Keep your body as clean as possible, your mind as clear as possible. That’s all you need. And do it in any way you can, in your own way. It doesn’t matter. And then you’ll be useful.
Excessive attachment to sense pleasures leads to bondage, and detachment from sense pleasures leads to liberation; therefore it is the mind alone that is responsible for bondage or liberation.
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.
Life is our teacher. Life communicates with us all the time and it is a lesson to see how life continuously has led me to the people I need to meet, to the situations I need to experience, and to the places I need to be.
