Lighting a fire in the kitchen

I have continued to learn about the role of the tenzo in zen practice. This site has some reflections on what happens when you cook with attention and compassion.

"You will practice nonattachment by creating meals that feed practitioners rather than your ego; by planning meals that use what's available and accommodate everyone; and by doing your best with no expectation of return--serving up the meal and letting it go.
Tenzo service is an opportunity for transformation. The kitchen fire burns away ego, attachment, expectation and discrimination."

I am thinking about this because I will help to make the meal for a one day meditation retreat with Calgary Soto Zen in a few weeks. I made some food for previous retreat, and what I remember most vividly was that because we practiced silence all day, from 8 am to 5 pm, I could not apologize for or criticize my food. It helped me to see what a strong habit I have of criticizing my own work. I'm looking forward to finding out what lessons I will learn this time around.

Waking up in the kitchen

I am learning about awareness and waking up to the world from Zen teachers and writers. One of them is Dogen, the founder of the Soto school of Japan. He wrote instructions for the temple cook in the Tenzo Kyokun. I plan to read his instructions over the next little while.

He wrote:

Following the midday meal, go to the offices of the prior and comptroller and get the ingredients for the next day's meals: rice, vegetables and so on. Having received them, protect and be frugal with them, as if they were your own eyes. Respect and value them as if they were ingredients for an imperial repast. ... The Rules of Purity say, "When preparing meals, one should reflect intimately on one's own self; [the food] will then itself be pure and refined."

I think that's a wonderful thing to wake up to -- imagine protecting and valuing food as if it were your own eyes.

Ven. Hyon Gak Sunim

I met Hyon Gak Sunim when I was in Korea. It was great to hear his voice again when I found these videos, he has a kind of English Korean hybrid way of speaking, with Korean inflection and these great expressions that echo the way his great teacher Zen Master Seung Sahn would speak. I met Zen Master Seung Sahn twice when I was in Korea -- once at 5 in the morning when he was walking around the temple grounds, and once during a retreat. They say the three keys to gaining enlightenment are: 1. To be born a human, 2. To meet a great teacher, and 3. To wake up to your true nature. So I'm already two thirds of the way there! The last step should be easy, right?