by Arnie Kozak
ZEN EATING
A Ritual of Awareness and Cooperation
At Shao Shan in East Calais, Vermont, the group in the zendo room may be approximately ten people. Once everyone has arrived, the group stands, places their hands in gassho (prayer position), and bows. Once seated, Japanese style, on the floor, the Zen master claps wooden sticks together to mark the start of the meal practice and there is another gassho. Now the food is served. At Shao Shan a simple meal is offered for lunch that consists of homemade squash soup, hummus, some greens, and steamed bread. The food service is an exercise in remaining attentive. Participants are required to pay keen attention to maintain the group harmony. The Zen master serves the soup from a large pot. The person farthest from her sits with hands in gassho, watching. When enough has been served, the hand is lifted toward the sky to signal “enough.” That bowl is then passed back along the participants until it reaches that person, who sets it down. This process is repeated until everyone has soup. Then the hummus is passed around in a bowl. The people on one side of the table become the servers. You serve the person sitting across from you, who sits in gassho and raises one hand when enough has been served. You then serve yourself and pass the bowl to the person next to you. The bread is served in the same way. Once all the food has been served, the meal chant is recited in Japanese:
Hitatsu ni wa, ko no tasho o hakori, kano raisho o hakaru
Futatsu ni wa onore ga taku gyo no zen ketto nakatte k ni ozu
Mitsu ni wa, shin o fusegi toga o wanaruru koto wa tonto o Shu to sa
Yatsu niw a, masa I ryo yaku o Kot to suru wa gyoko o ryozen ga
Itatsu ni wa, jodo no tame no yue ni, ima Kono jiki o uku.
These five stanzas roughly translate to:
This meal is labor of countless beings, let us remember their toil.
Defilements are many, exertions few, do we deserve this offering?
Gluttony stems from greed, let us be moderate.
Our life is sustained by this offering, let us be grateful.
We take this food to attain the Buddha Way.
To recite the meal chant is to become intentional about eating. The goal is to be awake while food is consumed and to come out of the trance wherein eating is taken for granted. The first stanza reminds you that countless events took place to get this food to the table. It had to be prepared, bought, delivered to the store, planted in the ground, nurtured by rain, sun, and bacteria, and so forth. It is a reminder of the interconnected web of life and a reminder that events do not occur out of this interconnected context. This helps to foster appreciation for the unique gift this food represents. The second stanza asks you to reflect upon your efforts to date and to see where effort may be strong or needs improvement. The third stanza is self-explanatory, and at a deeper level resonates the Buddha’s message of the Middle Way. Remember in his own path he experienced both extremes of indulgence and starvation. Moderation with food is a reminder to moderation in all things, avoiding extremes whenever possible. The fourth stanza reminds you that this food is vital to your survival, to nourish the body with nutrients. And the fifth stanza builds on the message of the fourth stanza and reminds you to put that nourishment to good use—to use it to work toward awakening.
Once the meal chant is recited and the reflections on its meaning made, there is one more step—the food offering. Everyone takes a small bit of bread and places it into a bowl. Later the group will go for a walk and offer this bread to the fish living in the pond near the zendo. Then eating begins!
Unlike vipassana meditation retreats where eating may be a very slow process, the group at Shao Shan eats at a relatively normal rate. However, one must be efficient and mindful of others while eating. Once the master has finished her portion, an offering of seconds is made. Everyone stops eating and the process of serving begins anew. Once everyone who wants seconds is served, another gassho is performed, and then everyone resumes eating. As with bowing before and after meditation, this is a group process and the meal does not end until everyone has finished eating. This communality is a natural deterrent to gluttony because no one wants to be the last one eating when everyone else is finished.
The meal ends with tea served as the hummus and bread were served; you serve the person across from you and then serve yourself. Then a serving tray is passed for the dishes and each of the participants wipes their portion of the table. Then gassho. Then standing. Then gassho. Lunch is now over. The entire process has been conducted in noble silence—when it goes smoothly no words or eye contact is exchanged.
Eating the meal in this ritualized way provides continuity to the practice, and it functions as a living reminder that all moments can be lived with intention. The entire Zen practice is an invitation to awaken. After lunch, a volunteer is solicited or someone is appointed the opportunity to do work practice by washing the dishes. Then a communal walk to make the food offering takes place. Then zazen practice resumes. This is a taste of the way of Zen.
TEA CEREMONIES
A Zen Ritual
Most Westerners think of tea as a breakfast drink or something to enjoy with toast at four o’clock in the afternoon. Most drink tea in a cup with a bag or an infuser and maybe a garnish of lemon and honey or a little bit of milk and sugar. In Zen Buddhism, tea is a ritual. Once you experience tea the Zen way, you will never look at a cup of tea quite the same way. Tea is ceremony itself.
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”In the liquid amber within the ivory-porcelain, the initiated may touch the sweet reticence of Confucius, the piquancy of Lao-Tzu, and the ethereal aroma of Shakyamuni himself.”
—Okakura Kakuzo, Japanese scholar
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The tea ceremony is called chanoyu. It translates into “hot water for tea.” Chanoyu is based on the principles of respect, harmony, purity, and tranquility. If you could bring these qualities into your everyday life, your life would be filled with utter peace. Everyone in the tearoom is equal, and great respect is paid to each person present. Everything in the tearoom matters, from the air you breathe to the flower arrangement to the actual space it is served in—everything contributes to the enjoyment of each moment of the tea ceremony.
The rules for the tea ceremony are to be followed exactly. Each moment matters and the sequence of events is laid out rigidly. The ceremony flows, and there is meaning in every gesture; each moment is to be savored. The tea ceremony is the way of life itself. It captures the essence of Zen—life in the moment with great attention.
In this regard, the tea ceremony is a mindfulness meditation. It is a moving meditation, practiced to cultivate samadhi. The repetition and rigidity of action allows you to enter a deep meditative state, as you know each movement coming your way. As you perform each part of the ceremony you do so with utter mindfulness, paying careful attention to each and every movement. When you whisk, you whisk. When you pour, you pour. When you drink, you drink.
In The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo, the author tells us that there are actually schools of tea. These schools can be classified as Boiled Tea, Whipped Tea, and Steeped Tea. Practitioners in the West would fall into the latter category. Caked tea is boiled, powdered tea is whipped, and leaf tea is steeped.
VOCABULARY
First an introduction to the vocabulary of the tea ceremony. The tea ceremony takes place in the chashitsu—a room designed for the tea ceremony. This room is usually in the teahouse itself, which is usually within the gardens. Here are some other words you will want to familiarize yourself with:
• Sayu—hot water with which to make tea.
• Furo—brazier (a pan for holding hot or burning coals).
• Chabana—tea flower arrangement.
• Fukusa—a cleansing cloth, usually a square of silk, folded into a triangle, which hangs from the host’s sash.
• Kama—a container for boiling water (kettle).
• Kashi—sweet candy snack.
• Mizusashi—container for cold water.
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Chawan—tea bowl.
• Chakin—napkin.
• Chashaku—scoop for tea.
• Chaki—tea container.
• Kensui—water waste container with futaoki (lid rest).
• Hishaku—water ladle.
In order to have a tea ceremony, you will also need the tea and charcoal for the fire.
Procedure
The guests are greeted by the host and ushered into the tearoom. The guests take their seats and the kashi is served and eaten. The kama has been set on the furo so that the water can boil. Then the host brings items necessary to start preparation of the tea. First he brings over the tea bowl containing the wiping napkin, the whisk, the tea scoop, and the container holding the tea. He then brings over the wastewater container, which holds the lid rest and the water ladle. The lid rest should be placed near the kettle with the water ladle on top of it. The lid rest is used to hold the lid of the kettle and is usually made of green bamboo. Now the host is ready to start preparations.
The host takes the fukusa and wipes the tea scoop and the tea container. This is done with intense concentration as the host’s focus on meditation increases. This cleansing gesture signifies to the guests that everything is clean and the host cares about the purity of the service. Taking the ladle in hand, he scoops hot water out of the kettle and pours it into the tea bowl, and the whisk is then rinsed in the water. The water is then poured into the wastewater container, the bowl is cleaned with the wiping cloth, and the cloth is put back in its place. Now the tea can be made.
The tea used in the tea ceremony is powdered tea, so it has to be whipped. The host picks up the tea container in his left hand and the scoop in his right, and puts three scoops of tea into the tea bowl from the tea container. The water ladle is filled nearly to the brim with hot water, and enough water is added to the tea to make a paste. More water is added as necessary to get the correct consistency for the tea. The tea is briskly whisked, and then the host picks up the tea bowl and places it on top of his left palm. He holds the right side of the bowl with his right hand, then turns it twice away from himself, a full turn of the wrist each time, so that the front of the bowl is facing away from the host. Then the tea bowl is placed in front of the guests, and the first guest picks up the bowl and holds it the same way.
Origins of the Ceremony
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The tea ceremony traces its origins to the fifteenth century and conversations between Zen monks and the nobility. The goal is to combine aesthetics with meditative calm. The monk Shuko formulated the four principles. Sen no Rikyu changed the chanoyu from opulence to elegant simplicity in the sixteenth century. The door to the newly designed chashitsu was so low that participants had to bow on their way in. Samurai were asked to leave their swords outside. The interior was blank with the exception of a single piece of art.
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The first guest to pick up the bowl will turn to the next guest, gassho, and offer the tea bowl. The guest will bow back and decline. Then she will gassho to the host, pick up the bowl, and hold it in the same way. She raises it a little bit while bowing again to show gratitude, then turns the bowl toward herself. She then drinks from the side of the bowl.
She wipes off the bowl with her thumb and finger and then turns the bowl back to the front. She admires the craftsmanship of the bowl—tea bowls are a work of art and the choosing of the tea bowl is part of the beauty of the ceremony—and returns the bowl to the host, turning it so the front of the bowl faces the host. Before she returns the bowl, she can ask questions about the bowl, such as “Where was this bowl made?” and “Does this bowl have a name?” The host pours water into the tea bowl, swirling it around to cleanse the bowl, then pours the water into the wastewater container.
The process is repeated for the next guest. When the last guest has had tea, the host cleans the tea bowl with the cold water and reverses the process. In the winter and spring months, a ro (a sunken hearth) is used instead of the furo, which is used the rest of the year so that the tearoom does not get uncomfortably hot.
WHY MEDITATE?
An Essential Part of Buddhism
Meditation is an elemental part of Buddhism. Even though the various schools of Buddhism approach meditation differently, mindfulness is a common core. For Westerners, meditation is one of the key attractive features of Buddhism, providing a methodology for transformation. Meditation provides an antidote to problems of self that Westerners find so vexing. Buddhism also provides a philosophical system that speaks to many people who want to live a life less ruled by greed, hatred, and delusion.
WHY MEDITATE?
Meditation can transform your life. It can change your brain and it can reduce stress and anxiety, help you to sleep better, energize you, make you more patient, get you in touch with how you feel both emotionally and physically, provide a quiet space in your day, and much more.
According to the meditation teacher Shinzen Young, mindfulness meditation provides three benefits:
• Sensory clarity
• Concentration
• Equanimity
Twenty minutes a day can change your life. If meditation improves sensory clarity, and if your experiences are twenty percent richer than they were before meditation, then the twenty minutes per day you spend meditating increases how much life you experience. What if meditation made things twice as rich? You can do the math! Improved concentration is another benefit of meditation. Can you use more concentration in your life? Would your work performance improve? Your relationships? Your golf game? Equanimity is the ability to handle any situation with a matter-of-fact and engaged attention. It is the ability to be calm during a storm. Meditation helps to cultivate equanimity along with sensory clarity and concentration.
MEDITATION GEAR
Of course you don’t need any supplies to meditate, but traditionally many Buddhists have used things to accompany their meditation routines, from altars and incense, to cushions and bells. Here are some supplies you might want to consider:
• A meditation cushion (zafu)
• A cushion to put your meditation cushion upon (zabuton)
• Incense
• Timer, bell, or Tibetan singing bowl
• Altar
• Altar cloth
• Candles
• Flowers
• Devotional objects such as a statue of the Buddha
• Prayer beads
Buddhists call their meditation cushions zafus. Zen practitioners traditionally have round zafus and Tibetan practitioners usually have square zafus. The zafu can be placed on a zabuton, which is a large, flat, square cushion that protects the knees from the floor.
Traditionally, incense is burned for the duration of the meditation. Incense can be used as a timer for meditation sessions. Once the incense is burned, the time is up. This could be one of the original uses for incense. Incense also covered unpleasant body odors that may have arisen during meditation sessions, and helped keep flies out of the zendo. An altar is used for several reasons. First, repetition, habit, and ceremony play a large part in meditation practice. The altar is a visual reminder of the importance of practice. It is an indicator of your commitment to practice. And an altar sets the stage for energizing the senses: Gazing at the Buddha, smelling the incense, and bowing or doing prostrations all combine to form a context for the practice itself.
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“I practice meditation
To subdue the dragon of desire.”
—Wang Wei, eighth-century poet
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If possible, it is a good idea to have the altar in a room or part of a room you will not use for any other purpose. If not possible, the altar can be in a corner of a room that can be accessed for practice. If you choose to have an altar, make it your own. You might find altars configured in the following way. A Buddha statue is placed in the center of the altar to focus attention on the two jewels of the Buddha and the dharma. Implements (such as bells or a vajra) are placed
to the side of the Buddha. The incense and incense holder are placed in the center of the altar. You can put incense in an incense holder or fill a small bowl with rice to hold the incense stick. Flowers can be placed on the altar to symbolize the nature of impermanence. A candle can also be placed to one side. The candle symbolizes the light of truth brightening the darkness of delusion.
A timer or Tibetan singing bowl would stay by your zafu and zabuton and would be struck to begin and end the meditation sessions. You can follow the sound of the bell with your mind and start your meditation.
Singing Bowls
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Tibetan singing bowls traditionally come with a striker and a silk-covered cushion to rest the bowl on. They come in a variety of sizes from quite small to large. You can use a Tibetan singing bowl to mark time, as an alarm or a timer, or to hold your incense sticks.
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Prayer beads and devotional objects can be placed on the altar. Prayer beads are held during Tibetan-style meditation. Prayer beads traditionally came from the wood of the Bodhi Tree. A typical strand of prayer beads has 108 beads. Like a rosary, these prayer beads are used in the practice of japa, repeating a mantra such as Om mani padme hum. The beads are used to keep track of the number of repetitions. Different schools of Buddhism use different meditation items.
POSTURE
In virtually all Buddhist meditations, you are required to take a specific posture. Put on some comfortable clothing and take off your shoes. Sit with your legs crossed, in lotus (legs crossed with each foot on the opposite thigh), or half-lotus (one foot on the opposite thigh and the other foot folded on the floor) position if you can. Put the zafu underneath you and sit forward on it so that your knees are touching the ground. You can also put the cushion between your legs and kneel with most of your weight resting on the cushion so your legs don’t fall asleep. This is called sitting seiza. You can also sit Burmese-style (both legs folded and flat on the floor with either the right or left foot forward), or seated in a chair with back straight and feet firmly on the floor. If your knees do not reach the floor, you may want to place a towel or another cushion underneath to support them. Make sure you are in a quiet space with no distractions such as televisions, radio, or other people who are not practicing.