FORMAL MEAL VERSES
Verse upon Hearing the Meal Signal
Buddha was born in Kapilavastu,
enlightened in Magadha,
taught in Vārāṇasī, entered nirvana in Kuśinagara.
At the beginning of each ōryōki meal we chant this verse and remember the most important events in the life of the Buddha Shakyamuni.53 The Buddha was born at Lumbinī Park, not far from the palace of his father, King Śuddhodana, at Kapilavastu. The Buddha attained supreme awakening under a bodhi tree at Uruvelā, later called Bodhgayā, in the kingdom of Magadha. The Buddha taught the Dharma for the first time to the five monks at Deer Park (Mṛgadāva) in Sārnāth near Vārāṇasī (Benares). After that, he continued to teach for more than forty years, until he was about eighty years old, when he entered the great nirvana under twin sāla trees in Kuśinagara. These places have been considered the four most sacred sites in Buddhism. Following the Buddha’s death, Buddhists built stūpas at these places to enshrine his relics, and pilgrimaging there became a common Buddhist practice. People from all over the world still visit these four places even today.
In the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, the Buddha’s attendant Ānanda says, “Lord, formerly monks who had spent the rains in various places used to come to see the Tathāgata, and we used to welcome them so that such well-trained monks might see you and pay their respects. But with the Lord’s passing, we shall no longer have a chance to do this.” The Buddha answered, “Ānanda, there are four places the sight of which should arouse emotion in the faithful. Which are they? ‘Here the Tathāgata was born’ is the first. ‘Here the Tathāgata attained supreme enlightenment’ is the second. ‘Here the Tathāgata set in motion the Wheel of Dharma’ is the third. ‘Here the Tathāgata attained the nibbāna-element without remainder’ is the fourth. And Ānanda, the faithful monks and nuns, [and] male and female lay-followers will visit those places. And any who die while making the pilgrimage to these shrines with a devout heart will, at the breaking-up of the body after death, be reborn in a heavenly world.”54
It is difficult for me to imagine that the Buddha called himself Tathāgata, encouraged people to worship his relics, and promised that if they made pilgrimages they would be born in heaven. But it seems certain that such a belief and practice was there when the Nikāyas were written down using the Pāli language several hundred years after the Buddha’s death.
One of the four bodhisattva vows is “The Buddha’s Way is unsurpassable; we vow to realize it.” Even though we are in a very immature stage of the bodhisattva path, because a bodhisattva is a child of the Buddha, the direction of our practice is to live like the Buddha. When we receive food, we are reminded why we are here and why we eat. It is not to satisfy our desire for food but to continue to practice and walk the path taught by the Buddha. In our minds, we make a pilgrimage to those four sacred places.
Verse for Setting Out Bowls
To begin the meal we unwrap our bowls and arrange them on the table before us. As we open the ōryōki bowls we recite this verse:
Now we set out Buddha’s bowls;
may we, with all living beings,
realize the emptiness of the three wheels:
giver, receiver, and gift.
The initial ō in ōryōki means “in proportion to,” ryō means “amount” or “quality,” and ki means “container.” Ōryōki thus means a container with which we receive a food offering depending on our need to maintain our life for practice. We receive only the amount of food we need. So we have to eat everything we receive without wasting even one grain of rice. To do so, we need to know how much is enough.
In Zen Buddhist tradition, around the eighth century, after the story in which the sixth ancestor, Huineng, received the robe and ōryōki bowl as evidence of his dharma transmission from the fifth ancestor, the bowl was considered the symbol of continuity of Dharma from teacher to disciple. We receive a set of ōryōki bowls from our teacher when we participate in the shukke tokudo ceremony to become a monk/priest. Our ōryōki is the Buddha’s bowl.
The verse says, “May we … realize the emptiness of the three wheels.” The emptiness of the three wheels is a crucial teaching from the Prajñāpāramitā Sutra. The three wheels are the giver, receiver, and gift; these wheels turn the dāna-pāramitā, the perfection of generosity. To practice dāna-pāramitā, there should be no attachment to any wheel.
The Diamond Sutra, one of the earliest Mahāyāna sutras, says, “When bodhisattvas give a gift, they should not be attached to … anything at all. They should not be attached to a sight when they give a gift. Nor should they be attached to a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, or a dharma when they give a gift.”55
The famous story of the Bodhidharma’s meeting with Emperor Wu makes the same point. The emperor had put on the robes of a monk and gave lectures on one of the group of Prajñāpāramitā Sutras. It is said that when he lectured, people saw heavenly flowers falling and the earth turning to gold. He studied extensively and supported Buddhism generously. He issued orders throughout his country to build temples and ordain monks. People called him the Buddha Heart Emperor. When Bodhidharma first met him, the emperor asked, “I have built many temples and allowed many monks to be ordained; what merit is there in this?”
Bodhidharma answered, “There is no merit.”56 “Merit” is a positive effect of certain actions. Even when doing good actions, if we expect to receive merit for ourselves, it is off the mark from the ultimate point of view because it is defiled by our selfish desire.
Ten Buddha Names
After we open the bowls, the inō (director of the zendō) recites:
In the midst of the Three Treasures
which verify our understanding,
entrusting ourselves to the sangha,
we recall: …
Then everyone recites the ten names of the Buddha. This is an invitation for all buddhas and bodhisattvas to share this offering with us. And this is also an expression of our awareness that we are practicing together with all buddhas and bodhisattvas in the past, present, and future in the ten directions.
… Vairocana Buddha, pure dharmakāya;
Locana Buddha, complete sambhogakāya;
Shakyamuni Buddha, myriad nirmāṇakāya;
Maitreya Buddha, of future birth;
All buddhas throughout space and time;
Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, Mahāyāna sutra.
Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, great wisdom;
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, great activity;
Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, great compassion;
All honored ones, bodhisattvas, mahāsattvas;
Wisdom beyond wisdom, mahā prajñā-pāramitā.
These are called the ten Buddha names, but actually there are eleven. Dōgen Zenji added “Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, Mahāyāna sutra.”
The first three names refer to the three bodies of Buddha. Different masters use Vairocana to refer to either dharmakāya or sambhogakāya depending upon the context. Here, Vairocana means the dharmakāya, the Buddha’s body, identical with the entirety of Dharma and everything existing. Vairocana as the dharmakāya appears as the main buddha in the Mahāvairocana Sutra (Sutra of the Great Radiant One; Dainichikyō in Japanese). This is one of the most important sutras in Vajrayāna (Shingon) Buddhism. Vairocana literally means the universal illumination of the radiant light and refers to the light of the sun which illuminates entire world.
Vairocana also appears as the main buddha in the Avataṃsaka Sutra (Flower Ornament Sutra) and the Brahma Net Sutra (Bonmōkyō). Here it is sometimes considered to be the sambhogakāya, the retribution body that is produced upon entering buddhahood as a result of the vows and practice undertaken while the buddha was a bodhisattva. The Chinese transliteration of Vairocana is Pilushena. Locana is another spelling for the shortened form Lushena. In the Brahma Net Sutra, the shortened form Locana Buddha is used.
In his commentary on the Lotus Sutra, Tientai Zhiyi said that Vairocana is
dharmakāya, Locana (Lushena) is sambhogakāya, and Shakyamuni is nirmāṇakāya.57 “Myriad nirmāṇakāya” refers to the Buddha Shakyamuni, the manifestation of the dharmakāya with a human body in a particular time and space. This expression also comes from the Brahma Net Sutra:
“I have cultivated this Mind-Ground Dharma Gate for hundred of eons. My name is Locana. I request all buddhas to transmit my words to all sentient beings, so as to open this path of cultivation to all.” At that time, from Lion’s Throne in the Lotus Treasury World, Locana Buddha emitted rays of light. A voice among the rays is heard telling the buddhas seated on thousands of lotus petals, “You should practice and uphold the Mind-Ground Dharma Gate and transmit it to the innumerable Shakyamuni Buddhas, one after another, as well as to all sentient beings. Everyone should uphold, read, recite, and single-mindedly put its teachings into practice.”58
Modern Buddhist scholars think the Brahma Net Sutra was not translated from an Indian text but composed in Chinese. In the original Chinese text, the Va i in Vairocana is dropped and Vairocana is written as Locana. It is said that there are innumerable Shakyamuni Buddhas sitting on the lotus flowers. It seems these ten Buddha names are created within the tradition based on the teachings of the Avataṃsaka Sutra (Flower Ornament Sutra) and Brahma Net Sutra.
Maitreya Buddha is considered to be the future Buddha. He is now abiding in the Tuṣita heaven, as did Shakyamuni Buddha before he was born in this world. It is believed that Maitreya Buddha will be born 5.6 billion years after Shakyamuni’s death.
Dōgen Zenji added the Lotus Sutra to the list of ten Buddha names because he thought this sutra was very important. In Shōbōgenzō “Kiebuppōsōbō” (Taking Refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), he wrote, “The Dharma Flower Sutra is the causes and conditions of the one great matter of the Buddha Tathāgata. Of all the sutras expounded by the great teacher Shakyamuni, the Dharma Flower Sutra is the great king and is the great teacher. Other sutras and other teachings are all the retainers and people or the family dependents of the Dharma Flower Sutra.”59
The next three names are the most well-known bodhisattvas. Mañjuśrī is the symbol of the Buddha’s wisdom to see the reality of all beings. Samantabhadra is the symbol of the Buddha’s vow and practice of skillful means to help all beings. Avalokiteśvara is the symbol of the Buddha’s boundless compassion toward all beings. In addition to these three great bodhisattvas, all living beings throughout time and space who have aroused bodhicitta (Way-seeking mind) are also bodhisattvas. We are connected with all of them and we practice together with all of them.
The final name is mahā prajñā-pāramitā, the Buddha’s wisdom that sees the emptiness of all beings. Prajñā-pāramitā is called the mother of all buddhas.
Food Offering Verses
After the ten names of the Buddha are chanted, the head monk (shuso) chants the following verses to praise the virtue of the meal offering.
(at breakfast)
This morning meal of ten benefits
nourishes us in our practice.
Its rewards are boundless,
filling us with ease and joy.
The ten benefits of rice gruel, the traditional morning meal in Zen Buddhist monasteries, are mentioned in the Vinaya of Mahāsāṃghika. They are: making one’s complexion healthy and lively, maintaining one’s strength, prolonging one’s longevity, allowing one to feel ease, keeping one’s tongue clean, not upsetting one’s stomach, preventing one from catching cold, satisfying one’s hunger, keeping one’s mouth from thirst, and keeping one’s bowels regular.
(at lunch)
The three virtues and six tastes of this meal
are offered to the Buddha and the sangha.
May all sentient beings in the universe
be equally nourished.
The three virtues of the meal are softness, cleanness, and accordance with dharma (proper preparation). The six tastes are sweetness, spiciness, saltiness, bitterness, sourness, and simplicity. The previous verse is about benefiting the self who eats the food. This verse is about benefiting others: buddhas, sangha members, and all living beings.
Verse of Five Contemplations
When the preceding verses have been chanted, the food is served. Prior to eating, the following verses of five contemplations are chanted.
We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us.
We reflect on our virtue and practice, and whether we are worthy of this offering.
We regard greed as the obstacle to freedom of mind.
We regard this meal as medicine to sustain our life.
For the sake of enlightenment we now receive this food.60
We chant this verse to remind ourselves that eating is a spiritual practice, not just a way to fill our stomachs and satisfy our desires. We acknowledge that we eat “to support our life,” but also affirm the important spiritual meaning of the meal. We eat to keep this body in good shape and also to renew our bodhi-mind, our aspiration to practice according to Buddha’s teaching.
“We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us.” The first of the five contemplations is to appreciate the immeasurable work of those who produce the food and prepare the meal. Basically the meal chant is about the practice of dāna-pāramitā. In India, Buddhist monks neither produced food nor prepared meals. Every day after morning meditation practice they went to town to beg for food. Farming was prohibited for monks because farmers have to kill living beings while cultivating the land. Monks simply received the food offered by laypeople.
In China it is said that Zen monks began to cultivate grains and vegetables to support their practice. There are many koan stories in the Zen tradition about masters and monks working in the fields. One of these is the story of Guishan Lingyou (Isan Reiyū, 771–853) and his disciple Yangshan Huiji (Gyōsan Ejaku, 807–883), the founders of the Guiyang (Igyō) school. One day Yangshan was digging on a hillside to make a rice paddy. Yangshan said, “This place is so low, that place is so high.” Guishan said, “Water makes things equal. Why don’t you level it with water?” Yangshan said, “Water is not reliable, teacher. A high place is high level. A low place is low level.” Guishan agreed.
Guishan’s teacher Baizhang Huihai (Hyakujō Ekai, 749–814) was also famous for his diligent practice of community work. His saying “A day without work is a day without eating” has been one of the most popular Zen mottos. In the traditional Zen monastery, the monks who grew grains and vegetables and prepared the meals were givers, and the rest of the monks received their offerings. Of course, none of these monks sustained themselves completely by their own labor. Zen monasteries became large institutions supported by the emperor, the government, and the aristocracy, and laypeople donated food. Many monasteries also owned manors cultivated by lay farmers.
Today at American Zen centers, practitioners pay to participate in sesshins and retreats. Food provided during the retreat is purchased with this money, so participants may not consider the food they eat as a gift or think of themselves as recipients. Rather, they may think they are purchasing a service. And yet, if we think carefully about this matter, we realize that we cannot buy food if farmers do not work. And if the weather does not support growing plants, farmers cannot produce crops. Plants need water, air, fertilizer, earthworms, and microorganisms, etc. All the elements in the network of interdependent origination support the farmers’ work. All food we receive is a gift from nature.
After the food is grown, we need people to transport it to the marketplace and then to factories to be processed and the various places where consumers shop. On highways we see countless trucks carrying commercial products. Without all these people’s work, we could not eat even a single grain of rice.
There are also factors beyond those we can see on the earth. Because of the distance between the sun and the earth, we receive just the right amount of heat. If we had more or less, we could not live the way we live now. This distance is
a result of the balance among the planets in the solar system working together.
When we consider these interconnections, we see that our existence itself is a gift from the network of all beings. The totality of this network that enables everything to exist is called the dharma body of the Buddha, the Buddha’s life, or the Buddha’s compassion. When we awaken to this reality of interconnection, we cannot help but express our appreciation and gratitude.
“We reflect on our virtue and practice, and whether we are worthy of this offering.” When we realize that we are supported by this network of interdependent origination, we need to reflect on whether we are worthy of this gift. Since our lives are supported by all beings, we need to appreciate and support them instead of harming them. The first of the four bodhisattva vows, “Beings are numberless, we vow to save them,” arises from this awakening to interconnection.
“We regard greed as the obstacle to freedom of mind.” In Japanese this line of the original Chinese verse reads as “Shin wo fusegi, toga wo hanaruru koto wa, ton tō wo shū tosu.” Shin wo fusegu means “to protect our mind.” Toga wo hanaru means “to keep away from misdeeds.” Ton tō means “greed,” but here it also means the three poisonous minds—not only greed but anger/hatred and ignorance as well. Shū tosu means “it is essential.” So this line says: to protect our mind, avoid unwholesome deeds, and keep ourselves in healthy shape, it is essential to be free from the three poisonous minds.
Shakyamuni Buddha taught that our six sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), the six corresponding sense objects (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile objects, and objects of mind), and the six kinds of consciousness caused by the contact between these sense organs and their objects (eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness) are the elements of our lives. He taught that these eighteen elements of our lives all burn with the flames of greed, anger/hatred, and ignorance.
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