Welcome to the Oryoki Practice Circle
Welcome to our re-opened Oryoki Practice Circle, to be guided by Shugen.
Starting soon, folks interested in the art of formal Zen-style Meal Taking Ritual will gather to Practice in this area of our Treeleaf Forum.
Shugen will be around here in the coming days with further information.
Oryoki is the art of mindful eating as a sacred act, receiving just enough with gratitude. It is a dance, a ceremony, into which the self is poured as the self is nourished. One eats savoring each bite, yet also dropping all likes and dislikes, aversions and attractions as best one can. This food is medicine to sustain our lives and Practice.
Some other descriptions from various sources:
Quote:
Oryoki (応量器, “Just enough”) is a meditative form of eating that originated in Japan that emphasizes mindfulness awareness practice by abiding to a strict order of precise movements. Oryoki translates to “Just enough” which refers to the efficiency and accuracy of the form. Each movement is a simple reference point for the mind that encourages one to become present and not wonder in discursive thought. An Oryoki set consists of nested bowls called a jihatsu, usually made of lacquered wood, and utensils all wrapped in a tied cloth .... This is the formal style of serving and eating meals practiced in Zen temples.
[Note from Jundo: Shugen will have information on how to make a very good Oryoki set just from items you have at home, so no need to procure a special set for Practice]
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The word Oryoki can be translated as “that which contains just enough.” In a more general sense it refers to the ritual use of nested eating bowls during Zen meditation retreats. Oryoki meals are simple but precise in detail and flow – from chanting together to placement of utensils, being served, eating, and finally to washing and re-wrapping the sets of bowls.
....
Our Oryoki lineage began with Dogen Zenji, who traveled from Japan to China many centuries ago. ... [In China] he learned the ways of a Buddhist monk, including the monastic eating practice used in China at the time. Dogen Zenji returned to Japan and introduced that style of eating along with some refinements of form. During a few centuries of practice the great Zen masters refined the practice further and passed it down. The Zen tradition of Oryoki as it exists today has a remarkable sense of elegance and fine attention to detail.
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Upon hearing the mallet for completion of serving food, immediately gassho, and then we chant Verse of Five Contemplations:
We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us.
We reflect on our virtue and practice, and whether we are worthy of this offering.
We regard it as essential to free ourselves of excesses such as greed.
We regard this food as good medicine to sustain our life.
For the sake of enlightenment, we now receive this food.
Master Dogen has written ...
Quote:
A sutra says: When we are intimate with the food we eat, there is intimacy with all things; when we are intimate with all things, we are intimate with the food we eat. We should let all things and eating be intimate with each other because when each thing is Reality then eating is also Reality. When all things are Suchness, then eating is also Suchness. When all things are One Awareness, then eating also is One Awareness. When all things are Awakened Intelligence, then eating is also Awakened Intelligence. Any name that can be applied to it and the Reality spoken of are this intimacy so we can call all of this intimately single. ...
http://www.wwzc.org/dharma-text/fush...use-your-bowls
Gassho, Jundo
SatToday
