The Five Contemplations

Our Summer 2016 Potluck — Portland, Oregon, USA

The Contemplations are spoken before meals in the Order of Interbeing:

• This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.
• May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.
• May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation.
• May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.
• We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our sangha [community], and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.

These principles guide our mission on this website: to facilitate cooking and eating with mindfulness in such a way that we help to reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet, and reverse the process of global warming.