Cook one meal with the three minds of Tenzo Kyōkun

Prepare one meal with Joyful Mind, Nurturing Mind and Magnanimous Mind, the three qualities Dōgen names for the Zen cook.

Warum es wirkt

Tenzo Kyōkun gives the cook concrete instructions, such as checking rice for sand and not leaving the sink while it soaks, and asks that the work be done with the three minds. Rev. Tatsuzen Sato, summarising the text for the Sōtōshū, reads the instructions as building gratitude for the lives of the ingredients and empathy for the people who will eat. The care is physical and specific, so attention has a task to hold. The link to mood or wellbeing is not studied.

So gehst du vor

1. Before you start, recall the three minds in one phrase each: rejoicing at the task, caring as a parent does, and embracing everything equally.
2. Wash and check each ingredient slowly, looking for what should not be there before you use it.
3. While the rice soaks, stay near the sink rather than leaving the work, as the Sato summary of Dōgen describes.
4. At the table, notice which of the three minds was present, and which slipped.

Evidenz

The instructions and the three minds are from Tenzo Kyōkun as the Sōtōshū’s summary presents them. The practice applies them to a home meal. Food-preparation attention has not been tested as a Zen practice. (anecdotal)

Tenzo Kyōkun was written for a monastery kitchen. Applying its instructions to a home kitchen is an adaptation. This practice is drawn from one source, the Sōtōshū’s page summarising Sato’s reading of the text.

Quellen

• Sato, T. Cooking in Buddhism: In Present-Day Society We Need to Make Eating Our Practice (from Dōgen’s Tenzo Kyokun and Fushuku Hanpo). SOTOZEN.COM.

Häufiger Fehler

Turning the cooking into a performance of mindfulness, with rushed rituals and no attention to the food. Dōgen’s instructions are plain and practical; they are about care, not form.