A Fresh Start in the Kitchen

05.15.2020 A FRESH START IN THE KITCHEN Oryoki is the meditative way of eating practiced in Zen monasteries. Inside the May 2020 Lion’s Roar magazine, Gesshin Claire Greenwood shares with you how bringing the spirit of oryoki into our home kitchens can make us feel more deeply nourished. To access the whole issue now, subscribe to Lion’s Roar magazine and include digital access. In this Weekend Reader, you’ll find links to more helpful stories about bringing yourself fully to your time in the kitchen, and to enjoying the results.

Bread of Life Making bread requires the acceptance of both the imperfect and the impermanent, says Elissa Altman. She shares her thoughts on the meditative process of bread making and a recipe for a classic bloomer loaf — “a wonderful bread to learn on.” We break bread to welcome guests to our table. We sit down alone in the dim light of a quiet early morning, apply heat (toaster; broiler; open flame) to a slice of bread no matter its solidity. It evolves and emerges brown and crisp, we swipe sweet butter or fruit jam from edge to edge, or top it with a fried egg or a slab of baked tofu and slivered radishes. Our day has begun: elemental sustenance rooted in the growing and harvesting of grain, its milling and grinding, its mixing and folding, kneading and dusting, and waiting.

The Taste of Thusness Hoko Jan Karnegis explains how nyoho, or the dharma of thusness, guides the menu at a Zen kitchen. If our opinions come from the three poisonous minds of greed, anger, and delusion, then decisions based on them are going to be faulty. If instead we make choices based on the guidelines given us by the Buddha and ancestors, which are in accord with the way things really are, our decisions will be filled with generosity, compassion, and awareness. That means that I sometimes plan for, buy, cook, and serve foods at sesshin that are not necessarily my own personal favorites — but they do nourish practice in alignment with the Buddha way. And sometimes that tempting bag of Cheezychips really is just what the sangha needs.

A Diet for a Healthy World Clair Brown and Pearl McLeod explain how changing your diet can change the world. It’s easy to feel like we can’t make a difference. But with right intention — the practice of aligning our lives with our values — we can reduce harm to the planet by eating less meat and moving toward a plant-based diet. We can also change our agricultural systems to heal the earth, as we heal ourselves. Even one person can make a difference by eating sustainably. Here are some of the contributions we can make to the health of the planet (as well as our own).

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