The Method of Bigu (Grain Avoidance/Fasting)

The benefits of bigu are numerous: it can eliminate various diseases in the body including cancer, expel toxins and waste, clear away the garbage and toxins clogging the blood vessels, improve blood circulation, renew the blood with fresh blood, break down the essential nutrients the body needs from cellular tissues, make the skin glow with a rosy radiance, preserve and enhance beauty, beautify the skin, promote health and longevity, reverse aging, and make life more vital. The qi channels become unobstructed, the body becomes supple, the full lotus posture becomes easy, meditation is more effective, meditative concentration (samādhi) increases quickly, body and mind feel joyful, the manas' craving for and dependence on food is reduced, afflictions decrease, the mind becomes sharp, thinking becomes active, wisdom develops, and both samādhi and wisdom grow. 

Food and drink are coarse material form (rūpa) of the four great elements, containing filth and toxins; they increase the burden and workload of the internal organs, causing them to wear out and shortening lifespan. During bigu, qi is the mainstay—qi is subtle four great elements, primarily the wind element—which makes the body rise and become light and nimble. Immortals and devas all feed on qi and ingest qi; their bodies are so light and nimble that they possess the supernormal power of travel (ṛddhi) and can fly. During bigu, meditation is remarkably effective; in seated meditation one may not want to leave the cushion. Make good use of this time to cultivate samādhi: the body is supple, the legs are easy to keep crossed, the mind easily settles, discursive thoughts are few, and the mind is clear. When the qi channels run well and qi flows freely in all directions, the body's microcirculation and metabolism are both excellent.

 Semi-bigu lasts about three days, more or less; its main purpose is to let the body and the manas become accustomed to eating little or no food, so that during formal bigu, when there is no food in the stomach, the cellular tissues will rapidly break down and metabolize, expelling toxins and garbage and supplying highly nutritious substances. On the first day of semi-bigu, drink only one bowl of millet porridge, seventy percent full, or half full; on the second day of semi-bigu, also one bowl of millet porridge, a slightly smaller amount, sixty percent full is enough; on the third day, half a bowl of millet porridge, forty to fifty percent full. Formal bigu then begins with drinking only water—drink plenty of water to promote cellular breakdown and metabolism and to promote the expulsion of toxins and waste. 

If you are working, schedule the semi-bigu on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and begin formal bigu on Friday. Saturday is the second day of bigu; the stomach is not yet accustomed to going without food, so you will feel rather hungry. At this time, stay at home without contact with people, so as not to consume too much energy. On the third day you will also feel a little hungry, somewhat better than the second day; again rest at home, avoiding contact with people and affairs. By the fourth day you will be more or less adapted and back to normal; the energy broken down from the cellular tissues will also be greater, and you will feel energetic and mentally agile. This applies to people without special illnesses and whose illnesses are not too serious. Those with blood sugar that is too high or too low had best not do bigu—if problems arise, no one can take responsibility. Bigu is only permissible with a doctor or TCM physician nearby to care for you. Those with serious heart disease or stomach disease should also not do bigu. Generally, group samādhi retreats also do not allow people with serious illnesses to participate, lest something happen and the responsibility be too heavy to bear. 

Only after three or four days of bigu can stomach ailments be preliminarily regulated. The longer the bigu, the more ailments are regulated and the more thoroughly, the better the metabolism of the internal organs, the more the blood is renewed, the healthier the body, the younger the person, and the finer and smoother the skin—more effective than cosmetic treatments, with no side effects at all. During formal bigu, eat nothing at all. Only when there is no food in the stomach will the cellular tissues break down, expelling toxins and garbage and decomposing highly nutritious substances for the body to absorb—this is many times better than eating. For the first bigu, three to seven days is enough; more than three days is best, for only then are there some effects—a shorter time is of little use. From the fourth to the seventh day, the stomach becomes accustomed to having no food, and hunger is not felt much; apart from craving, if one can resist the craving and avoid contact with food and drink, bigu will generally succeed. 

In bigu, what we mainly need to learn is contemplation (visualization). If you can visualize sunlight shining upon you and entering your body and stomach, you will not feel hungry. Then visualize the Buddha's light shining on your body and on the diseased parts; the body's hunger will be relieved, the stomach will feel very comfortable, and the body will feel very relaxed, light, and at ease. Then breathe some fresh air—air also contains the four great elements as nutrients, mainly oxygen. At night you can also visualize moonlight and absorb the moon's energy. Light energy and qi energy are both more beneficial to the body than food; both are subtle material four great elements, whereas food is coarse material four great elements. Devas feed on subtle material four great elements, so their bodies are light and can fly; humans feed on coarse four great elements, so their bodies are heavy and cannot fly. When devas of the second dhyāna descended to the human world and ate the "fat of the earth," they could no longer fly and could not return to heaven. We Buddhist practitioners should try to take qi as our food; when qi is full, one does not think of food, and the body becomes healthy and vital. The immortals in the mountains all feed on qi and other subtle four great elements, which is why they are healthy and long-lived, with lifespans of tens of millions of years. Those who sit in meditation and cultivate samādhi, if they cultivate it well, will also be healthy and long-lived; with the fourth dhyāna samādhi, one can live for tens of millions of years or even a kalpa. Formal bigu lasts three to seven days; even seven days is quite easy to persist through. Doing bigu two or three times a year will effectively regulate the body. The second bigu is easier than the first; in the first time, the "disease of craving" exceeds the "disease of hunger," and the manas' habit of craving food is not easy to overcome. If the mouth can produce more saliva, swallowing saliva can also serve as food and is more nutritious than food and drink. Hold some fruit pits or the like in the mouth to induce the production of saliva, then swallow it, and the nutritional energy will be sufficient. Saliva is more nutritious than bird's nest. During bigu, if hunger is truly unbearable, you may drink a tiny bit of honey water or hold a little rock sugar in the mouth, but it is best to abstain altogether. The first time, craving comes easily; hunger is easier to bear and get through, but the disease of craving is hard to cure. 

After seven days of bigu, you may resume eating—this is a crucial point. If food is resumed well, the body will be completely renewed, as if reborn. Resuming food relies on millet porridge, which is easy to absorb and digest and regulates the spleen and stomach. After bigu, the stomach is like an infant's stomach; you must eat liquid food that is easy to absorb and digest—no cold, hard, or dry food, no milk, no eating until full or overeating. This is the best period for nourishing the stomach. For the first three days of resuming food, drink only millet porridge, in small amounts over multiple meals, so as not to strain the stomach. From the fourth day onward, millet porridge plus well-boiled leafy vegetables, or Chinese yam, carrots, or potatoes steamed very soft, eaten dipped in honey. After seven days of resuming food, add other easily digestible foods. After ten days, tonify the qi by simmering red ginseng, longan, jujube dates, and goji berries in water to drink. Tonify for at least a week, with no upper limit. Avoid sour, spicy, and salty flavors, so as not to irritate the stomach and intestines. After resuming food, the stomach will form new habits; at this time, pay attention to cultivating and establishing new eating habits, correcting bad habits. Both the amount of food and the tastes can be changed at will. 

Bigu group number: 544837720

Good evening, Master.

I deeply admire you, Master—your vast and boundless compassionate heart has, for the past several days, been urging everyone on the matter of bigu.

Moreover, Master has personally tested the practice and led the disciples through his own experience. His merit is worthy of praise and admiration.

My mother began bigu in early November last year and finished at the end of that month.

In the first few days her spirits were not very good (because for decades my mother had taken more medicine than food, and the bigu provoked my father's strong opposition and other disputes). By the eighth day of bigu, my mother had regained her usual spirits: in the morning she prostrated to the Eighty-Eight Buddhas, sat in meditation, recited the Buddha's name (mentally), and strolled about the room.

The most noticeable feature during this period was that my mother did not speak; when important family matters required her to make a decision, she wrote it on paper, in very few words.

At night she hardly ever touched the bed—either meditating or strolling.

When the bigu ended, she was like a different person in every respect. During the Spring Festival, the family declined all visitors, and the whole family did five days of bigu.

My father's high blood pressure [improved], and my long-term insomnia returned to normal.

Most importantly, my father used to always interfere arbitrarily with my mother's Buddhist practice (mainly out of concern for her health—such as stopping medications, nutritional supplements, eating vegetarian, insufficient nutrition, etc.). Now my father has gained a high level of understanding of the Buddhadharma; he can read the Master's exposition of the Dharma meaning step by step, and where he does not understand, he writes it down and contemplates and verifies it at length………

I bow in gratitude to the Master for the kindness of teaching such profound Dharma meaning.    

With her tenacious vitality and firm faith in the Buddhadharma, my mother has overturned a case that medicine could not explain (my mother was sentenced to death by doctors just days after her birth).

All is created by the mind; all is transformed by the mind. The Buddhadharma is profound: it is entered through faith and crossed over through wisdom.

Forgive me for disturbing you, Master (with the conditions complete, promoting bigu—Mother's words). (End)