This morning I'm going to continue with Dogen's Tenzo Kyokun, instructions for the head cook. Some of you probably came today and weren't here for yesterday's talk, but the nice thing about this fascicle is that wherever you pick it up, it's relevant, and whatever you wherever you pick it up and start to read it, it has its own meaning which doesn't necessarily depend on what came before or what comes after, although it does. that would be.

[01:02]

And we ended with Shui Feng So, Dogen's talking about separating the rice from the sand, and he's been talking about that. And he talked about the six flavors and the three virtues of food. And he talks about how the way-seeking mind of Itenzo was actualized by rolling up your sleeves.

[02:12]

So, in order not to lose any of the rice when picking out the sand, do it carefully with your own hands. Again, in the Chang Yuan Chingui, we find, pay full attention to your work in preparing the meal. Attend to every aspect yourself so that it will naturally turn out well. And then he says, next, you should not carelessly throw away the water that remains after washing the rice. In olden times, a cloth bag was used to filter out the water when it was thrown away so that the rice wouldn't go out with the water. When you have finished washing the rice, put it into the cooking pot. Take special care lest a mouse accidentally I won't joke about that.

[03:17]

Under no circumstances allow anyone who happens to be drifting through the kitchen to poke his fingers around or look into the pot. There's a story about, which you probably already know, the cook cooking away in the kitchen and Manjushri pops up on top of the cover of the pot and he picks up his stick and And then there's the story of the Tenzo who's serving a meal to the abbot.

[04:23]

And it's in soup. And the abbot's eating his soup. And what did he find? He found a head of a snake. He looked at me and said, that's the head of a snake. And he turns to the Tantra and says, what's this? And the Tantra, they said, talk to Tantra. Oh, delicious. Thank you. So prepare those vegetables. one day's activity in the kitchen. So, prepare those vegetables that will be used in a side dish for the following morning's meal.

[05:30]

At the same time, clean up the rice and leftover soup for the new meal. Conscientiously wash out the rice container and the soup pot, along with any of the utensils that were used. I usually wash the pots myself, so that there's not a lot of stuff piling up for somebody else to wash. Some things I do leave for the dishwashers to wash, but mostly I don't just leave everything for the dishwashers to wash. I don't like that I wash what is convenient for me to wash, and also to clean up the kitchen. You know, I think the way I figured out how to work is when I'm chopping or something like that, when I'm finished with one thing, I totally clean up my space for the next thing.

[06:31]

And then when I'm finished with that, I totally clean up my space. Instead of leaving stuff piled around me, well, this becomes the main activity. All the other stuff is piling up around me. I don't think that's a good way we should think about. the next thing, so that you always have a clean, a new start on everything that you, on every event that you engaged with. That way you always know what you're doing and you don't get tangled up in what's not being used from the last event. So, put those things that naturally go on a high place into a high place, and those that would be most suitable on a low place into a low place.

[07:35]

Things that naturally belong on a high place settle best on a high place, while those which belong on a low place find their greatest stability there. This is a very famous passage that most people quote, what belongs on a high place and what so that you always know where to go to find something. And the way the objects that we're using relate to each other. When we put something down, when we put a glass down, how does it relate to all the other objects on the table? all the objects that we're using at any moment.

[08:37]

I think that's an important way to be not just mindful, but to pay attention to relationship. Because when we pay attention to relationship, we create harmony in our space. Creating harmony in a small space is a condition for creating harmony in the larger space. We can get too picky. The danger of that is getting too picky. Everything has to be just right. So there is a way of going overboard. But And if we think that when we put things down they're going to stay that way, that's a big mistake. But while everything is in flux, while I am in flux, all of the objects around me are in flux, within that dance,

[09:49]

the cheetah who takes care of the altar. The trick is how you make space for everything, without crowding something else, without covering something else. When the chi-sha puts the flowers on the altar, I like it to be near the tail of Manjushri. So the Jisha puts it on there and then I move it over. I forgot to tell this Jisha that. My fault. But I would move it over if the Jisha puts it, because Manjushri is saying, well, hang on, I can't see you. So we're very careful not to cover something else that should be not covered.

[11:03]

and just mindlessly put something down. How, when I put something down, how does it relate to what's next to it, or what's in front, or behind, or around it? That way we're creating harmony. That's how we create harmony in Zen Buddhism. Because when you come in, you look at the altar, and the altar is expressing that kind of harmony, and then it affects you. And then you naturally feel that harmony. Do you recognize it or realize it or not? So, the other thing is stability. When you put what belongs in the high place there and what belongs in the low place there, it creates stability. And stability is one of the important factors of

[12:05]

Zen practice, when you're serving, you're holding pots, and you're walking down the aisle, and we offer the food, and the trays, or the pots, have to be taken into account that does something to our balance. So how do we maintain our balance and adjust to carrying something and putting it forward or doing this? When we serve people in the middle of the zendo, we either put down one knee or two knees so that we're

[13:08]

So always finding a stable position and acting from that stable position is our practice. That's why Zazen is like a triangle. This is the triangle and that's the most stable position. It's easier to stay awake than if you're lying down. Lying down is pretty stable. But it's too easy to fall asleep. You can relax, but it's hard to have effort. Because the activity is a balance between effort and ease. You have the ease, all right, but you don't have the effort. So that makes it harder. And sometimes, you know, if you have body problems, you can't even get down on one knee.

[14:37]

So then, just do the best you can. Find the stability when you can't even get down on one knee. At least look for the stability. How do I, you know, do that? Also, when we are serving with a tray, like the cups, We're holding the tray and then we bow. We don't bow the tray. We hold the tray up and bow the head. Like, we don't do this. So that we're paying attention to the some respect to the tray instead of moving it around. We're holding the tray up and bowing.

[15:40]

So this is an important aspect. And you'll find that you will like it better if you look that way. That's a prediction. Then he says, Handle them with equal care and awareness, putting everything back where it naturally belongs. Keep your mind on your work and do not throw things around carelessly. Yesterday I was talking about how to use the ingredients you have and to bring out their character without changing them too much.

[17:00]

Sometimes you add something, but even though you may add something, you maintain the character of the ingredient so that what you use with it It doesn't cover it. And the same with students. I think a good teacher will try to emphasize the characteristics, to change that, because what we call a bad characteristic, actually when it's transformed, becomes a good characteristic. And then nobody knows what good and bad really is. So, sometimes a person is very stubborn, you know, this person is just so stubborn, you want to change them, but they're just stubborn.

[18:11]

But that stubborn quality, when it's an asset instead of a hindrance. So, stubbornness is, I won't do this, I won't do this, I won't do this, can be changed to, I will do this. So, how to actually use, to take the qualities, good or bad, of a student, so that they work rather than trying to change them or eliminate them. That's the real trick. So it works everywhere. So, Jim Rushkin? Yes. This may be very simplistic, but would you say that transformation of the so-called bad qualities is all about dropping the self-centeredness in relationship to them?

[19:16]

Is that the key ingredient for that transformation? I mean, certainly that's a factor. When you drop self-centeredness, those characteristics usually adjust themselves. For example, in stubbornness, when it's not about what I want to do, it becomes a kind of perseverance. Yes, what should be done. that's really very lovely and helpful. Yeah, right. And a person who is always angry, that anger, when acting on anger, it reinforces ego.

[20:21]

And yes, of course, it's all about letting go of self-centeredness and desire, inordinate desire. So that's the work of the teacher. That's the work of the student, isn't it? The work of the teacher is to help, to help that person, give them some confidence. day's noon meal. So there is actually a morning meal. I found out. There's a morning meal and a noon meal. We're dug in. After this work has been done, it is time to prepare for the following day's noon meal. First of all, check to see whether there are any insects, peas, rice bran, or tiny stones in the rice. Well, some of those things are probably okay, then.

[21:26]

And if so, carefully I wouldn't mind finding a peer or two in life. So when choosing the rice and vegetables to be used, those working under the tenzo should offer sutras to the spirit of the kamado. Kamado is like the big oven, some big oven, or the stove, maybe the rice stove or something. So, you know, in Japan and in China, especially in China, when you go to Chinese grocery store in Oakland. You look up and there are all these dusty icons, all these little demigods, spirits. There's a spirit for everything. The spirit of the living room, So I think there's a range of meanings to what the spirit actually means.

[22:44]

introduced us into some of the more sophisticated, like in the bathroom, there's a spirit of a certain bodhisattva, and you bow to the bodhisattva before you go in the bathroom. Begin preparing the ingredients for whatever side dish and soup there might be. Cleaning everything thoroughly of any dirt or insects. When the Tenzo receives the food from the Kusu, he must never complain about its quality or quantity, but always handle everything with the greatest care and attention. Nothing could be worse than to complain about too much or too little of something

[24:08]

I do that sometimes, and I don't apologize to anybody, but I apologize to Dogon. Sometimes we have to make those judgments, but I remember one time, we try to just accept everything that comes. Somebody said, palatable, so we don't have to do that. So it goes both ways, actually. It goes both ways. Yes, we won't complain, but please make a big effort to make palatable food. Yes, so each side has their thing. really runs the monastery.

[25:35]

And they divided that into three different people at some point, into the director and the storehouse keeper or something, and somebody else. But here, the kusu was that person who had all that responsibility. So both day and night allow all things to come into statement. Allow your mind, yourself, and all things to function together as a whole. So Suzuki Roshi used to talk about big mind. You should always reside in big mind. Small mind is an expression of big mind. It's not that small mind is bad. Small mind is what we use to differentiate things and to work with things. But big mind is the boss. So if we're cut off from big mind, then what we do tends to fall into egotism and self-serving.

[26:44]

So if we turn over small mind to big mind, then in big mind we can accept everything in our mind because our mind is so big. If we have a narrow mind, then we tend to create problems. Allow, both day and night, allow all things to come into and reside within your mind. Allow mind, be mind, and all things to function together as a whole. Before midnight, before midnight, So, before the day is over, before the night is over, you should do this. And then, when the day starts, then you should do the other thing.

[27:49]

So, that's just a way of manner of speaking, I'm sure. Although, midnight is the beginning of the day. The moment past midnight is the beginning of the day. But, in Dogen's time, They didn't use clocks, no tick-tock. So they went more by the cycle of the sun and the moon, natural movements. And they would get up at certain times according to the season. And as the season kept changing, there's a chart that shows the annual changes of when they would get up, when they start the day and so forth, which someone that likes to read those things and can understand them could look at and explain that.

[28:56]

There is that chart. I just wanted to say, Uchiyama Roshi would like to say, everything we encounter is our life. So we put our life into everything we encounter. Totally. Both day and night, allow all things to come and reside within your mind. After the morning meal, so there is a morning meal, after the morning meal, wash the pots and cook the rice and soup for the new meal. So, you don't want somebody watching over you all the time, looking over your shoulder, right?

[30:16]

This is Dogen. Keep your eyes open. Do not allow even one grain of rice to be lost. Wash the rice thoroughly, put it in the pot, light the fire and cook it. There is an old saying that goes, see the pot as your own head, see the water as your lifeblood. You know, we say that. Buddha's head. We say that the meal board is Buddha's tongue. Everything has an anthropomorphic quality. The Buddha's tongue is the meal board. That's the only reason why we don't step on it. Transfer the cooked rice into a bamboo basket in summer, or a wooden container in winter, and then set it on the table.

[31:21]

Cook the rice soup and any side dish at all at the same time. And I might note, here is cook the tofu last. When you're cooking with tofu, don't dump the tofu in and cook it with everything else. Unless you like it really chewed. A lot of people like chewing it. In Tassajara they have a dish where the tofu is like leather. People like it. I kind of like it. But it's not the only way to cook tofu. The best way, the usual way to cook tofu is to just eat it up. You don't really cook it. The Tenzo must be present, paying careful attention to the rice and soup while they are cooking.

[32:23]

This is true whether the Tenzo does the work by himself or has assistants helping him, either with the cooking or the tending of the fires. Even though in the larger monasteries recently people have been placed in charge of cooking the soup or the rice, the Tenzo should not forget that these people are assistants working under him. They cannot be held responsible for this work. In olden times, the tenzo was completely in charge and there were no assistants. Yeah, that was a long time ago. Now we have what we call the fukuten, who is the person that actually is in charge of the cooking. So it's all changed, you know. The tenzo, you basically kitchen and creates an atmosphere of harmony, orders the food and consults to see that everything is working correctly and everybody is more or less happy.

[33:29]

But when you are working in a small room, becomes a kind of dance, but it's an improvisation, it's an improvised dance, and you have to be careful how you move. And then people have different personality characteristics, and then over time you don't It's a great way to practice with your feelings and emotions. But if you can join the dance, then dancing is always joyful.

[34:35]

That's why people do it. So this is kind of a wonderful improvised dance that's going on all day long. Have fun. So the fukuten is the person who is in charge of the cooking, basically. The tenso is the main assistant. So monastic practice is like living in a semi-poverty situation. You're not working for being paid and a lot of food is being donated and people are supporting you because of your practice.

[35:36]

Does my virtue and practice deserve it? Well, that's what that's about. We hope that our virtue and practice deserve this meal because that's all you've got. is your virtue and practice. And if people respect your virtue and practice and it reaches them and helps them, they won't support you. Otherwise they won't. So I have something that I wrote that says, there's nothing especially virtuous about poverty, but to live a life of the highest refinement within poverty, within the position of poverty, is true freedom. I'll read you that again. There's nothing especially virtuous about poverty, but to live a life of the highest refinement within a position of poverty is true freedom.

[36:40]

So it means that actually practice. Because you realize that the less you need, the happier you are. But tell that to people who don't have anything. That's why there's a difference between People who feel needy and people who have nothing but feel unneedy. So he says, when you prepare food, never view the ingredients from some commonly held perspective, nor think about them only with your emotions.

[37:58]

Maintain an attitude that tries to build great temples from ordinary greens. That expounds the Buddhadharma through the most trivial activity. When making a soup with ordinary greens, do not be carried away by feelings of dislike toward them. nor regard them lightly, neither jump for joy simply because you have been given ingredients of superior quality to make a special dish. By the same token that you do not indulge in a meal because of its particularly good taste, there is no reason to feel an aversion toward an ordinary one. Do not be negligent and careless just because the materials seem plain, and hesitate to work more diligently with materials of A person who is influenced by the quality of a thing or who changes his speech or manner according to the appearance or position of the people he meets is not a person working in the way.

[39:02]

So you give this one this face and you give that one a different face. And this goes for, not just for food, but for clothes as well. There's always been this kind of controversy about priests and monks wearing silk clothes, silk robes, or cotton robes, or robes from the carnal ground sewn together. whatever kind of material it is, one seems more superior to another. And then people say, well, what is that monk doing or that priest doing wearing silk robes?

[40:07]

So, if it's a covetousness, then that's a problem. But if one material is the same as another material, and it doesn't matter which material it is, then silk is fine. Cotton is fine. Any material is fine, as long as it's not considered superior or inferior to another. So this is a big teaching. That's the same with food as with clothes. So then he says, strengthen your resolve and devote your life spirit those who came before you, how do we apply our life aspiration so that it will function for the way?

[41:10]

If great teachers in the past were able to make a plain soup from greens for only a pittance, we must try to make a fine soup for the same amount. This is very difficult to do. Among other things, there are great differences between ages, actions, and pouring our energy into those actions, there is no reason why we cannot equal the ancient masters." So he says, we must aspire to the highest of ideals without becoming arrogant in our manner. And I think that Uchiyama, when translating this, put that in. But Dogen always is holding up the ancestors as the model. And he's always saying that the ancestors were so far superior to our practice and so forth that it's almost impossible to keep up with them.

[42:27]

And this is an interesting point because this is the 13th century. You have to remember that. Bögen was born in the year 1200. And at that time, it was the era of Mapo. Mapo was the third of the three periods which were a prediction, a commonly held prediction, that the first 500 years after Shakyamuni would be the era of of imitation or, not imitation exactly, but going through the motions.

[43:30]

And the third, because you keep getting further and further away from the source, and then the third period, the 500 year period, was the Mah-Po, the era where there was no way that you could keep up with the ancestors. practice Buddhism in its true sense. And Mapo was right around the 16th century, it was a little bit after that, quite a bit after that, but it's still the area of Mapo. And so Nichiren developed the practice of studying the Lotus Sutra because no need to practice. meditation or anything like that because it wouldn't help. And then Shinra developed the practice of chanting the Buddha's name, the Nembutsu, in order to be ushered into the pure land. So these people completely gave up any kind of practice that would lead to enlightenment

[44:39]

be beneficial, or be actually Shakyamuni's practice. He said, Dogen, and Dogen said, you know, never mind all that, that's baloney. If you practice, you can have realization, and realization is practice. So he was quite different, and this is how Zen actually developed in Japan. those three ways. And today it's still there, those three ways. So Dogen is always pointing to the ancestors' practice. Yes, you can practice like the ancestors. You can. It's still valid. It's not posed just in somebody's idea. But that idea was very strong in those days, and so those other practices developed, and It's the biggest one in Japan.

[45:46]

Not only can you not do anything, you're not supposed to do anything that will indicate any kind of practice. Simply throw yourself into the arms of Amida Buddha, which, you know, I won't complain about that. That's pretty good. That's salvation for a lot of people. becomes a very materialistic kind of practice. If you want a car, you pray for one. If you want a house, you pray for one. Anyway, so for Dogon it's very important to use the ancestors as models. And that's why in Zen we have this tradition of

[46:48]

models from Shakyamuni. Whether the lineage is accurate or not is questionable, but nevertheless, it's there. And that's why we don't have a special sutra that study is a Zen text. All texts are Zen texts. But Zazen is how we see Buddhist teaching. Zazen is a sutra. Joshu, someone asked Master Joshu,

[48:08]

I think it was maybe a nun or some, I think it was a woman. She said, Master Joshu, would you please recite the sutra for me? And Joshu put his arms out and rotated his body around and around three times. He said, there, I just chanted the sutra for you. So that's our style. So, it's time to quit. These things are truly just a matter of course, yet we remain unclear about them because our minds go racing around like horses running wild in the fields while our emotions remain unmanageable.

[49:12]

like monkeys swinging in the trees. Think about that. If only we could step back to carefully reflect on the horse and the monkey, our lives would naturally become one with our work. Doing so is the means whereby we turn things, even while simultaneously Turning and being turned is one of the Dogon's favorite statements. It's like when the Dharma turns us and we turn the Dharma. The environment turns us and we turn the environment. We make a cake, and the cake makes us.

[50:15]

We cook the eggs, and the eggs cook us. We walk on the ground, and the ground walks us. This is turning and being turned. So if we're only assertive, then it doesn't work. And if we're only passive, it doesn't work. So when we're assertive, we turn the dog. subservient position. And then when the Dharma turns us, the Dharma is strong and we're in this subservient position. And so we have to know when to go forward and when to lean back, how much to push and how much to recede. And this is the rhythm, this creates the rhythm of our life and the way we interact with everything all day long. knowing how to maintain that balance.

[51:17]

And it's what we do in Zazen, and it's what we do when we get up and walk around. It's what we do when we engage with any activity and with materials or people. So this is really important.

[51:36]

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