The World Peace Diet: Eating For Spiritual Health And Social Harmony

Evolve or Dissolve / 231
breathing, mindfully walking in nature, dancing, whirling, playing
music, running, repeating a prayer, gardening, and so forth. Activities
that we love tend naturally to bring our mind more fully into the present
moment and thus can be meditative practices.
An example of the connection between meditative practice and
compassion toward animals may be seen in the concepts of samadhi and
shojin in the Zen tradition. Although this is an example from a specific
tradition, the underlying principles are universal and can be applied to
all of us, whatever our religious inclinations may be. Samadhi refers to
deep meditative stillness, in which the mind transcends its usual conflicted,
anxious, busy, and noisy condition, quiets down, and becomes clear,
bright, free, relaxed, and serenely poised in the present moment. Shojin
is “religious abstention from animal foods” and is based on the core
religious teaching of ahimsa, or harmlessness, the practice of refraining
from causing harm to other sentient beings. Shojin and samadhi are seen
to work together, with shojin purifying the body-mind and allowing,
though certainly not guaranteeing, access to the spiritually enriching
experience of samadhi.
In some Zen Buddhist traditions it is taught that there are two types
of samadhi. “Absolute samadhi” refers to an inner state of one-pointed,
relaxed and bright awareness in which the body is still, typically seated.
The mind is totally absorbed in the present moment, and the usual inner
dialogue has ceased. In “positive samadhi,” 5 which is based on the experience
of absolute samadhi, we are functioning in the world, walking,
gardening, cooking, cleaning, and so forth, with a mind that is fully
present to the experiences arising every moment. This is similar to the
practice of mindfulness, and to the Taoist practice of wu wei, or “nonaction,”
in which the illusion of a separate doer dissolves in the immediacy
of fulfilling the potential of the present moment. In Christian
terms, this may be similar to “practicing the Presence” and to the practice
recommended in the admonition to “pray without ceasing,” whereas
absolute samadhi may be akin to a state of profound at-one-ment
with the divine.
Both absolute and positive samadhi are universal human potentials
that transcend the particularities of tradition and labeling. They heal the