The Menu (Venkatesh)
The Zen Monastic Standards states, "In deciding the morning and noon meals, the amount of food and number of dishes, the tenzo should consult the other officers. The six officers are the administrator, assistant administrator, treasurer, disciplinarian, tenzo, and head caretaker. After the menu is decided post it on boards by the abbot\"s residence and the study hall."
This seemingly mundane practical detail from the Instructions to the Tenzo opened my eyes to the compassion of this tenzo-practice. The six senior monks gather together every day to discuss the day\"s food offerings; they are not above such details and are obliged to face them daily. What kinds of things do they discuss? The produce of the monastery garden, alms offerings, purchases, the budget, the need to replace old or broken utensils, personnel issues, complaints...Do these six officers ever disagree, do they ever grate on each other? People can have intense feelings about food. Then, collectively, they agree on a menu that has to be posted. Why? Why should the monks have any attachment to what they\"ll be eating that day? In a more austere version of Buddhism, you eat what is put in your bowl and are thankful for it. Here, we seem to be acknowledging that people -- especially hardworking young monks -- are interested in what will be served for lunch, and look forward to it. Contemplating the menu gives a moment of cheerful anticipation. This is natural and acceptable, and doesn\"t necessarily express or
nurture craving. Indeed, a tenzo might even want to give the community something to look forward to -- might want to walk 24 miles to buy mushrooms for a special occasion. Amidst all the discipline and relentless perfectionism, this is something beautiful.
From Ms. Carter: Is this when the bamboo and the plantain enter the painting? It is about the planning and the measurement, the linearity of the process and the decision-making tasks. But, it is also about the community, the gathering, the yin/yang or the cycles that contain those tasks and enter the world of the monastery, a deeply compassionate community. One is contained in and contains the other. Yin and yang? "Yin and yang belong to the tall bamboo. They are the passage of time of the tall bamboo (meal planning) and the world of the tall bamboo (sangha). Yes, this would be called beautiful.
ReplyDelete"Do these six officers ever disagree, do they ever grate on each other? People can have intense feelings about food."
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the grater scratching against my skin here.
Every once in a while, I think about the Amazonian tribe described in a book titled "Savages" by Joe Kane, a New Yorker writer, in the 1990s. This tribe emerged from the jungle to stop Texaco, and then Chevron, from continuing to pollute their homeland waters. They invited Kane to several tribal councils, where he watched in real time as they decided their next courses of action. These were meetings with fraught issues -- whether to march up the face of the foothills of the Andes into Quito, whether to make literal war (with spears) against the civilian government, whether to send emissaries or go as a tribe. Kane was fluent in their language by then, and could follow the discussion well. They talked in turns, going around the circle one by one. They went around several times. At the end they all got up and went their ways. Kane never figured out how they reached consensus, but they always did, amicably and with no one seeming to be interested in pushing his or her point further. I got the feeling that they knew something about not owning a point of view.
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ReplyDeleteOne thing that stands out to me is that each meal on the menu pictured above has a sweet / dessert portion, whether yogurt with maple syrup, white macadamia nut cookies, or pineapple coconut bars.
DeleteThe reason dessert stands out to me is because there are two ways people approach dessert. The first approach you will see in restaurants, and reflecting on your own experience at a restaurant, will help you understand the difference between being satisfied and stuffed. When you have just eaten a Chicken Parm at an Italian ristorante, and you are already full, I mean to say you can't have another bite. But then the waiter comes and asks if you want an affogato with some biscotti. At this point, you are no longer eating for hunger but simply eating because it tastes delicious. Indeed, if we reflect on the most flavor-packed foods, they are also the most binge-able foods, meaning you keep eating them even beyond being full. (Chips, Gummy Bears, Ice Cream...!)
The following approach, I believe, is taken by the Tenzo and fellow officers. One of the Standards, if I recall, is that the food cannot interfere with the practice. Thus the restaurant approach, which is lucrative for business because it provides a supranormal experience around food, cannot be replicated in a monastery. It would lead to stuffed monks and likely cardiovascular issues throughout the monastery. Heart health, interestingly enough, must not be taken for granted when creating portions. They must be portions that can be eating every day without leaving the Monks in a calorie surplus. That means the Tenzo and officers might think about what tasks they have to do today. If they are working in the garden, perhaps they need a bit more fuel, but they may adjust accordingly and reduce portions if they are sitting and meditating.
To come full circle with all this in mind, one could say, let's eliminate dessert and save the headache of planning, but this Tenzo does not say that. The Tenzo knows one does not have to sacrifice good-tasting foods to prevent indulging. It is a matter of not losing either the single eye of context or the two eyes of details. Both are needed.