English Literature – Articles ☆ The Way the Buddha and His Disciples Sustained Themselves ☆ Shri Jagat Singh Bisht ☆

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

(Master Teacher: Happiness & Well-Being, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer, Author, Blogger, Educator, and Speaker.)

Authored six books on happiness: Cultivating Happiness, Nirvana – The Highest Happiness, Meditate Like the Buddha, Mission Happiness, A Flourishing Life, and The Little Book of Happiness. He served in a bank for thirty-five years and has been propagating happiness and well-being among people for the past twenty years. He is on a mission – Mission Happiness!

🍁 The Way the Buddha and His Disciples Sustained Themselves 🍁

🌼Blameless food, compassionate living🌼

To understand the Buddha’s way of life, one must see how simply and blamelessly he and his disciples sustained themselves. Dependent on the kindness of householders, yet never a cause for harm, they lived in quiet dignity — receiving what was freely given, and teaching by their very conduct the spirit of compassion.

A bhikkhu lives in dependence upon a village or town, radiating goodwill, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity to the entire world. In the early morning, he walks silently on alms round, carrying only his bowl and robe. He accepts, with gratitude, whatever is offered. His duty is not to demand, not to choose, but simply to sustain himself with food that is blameless and permissible.

In this way, the Buddha and his disciples lived — sustained by compassion, dependent on the kindness of householders, and careful always not to encourage harm to living beings.

The Buddha never sanctioned the killing of any creature for his sake, nor did he partake of food that carried the shadow of violence committed on his behalf.

He himself laid down a compassionate guideline:

🌿Meat should not be eaten if it is seen, heard, or suspected that the animal was killed specifically for oneself.

🌿Meat may be eaten if it is not seen, not heard, and not suspected that the animal was killed for one’s sake.

And he further emphasised: “If anyone slaughters a living being for the Tathāgata or his disciple, he lays up much demerit.”