Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
After a hard day’s work, the night gives us an opportunity to take rest and relax. Thus, we get recharged and are ready for the challenges of the next day.
These are times when anger, fear and hatred are giving rise to devastating problems throughout the world. But I believe we have a valuable opportunity to make progress in dealing with them, through collaboration between religion and science.
You have crossed the great ocean; why do you halt so near the shore? Make haste to get on the other side, Gautama; be careful all the while!
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
