Religious Significance of Fasting

禁食 

Many people in the world face untimely death owing to over-eating.

这世界有很多人因为暴饮暴食而导致死亡。

In Buddhism, fasting is recognized as one of the methods for practising self-control. The Buddha advised monks not to take solid food after noon. Lay people who observe the eight Precepts on full moon days also abstain from taking any solid food after noon.

佛教的禁食，是一种自我抑制的修行方法。佛陀告诫僧众，过午不食。持八关斋戒的在家信徒，一般也在月圆日(农历十五)过午不食。

Critics sometimes regard these practices as religious fads. They are not religious fads but practices based on a moral and psychological insight.

某些评论家认为：禁食只是宗教修持在某一时期的风尚。但是，禁食绝对不是一种风尚，而是奠基于道德和对心灵的展望。 

In Buddhism, fasting is an initial stage of self-discipline to acquire self-control. In every religion, there is a system of fasting. By fasting and sacrificing a meal once a day or for any period, we can contribute our food to those who are starving or who do not have even a proper meal each day.

'A man who eats too much', writes Leo Tolstoy, 'cannot strive against laziness, while a gluttonous and idle man will never be able to contend with sexual lust. Therefore, according to all moral teachings, the effort towards self-control commences with a struggle against the lust of gluttony; commences with fasting just as the first condition of a good life is self-control, so the first condition of a life of self-control is fasting.'

俄国大文豪 L.托尔斯泰说：

「一个人吃得太多，就无法克制懒惰，一个贪吃又懒惰的人，绝对不会对欲望有所满足。因此，依照道德规范，有效的自我制约，往往始于战胜饮食，始于禁食。如果，要拥有优良的生命，首先需要懂得如何自我制约，而自我制约的第一件事，就是──禁食。」

Sages in various countries who practised self-control began with a system of regulated fasting and succeeded in attaining unbelievable heights of spirituality. An ascetic was kicked and tortured, and then his hands and feet were severed on the orders of a rakish king. But the ascetic, according to the Buddhist story, endured the torture with equanimity and without the slightest anger or hatred. Such religious people have developed their mental power through restraining from sensual indulgence.

世界各地的圣哲，都实践于自我制约，通过一套有系统的方法来节制饮食，从而获得更高的心灵发展。印度的修行者也一样为了培训自我制约而禁食，往往获得难以令人相信的高成就。在佛经故事里，有一位修行者，被暴君严刑拷打，手脚都被截断了，可是修行者以平静的心情，忍受这种痛苦，一点也没有怨言，反而祝福暴君。