Back to the Basics

In the United States (and other developed nations) we inhabit a dwelling of abundant wealth. Just drive through the winding hills of Los Angeles or stroll through the tree lined roads of Scarsdale, New York. Even with the economy in a depression, there are still many with much more than they need to adequately survive. Yet there are many more without the basics: Food, Shelter and Clothing. Food being the most important. We see abundant amounts of food produced here, enough to feed millions, and yet we throw away nearly 100 Billion pounds of food each year in the US. It is truly frustrating. According to the US Census Bureau, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in America, including 12.9 million children. This number will inevitably climb given the current economic conditions in the US. So how will we meet this crisis? How will we provide and take care of our fellow human beings? In 2004, requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 14 percent during the year, according to a study by the United States Conference of Mayors. Also in this study, it was noted that on average, 20 percent of requests for emergency food assistance went unmet in 2004. Five years later, with more and more people in need, these demands will be even more difficult to meet. According to the US Department of Agriculture, up to one-fifth of America's food goes to waste each year, with an estimated 130 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills. The annual value of this lost food is estimated at around $31 billion But the real story is that roughly 49 million people could have been fed by those lost resources. And these are just the facts about the United States. This story is repeated again and again around the world.

I recently read the article: "Solving the Global Food Crisis: The Case for a "Poverty Czar" by Bruce Friedrich. In it, he discusses the problems of global poverty, the current concern, and the lack of support from the United States, the most wealthy and powerful nation on the planet.
It was disappointing to read that the United States comes in last place among the 22 countries tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In fact, the U.S. government spends well under one-quarter of 1 percent of it's gross national income on aid. Friedrich writes: "Most Americans believe that we should spend about 10 times more on aid than we do, and 60 percent of Americans want to triple aid immediately, from about $25 billion to $75 billion."

So how do we relate hunger to the Buddhist practice?

Well, we know that the main cause of hunger or starvation is poverty. If you do not have the means to obtain food, you can not eat. The Dalai Lama once said,

“There can be no peace as long as there is grinding poverty, social injustice, inequality, oppression, environmental degradation, and as long as the weak and small continue to be trodden by the mighty and powerful.”

It has also been said that you must satisfy a man's bodily hunger before you can begin to feed his spiritual hunger.

There are several causes that have led to global poverty being where it is now. Quoting from Friedrich's article: "Last year's Nobel laureate in economics, Paul Krugman, lays out the problem: "Over the past few years the prices of wheat, corn, rice and other basic foodstuffs have doubled or tripled .... High food prices dismay even relatively well-off Americans-but they're truly devastating in poor countries, where food often accounts for more than half a family's spending." And the causes for the price spike? Some of the most important causes Krugman identifies are also the most obvious (and correctable): "the march of the meat-eating Chinese-that is, the growing number of people in emerging economies who are, for the first time, rich enough to start eating like Westerners" and biofuels, because "land used to grow biofuel feedstock is land not available to grow food, so subsidies to biofuels are a major factor in the food crisis."

This reminds me of the Buddhist precept of "non-killing". The global impact of the meat industry has been addressed in several arenas . The impact that it has is a ubiquitous example of the law of karma. Zen Master Seung Sahn addressed this issue when he said,

"...there is much killing of animals for food. There is not so much eating of rice and vegetables, as there is in the Orient. It takes more land to raise animals for meat than it does for raising grains and vegetables. Why are many people starving? This is the result not just of this life, but of causes begun many lifetimes ago. Buddha said, if you want to understand what happened before this life, look at what you are getting now. Being very hungry means that in a previous life, one gave much suffering to other people and animals, and also took food. Today's suffering is the result of those actions."

The meat industry is, by its very nature, an enterprise of murder. And by examining it on an environmental level, we see that it takes far more resources to produce meat than to produce crops. You could feed more people with the grains harvested in farming that you could with the amount of meat raised with that same amount of grain (and I am aware of the quality difference in the grains grown). A study by Cornell University in 1997 showed that you could feed 800 million people with the grain used to feed livestock.

This situation ties into Global Warming as well. These inefficient practices have hugely negative impacts on our environment. Just read the 2006 report by the Livestock, Environment And Development Initiative. The meat industry causes deforestation, habitat destruction, massive water consumption and pollution, energy consumption, disease and climate change. A 2006 study at the University of Chicago concluded that a person switching from a typical American diet to a vegan diet with the same number of calories would prevent the emission of 1485 kg of carbon dioxide. The difference exceeds that of an individual switching from a Toyota Camry to the hybrid Toyota Prius, and collectively amounts to over 6% of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

So what does this mean in regards to how we solve the hunger crisis? Well, we can start by using responsible practices ourselves. We must change ourselves to effectively change the world. We can donate to food banks, provide meals for the homeless, assist in relief efforts and the like, but I think it may be more important to first realize exactly how we, ourselves, participate and have a relationship with food.

The meal Gatha that I recite before each meal goes like this:

This food is the gift of the whole universe;
the earth, the sky and much hard work.
May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it,
May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially our greed.
May we take only foods which nourish us and prevent illness.
We accept this food so that we may realize the path of practice,
of Love, Compassion and Peace.

In reciting this, I am taking a moment to recognize where the food is coming from, what it has taken to create it, and respecting and being grateful for the fact that I am able to eat it.

In the United States, there is a narrowly inward focus of American Buddhism, which has been pursued to the neglect of the active dimension of Buddhist compassion expressed through programs of social engagement. There are teachers whom have sought to change this in the West, among them Bhikkhu Bodhi and Bernie Glasman. But you don't have to be a Buddhist to practice being socially responsible and socially engaged. Anyone can do this. All mainstream religions teach about helping the poor and less fortunate. It is inherently a part of being a responsible citizen of the world.