佛教的「過午不食」

「過午不食」(No-food-after-midday precept or Vikala Bhojana Veramani)又稱為「非時食戒」或「齋」，是佛教一個很重要的戒律，在「八關齋戒」、「式叉摩尼戒」、「沙彌十戒」、「菩薩齋日十戒」、「比丘戒」、「比丘尼戒」中都提到此一戒律。過午不食是指正午以後只能飲水，不能吃任何食物，直到第二天早晨才能進食。幾千年來幾乎所有佛教的出家修行人都必須遵守「過午不食」的戒律，然而有關「過午不食」的探討卻仍嫌不足。本文從大正新修大藏經所記載的佛教經文來探討佛教的過午不食。我們發現幾乎所有的戒律都有「過午不食」戒，且由經文中可推知佛教「過午不食」戒的起源應該不是因為迦留陀夷在天色非常陰暗的情況下向人乞食使對方受驚嚇導致流產而引起的，也可能不是十七位少年比丘在不適當的時間向人乞食而引起，而可能是釋迦摩尼佛為了要斷絕修行人六道輪迴的因，使修行人和三世諸佛相同，而制定的戒律。此外，由佛教關於「時」與「非時」的定義可知「過午不食」戒應該和人體的生理時鐘及人類的起居作息規律有關。佛經說過分飽食會讓人氣急身滿，百脈不調，身體壅塞，坐臥不安；如果吃的少又會讓人體弱心浮，思慮不定；只有吃得適中才能使人身心平衡。又根據《法苑珠林》，過午不食的五大益處是少病、身安穩、少婬意、少睡臥及得升天上；前四大益處是過午不食在生理方面的效應，故佛經中有關過午不食的好處若從生理及醫學的觀點來看，將比較容易理解。佛教的過午不食戒可提供我們飲食習慣上的重要參考。

關鍵字

過午不食；戒；正食；非時食；齋；佛經

並列摘要

No-food-after-midday (NFAM), or Vik?la Bhojana Veraman? or uposatha, is an important precept in Buddhism. It is one of the Eight Precepts of Buddhism, the Ciksamana six rules, the ten commandments of the Cramanera, the Sutra rules, the Monk's rules and the nun's rules. During NFAM, no food is permitted after midday except water until next morning. For thousands of years, almost all monks and nuns of Buddhism around the world follow NFAM strictly. However, the discourses of Buddha of NFAM have not been studied fully yet. This article investigated the NFAM in the discourses of Buddha in Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo. We found that NFAM exists in many disciplinary precepts of Buddhism. From the doctrine of Buddhism, we inferred that the origin of NFAM might be the intention of S?kyamuni to cut down the samsara or cycle of existence within the cha-gatiyo or the six realms of desire, rather than the story of miscarriage of a woman who was frightened by the blackamoor bhikkhu Kaludayin who went out to beg for food in the dark or the story of seventeen young monks who went out to beg food at inappropriate time. From the definitions of due and undue times for food intake, we inferred that NFAM might be related to the biological clock of the body and the living style of humans. The discourses of Buddha said that overeating can lead to bad temper, abdominal fullness, absent-mindedness and general uneasiness while underfeeding can lead to general fitness and smoothness. Only suitable amount of food intake is good for health. According to Taisho Tripitaka, NFAM can provide us with five kinds of benefits: less illness, steadiness, less sexual desire, less sleepiness, and ascension. The former four benefits come from the physiological effects of intake adjustment. Therefore, NFAM in Buddhism is realizable from the point of view of physiology and medicine. The NFAM in Buddhism can be used as an important guideline for our daily pattern of food intake.

並列關鍵字

Vik?la Bhojan? Veraman? ； no-food-after-midday ； precept ； due time for meals ； undue time for meals ； uposatha,s?tra

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佛教的「過午不食」

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