Allium is a botanical family that includes garlic, leeks, chives, shallots and onions (including green onions, spring onions, scallions, bulb onions, etc.). They have a common pungent smell, and so does asafetida. Therefore, these plants can be referred to as pungent vegetables. They are commonly used in cooking in many countries because of their strong scent. You may have heard of their benefits here and there, but you may not know that they harm us in various ways.
1. Health
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, each individual consists of five natural elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. These elements are interconnected, whilst each is associated with different organs, emotions and personalities. Also, each piece generates its vital energy/life force called "qi" that flows in the body to form a balance with one another, which is crucial to one's physical and mental health.
In a Chinese herbology volume called Compendium of Materia Medica, written by a famous herbalist Li Shizhen in the Ming dynasty, it is recorded that alliums and asafetida can harm human organs and unbalanced associated natural elements, thereby impairing one's health. In particular:
Garlic harms the heart and promotes excessive qi of fire. Consumption of garlic leads to concentration difficulties and a lack of motivation.
Leeks harm the kidney and drain qi of water. Consumption of leeks can cause emotional instability and unease.
Chives harm the liver and restrain the qi of wood. Consumption of chives generates excessive heat in the liver, triggering anger and hurting feelings.
Onions harm the spleen and block the qi of the earth. Consumption of onions gives rise to worries and distress.
Asafetida harms the lungs and seals qi of metal. Consumption of asafetida tires the lungs and leads to a pessimistic state of mind.
2. Smell
Nowadays, we can see all kinds of mouthwash, deodorants and perfumes available in the market designed to help us eliminate bad breath (halitosis) and body odour. Undeniably, a person's smell can have a big impact on the impression they give to others. Imagine attending an important business meeting or going on a date; you wouldn't want to show up with any unpleasant odours, nor would you feel great if other people talked to you with a strongly scented breath.
Pungent vegetables like garlic and onions are a major cause of halitosis and body odour due to their sulfur compounds. Their odorous by-products are absorbed into the bloodstream and carried to the whole body during the digestive process, stinking up your breath, sweat, and urine for hours or even days. It is difficult to use external cures like mouthwash, deodorants and perfumes to eliminate the smell entirely because it's in your blood throughout your entire system.
3. Energy
In Japan and China, garlic is used by strawberry farmers as a pest repeller. They either grow garlic beside their strawberries or sprinkle garlic juice over the soil. The scent is so strong that no bugs would come close, even without any other pesticides.
When growing on the ground, alliums and asafetida innately absorb filthy energies and smells as the fuel of their growth, just like how a sponge soaks up water. Even after they are harvested, this nature remains. You may have seen some people putting onions in their toilets to absorb bad smells (the idea of "shower onions") or some spiritual practitioners keeping them close to transfer evil energies. This shows that such pungent vegetables are similar to sponges that soak up invisible negativity throughout their life. Therefore, when we eat them, we also absorb their bad energies that can contaminate us, disturb our inner peace and mood stability and stimulate excessive desires (especially sexual desires, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine).
Many advanced yoga and tai chi practitioners strictly exclude allium from their diet, knowing that it would distort the balance of their internal energy and affect their performance and progress. Some have said that eating allium vegetables makes them more irritable, their mind blurry, and their thoughts messy.
In Buddhist culture, practitioners are also advised to avoid consuming pungent vegetables. The reasons for this have been documented in The Śūraṅgama Sūtra, "If eaten cooked, they are aphrodisiac and if raw, they cause irritability...those who eat them...drive away seers in the ten directions who abhor the bad odour and attract hungry ghosts who lick their lips. Ghosts always surround them, and their good fortune will fade away day by day to their own detriment. When these eaters of pungent roots practise Samadhi, none of the Bodhisattvas, seers and good spirits come to protect them.' (translation source: BuddhaNet)
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