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by Chandra Edirisuriya

Food, the first of the three basic needs of man, is essential for life. At the beginning man only ate to live and not vice versa. That is why do not see disfigured human forms with bulging bellies etc. in sketches and drawings found in caves of primordial man. They shared the natural food available in the jungle like fruits and leaves of trees and creepers.

It was acquisitiveness that came into being when man began to have property of his own that altered this healthy state of affairs and some began to eat more than they could digest.

This was the beginning of the state, in which, although there was enough food and resources in any environment on this planet for man's need, there was not enough for man's greed. This also resulted in the emergence of the few haves and the large number of have nots. The greedy and the selfish, and not necessarily the able, grabbed more than was needed while the unselfish were even deprived of their needs.

Civilisation meant man coming out of the jungles to cleared plots of land where he grew crops. The discovery of fire was the landmark in civilisation that altered the lifestyle of man. He noticed how a forest fire started by two trees rubbing against one another and started to kindle a fire by rubbing two sticks of dried wood, placing inflammable fibrous matter close to the point of friction.

The forest fire would have left large tracts of land bereft of vegetation and germination of seeds sprouting into plants, growing into trees and creepers would have given them the idea of cultivating crops. This would have been the beginning of slash and burn (chena) cultivation. Demarcation of land as private property, building shelters and cooking food were concommitants of this process.

However it has now been found that some cooked foods contain poisonous substances owing to the chemical changes taking place in the process of cooking, unlike uncooked foods like fruits, salads and leaves. So much so it is advised that some uncooked food be taken before eating a cooked meal to deceive the combative mechanism in the body's immune system that will gather forces to fight against germs and poisons intruding into the system, depleting body's strength. Of course yams and pulses cannot be digested by humans without being cooked.

To get back to consuming more food than is necessary to sustain the body, philosophers had to guide men to be moderate in their in take of food. Lord Buddha in His rules for his disciples laid down in the Vinaya Pitaka showed that it is not advisable to take solid food afternoon. This has been proved to have a scientific basis and today medical opinion is that it is deleterious to health, even to bathe after the sun turns. The Buddha also advised that one shouldn't eat to his fill and to stop eating before the stomach is full. This tallies with modern medical opinion.

Most affluent Romans were infamous for gluttony as evidenced by their feasts where they consumed whole carcases of roast lamb with bread and drank enormous quantities of wine. Long afterwards when the Portuguese came to our shores and were seen taking bread and wine, the natives said that they 'drank blood and ate pieces of quartz'. After this the natives too imitated the invaders and began to eat beef with bread which was the staple of the Portuguese and other Europeans who followed them, the Dutch and the British. However, the Kandyan provinces retained the simple native food habits until the British invaded that part of the country as evidenced by the facts stated by Robert Knox in the "Historical Relation of the Kandyan Kingdom".

Alpeccata or simplicity is a valuable Buddhist concept that pervaded society throughout our history. When we look at the canvas of history men and women who led simple lives stood out because they served the vast multitude of the less fortunate. Some by inculcating spiritual values and generally guiding men to live virtuous lives, some by being benevolent rulers of men bringing about their economic uplift and still others by giving leadership to liberation struggles that freed men enslaved in their own land and in countries occupied by invaders.

The Buddha while Himself living a simple and balanced life exhorted all to follow that path. Alpeccata or simplicity and Samajeevikata or balanced livelihood are cardinal concepts in Buddhism. In the Vyaggapajja Sutta, in reply to the question posed by Digajanu Koliya Kulaputra the Buddha described a balanced livelihood thus: A clansman knowing the income and expenses leads a steady life being neither too extravagant nor too sordid, thinking that thus his income will stand in excess of his expenses but not his expenses in excess of his income." Such men and women include Arhant Mahinda, Sanghamitta Theri, Socrates, Jesus of Nazareth, Dharmasoka, Prophet Mohammed, Confucius, Lao Tse, Zoroaster, Emperor Justinian, the Lawgiver, King Dutugemunu, Vihara Maha Devi, Abraham Lincoln, Colonel Olcott, Lord Bertrand Russel, Mao Tse Tung, Chou En Lai, Sukarno, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and our own D. S. Senanayake, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, J. R. Jayewardene et al.

Jawaharlal Nehru was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but relinquished all wealth in the service of India. His daily diet was only a cup of food that was merely enough to last the day. He was active to his last breath and even on the day before he died at the age of 76 in 1964 he had worked 16 hours in his office.

Mahatma Gandhi took only mango juice and milk as his daily bread. D. S. Senanayake ate roti with the farmers of Minneriya when he worked with them, camping out in the mosquito-infested jungle to renovate our ancient irrigation works. Addressing the farmers who toiled to regain the lost farmlands of Raja Rata he said: "You should be worshipped with flowers for your service to the country." (Thamunnanselata mal puja karanta oney). Both S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and J. R. Jayewardene liked simple food.

Like on the day he died SWRD had string hoppers, kiri hodi and pol sambol and the like for breakfast around 10 a.m, preceded by a piece of chocolate, a portion of papaw and a cup of milk tea, early in the morning. He worked in his office with a tray of fruits on his table unmindful of lunch or any other meal during the day. Once he told my maternal uncle that he would drop in at his house in Kurunegala for lunch. My uncle taken by surprise had asked him, "How can I a poor man (he was only a head master) possibly prepare lunch for your honour" (Mama Thamunnanseta kema lehesthi karananne kohomada)? His reply had been: "Boil some jak, prepare a kiri hodda and fry some jaadi. (Oya kos tikak thambala, kiri hoddak hadala, jaadi tikak bedala thiyanna).

When a reporter asked Madam Jayewardene what her husband liked to eat she said that he did not like meat but liked to eat sweets. President Jayewardene himself recounted how he ate godamba roti and seeni sambol at a hotel near Dawatagaha mosque when he was young and repeated it late in life while walking home from the polling booth after exercising his vote.

All this goes to show that simplicity and greatness go hand in hand.

Thorstein Veblen in his classic thesis "The Theory of the Leisure Class" has immortalised the concept of simplicity. The terms he sued like snobbery, conspicuous consumption and pecuniary emulation describe a life of ostentation. High life diminishes the worth of man. Plain living and high thinking brings out the god in man.

Professor R. H. S. Crossman's dictum, "Socrates dissatisfied is better than pig satisfied," sum it all up.

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