Jiadong said: “If you prepare unclean food to feed others, people will surely grow angry, and gods and spirits will also detest this act. Discarding tainted food amounts to wanton waste of grain. To squander water and drinks and dump them into ditches or latrines is indeed to create negative karma.”
There was an old woman known as Grandma Qiu. She died from illness but briefly revived. She said that her soul came to a place where two boats were loaded with discarded rotten food. A ghost flogged her and shouted: “You wasted all these things throughout your lifetime. How can you be excused from eating them?”
The old woman forced herself to swallow several mouthfuls, instantly felt her abdomen distend, and woke up in fright. Right after she finished telling this story, she passed away again.
(Commentary on the Treatise of the Supreme Response)
Admonition Against Discarding Leftover Food Residues
Those who recklessly squander the gifts of heaven and earth shall inevitably incur misfortune. Those who disdain and waste grains often suffer retribution by thunder. When swine and dogs are fed food meant for humans, Mencius grieved deeply over such conduct. King Zhou of Shang indulged in extravagant excess, creating a pond of wine and a forest of hanging meat, and thereby brought ruin to his kingdom. The ancients endured eating chaff and husks, while these leftover food residues of today are far better than chaff. Great virtuous cultivators once subsisted on wild herbs and fruits, while these residues are far tastier than wild vegetation. How can people indulge in arrogance and extravagance, behaving like prodigal sons of wealthy households, deluded and muddled as infants in swaddling clothes? For initial discipline, grindstones shall be sealed as a warning. Persistent offenders shall have their cooking vessels smashed, with the ban enforced perpetually.
From Volume 3, Legacy Writings of Master Yunqi
10 / The Buddha’s Teaching: Attachment to Delicious Food and Overeating Lead Easily to Falling into Evil Paths!
The Buddha stated: Cultivators face eleven causes and conditions that obstruct the cultivation of the Way and may cause them to fall into the evil paths. These conditions are listed below:
First, gathering in large assemblies.