Āhāra

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Āhāra (‘food’ or ‘nutrition’). In the Pāli Nikāyas, āhāra sums up the whole teaching of the Buddha in relation to the living being, including the ‘Doctrine of Dependent Origination’, paticca-samuppāda. The basic perception is that ‘all beings live on food’ (sabbe sattā āhāraṭṭhitika, Digha Nikāya iii. 211). This statement covers the whole nature of a living organism, which depends not only on material food but also psychic food, for its sustenance.

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