Is it necessary to avoid onion, garlic for a person who does Meditation?

Question

My roommate is avoiding onions and garlic because he says it actually affects him for his Meditation. Does it really affect people who meditate? Is it necessary for a person to avoid onion, garlic to meditate? Or they just avoid them to control their desires?
Btw eating onion and garlic will have any negative effect on health?

Answer 1

This is a really indepth topic, to put it simply, spiritual people eat to survive, not for the enjoyment of their food. This means not adding a lot of spices, garlic or onion.
In doing so they are meditating and serving God humbly, not living as an enjoyer and it is pleasing to Him.
Onions and garlic are not bad for you if you want to enjoy your food.

Answer 2

The following is directly quoted from Zhuan Falun (Turning the Law Wheel). This most precious book is available online for free: http://www.falundafa.org/eng/books.htm
Enjoy the opportunity to read this most precious book

"Some foods actually were dubbed taboo back in the original Buddhism. So taboo foods go back to the original Buddhism, but nowadays people say meat is what’s meant
by “taboo food.” But the truth is, taboo food back then didn’t mean meat. It was about things like onions, ginger, and garlic. And why did they call those things taboo? Even among monks there aren’t many people who can explain it today, and that’s because a lot of them don’t truly cultivate, and there’s a lot they don’t know. What Shakyamuni taught was called “Precept, Concentration, Wisdom.” “Precept” was about doing away with all ordinary people’s desires. “Concentration” was about cultivators cultivating with utter calm of mind while meditating, and being in total stillness. So anything that interfered with that, or that blocked their cultivating, was considered serious interference. And if somebody ate onions, ginger, or garlic, they’d give off a strong odor. Back then monks meditated in forests or caves in groups of seven or eight people in a circle. If somebody ate those things, it would produce a strong, pungent odor that would affect other people’s meditation and their ability to become still inside, so it would seriously interfere with other people’s practice. That’s why there was that precept. They considered those foods taboo and made them off limits. A lot of beings that are developed from the human body through cultivation get really bothered by such foul odors. Onions, ginger, and garlic can also stimulate a person’s desires, and when you eat a lot of them you can get hooked.
That’s why they were considered taboo."

Answer 3

It really depends on what type of meditation your roommate is into. He/she may be following a guru who suggests cutting onion and garlic out of the diet for spiritual reasons that he/she is merely following. Onion and garlic though is not a bad thing to eat. It is just like anything else, if you have too much then it becomes "bad".

Answer 4

Actually, garlic and onion are very good for you. They both cleanse the blood and garlic has many health benefits from boosting the immune system to clearing up infections.
It is possibe your friend could have an allergy.

Answer 5

Yes. Garlic and onions are considered stimulants in Ayuravedic medicine. They stimulate the base chakra. They are slight aphrodesiacs so the indians consider them to get your soul out of the cosmos and into your undies, effectively stunting your meditation.

Only if you are a monk (or a vegan) do you really need to be that extreme.

Answer 6

They both do give you gas, but both have positive health effects. If you eat a lot of these two foods, your body (besides just the gas) will have an odor. When trying to go deep into meditation maybe that is a distraction.

Answer 7

yes... onion and garlic are in the category of passionate food... when you eat 'em, you can get angry very easily and agitated! probably me an your roommate have the same religion too!!! he's a hare krishna...right?...

Answer 8

It might affect him cause he goes off when he is meditating lol maybe he prefers it that way

Answer 9

Only if you breath on your neighbor. Farting doesn't count unless he/she has a bag over their head.

Answer 10

Never heard of..