打，手腳都被截斷了，可是修行者以平靜的心情，忍受這種痛苦，一點也沒有怨言，反而祝福暴君。