"Master, in the Analects, it says that Confucius did not speak while eating. What is there so special about to mention it at all?"
"It is because practically nobody understands the art of living in harmony with Nature i.e. with his BODY. Eating is the second crucial function after breathing in our lives. We have a need for it almost every day. Yet, nobody gives it another thought except those who starve, prisoners like Solzhenitsyn. He said: 'You had to eat with all your mind on the food - like now, nibbling the bread bit by bit, working the crumbs up into paste with your tongue and sucking it into your cheeks.' (One Day, 43) We should eat in the best Way, in harmony with Nature, therefore should look at Nature. See the dog. It is very friendly, yet, when it is eating, and you are friendly to it, it only manages to wag its tail once, so intensely concentrated is it on the business at hand.
This concentration serves a purpose. It increases the nourishing process that follows to a millionfold. Therefore, while eating, no conversation, no distraction, no t.v. watching. Do, make it a holy habit, and, ... be never in a hurry, when doing the second most important thing in your life. The hurry, also seen in dog, we can super-prevail by a Mind at ease." [75]