Meal time chant during Ango

[Kyonin]

Hey guys. The first day of Ango went pretty well for me and so far so good.

Everything I'm doing seemed perfectly natural and I felt great with two long sittings during the day. Well three, really, because of the Zazenkai.

But when I sat at the table and started to chant before eating... I couldn't do it.

The reason is because I felt so Christian! I know Buddhist monks chant before meals. I've seen it in movies and documentaries. I know I need to be mindful of my eating. That all is clear to me.

Thing is that when it comes down to it, years upon years of Catholic/Christian imagery get to my head and I feel like I am praying to a god instead of just being mindful of what I eat.

At the end of the day I just said the chant in my mind through out my meals, but I felt very strange.

Perhaps is just a mental block I need to get rid of. I will work on that.

Has this happened to you?

[Hoyu]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

Has this happened to you?

I did have a similar experience with this on our 1st day of Ango. Breakfast and lunch were no problem because having to work this weekend I ate breakfast alone and lunch at work by myself. Chanting the meal verse was easy. Come suppertime when the wife and kids were seated around the table it was kind of ackward to request and then chant this aloud. However I know that I only feel this awkwardness because it is something new and different. By the end of Ango it will become like second nature for us!

Well three, really, because of the Zazenkai.

Speaking of Zazenkai, do you remember your 1st Zazenkai here? How did it feel? For me if felt the same as chanting the meal verse for the first time! It was difficult at first but now I greatly enjoy everything about it. Just hang in there and drop all ideas of hard, easy, Zen, Christianity or any other distraction of the mind.

Gassho,
John

[ChrisA]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

I've been following the Ango commitments for over a week now (I thought it best to start when my school year started), and I've been having a similar block around this simple little meal gatha, which, I think, is from Aitken:

We receive this food in gratitude
From all beings who helped to bring it to our table,
And vow to respond in turn to those in need
With wisdom and compassion.

It's the only aspect of Ango I've literally forgotten about, over and over again! I just did, in fact, eating my bowl of cereal before settling into Treeleaf and my morning sit! ops: I can't trace it to this or that: literally just forget about it.

My clear, confused resistance makes me recall Jundo's oft-repeated point about paying attention to precisely those things we resist (most recently in the Sit-A-Long), including meal gathas and earthquakes and chants and evictions and radiation. That which we seek (and seek to run away from) can be "small amounts," as Xin Xin Ming states, but those "small amounts" are precisely what separate us from the whole.

So good for us, Morelos! We've found something to which we can attend in our practice during Ango, something very real and not real at all, something that can teach us quite a bit, I think.

[Dokan]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

Hey Morelos!

Interesting you bring this up. I've not had the issue you've stated, but I can remember when I first started to do liturgy how foreign it felt. I'm a technology guy and very linear in my logic. Normally requiring a thorough detailed analysis of anything before I proceed with it. In the end I just went with it. I did the chanting and prostrations and such and found, much like John, it quickly became an outward expression of an inward conviction.

For me, my twin 9 year olds are Christians. As such, we pray before our meals and do it in a round-about-way...each having an opportunity. When it's my turn it is always the Meal Gatha (the one from Daido Roshi's book, which is the same as Aitken Roshi on this thread). And I end it with Amen (they end with in Jesus' name, amen). I find that this is the middle way for my family and just works.

Many times our past creeps into our present, maybe just be in the present.

Thank you for your practice.

Gassho,

Shawn

PS - Good sitting with you this morning!!

[ChrisA]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

Gassho, Shawn. Middle way, indeed.

[Jundo]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

Hi,

I will just echo much of what has been wisely said by others.

If one is feeling "baggage" from one's childhood ... put that baggage down. The only one making mental "associations and connections" between the practice and some other experience or interpretation is you.(Furthermore, Christianity is a beautiful religion for many people. As well, one can practice this Buddhist thing with a belief in God or absent a belief in God. Our own Fr. K is an excellent example of how one can open one's heart to both paths).

Next, the Meal Gatha can be interpreted in many ways, but is primarily an expression of gratitude to all that contributed to putting each crumb before you ... the farmers, truck drivers, the whole world, sun, wind and rain, stars and whatever may or may not be behind that. Buddhism 101 teaches that each and all, everyone/everything, are profoundly inter-connected and interdependent, whole. Further, the food is medicine sustaining our practice, and fueling this practice. It is also an aspiration that all the hungry people be fed.

(Hands in Gassho) This food comes from the efforts
of all sentient beings past and present,
and is medicine for nourishment of our Practice.
We offer this meal of many virtues and tastes
to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha,
and to all life in every realm of existence.
May all sentient beings in the universe
be sufficiently nourished.

Next, yes, an important aspect of Ango is to do some things (nothing immoral, mind you ... only kind and gentle things) that we RESIST ... because we create the resistance as much or more than the object we resist. If you were practicing in a retreat or monastic setting, there would be many things that were resisted, uninvited, not ideal ... from the moment they wake you up each day at 4:30AM! :shock: Yes, resistance to the parts of life we do not like is also largely between your own ears. Get over it, and one masters a vital lesson in freedom from the mental bonds of life!

Gassho, J

[Hogo]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

I have always had a struggle with the outloud bit of chanting, and really have not yet forced the issue as when sitting down with the family and such. We are not really formal sit down eaters (though I would like to change that moderatly) When I do sit down for a meal either alone or with others I tend to recite the chant silently to myself and the universe. I still forget often, and allow eating to become too automatic open mouth shove food in, repeat.

I want to work on this more regulary, but without it becoming just another routine, or just because it is Ango and I want to be a better Buddhist. For me I want it to be a reminder that life is the universe's engine transfering energy form place to place, being to being, and a meal is a precious thing that does not materialize out of thin air but is our one real link with everything else.
Those are my aspirations, but sometimes I'm just so damn hungry I forget, and I want to eat!
Bon appetit.
Gassho ~ Hogo.

[Nenka]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

I put the meal chant on an index card and stuck it between my salt and pepper shaker so I "can't" forget it (I already have once or twice :roll: ).

I watch a lot of documentaries on where food comes from . . . it's often an unpleasant story. For me, the chant reminds me that food isn't just a given, and that I can sometimes make better choices about what I buy and where it comes from, and to be grateful for the people who did grow it, pick it, pack it, ship it . . .

Gassho

Jen

[Ekai]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

I forgot a couple times already, but I did chant before my lunch meal about an hour ago . However, I have been chanting silently since it weirds my husband out :roll: .

Thanks,
Jodi

[Amelia]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

The first day of Ango went pretty well for me and so far so good.

I'm glad. My first day of Ango was hectic! We decided to replace my break pads ourselves and had a lot of trouble! Many trips back and forth to the auto parts store! They're getting finished up now by my boyfriend and his dad. I wonder how many people take TWO days to fix their break pads! Only on a Chrysler... But I didn't forget, "Just this... just this..." as it wore on, even though I lost my cool a couple of times.

I haven't had a chance to sit yet, nor have I been able to observe the more formal aspects of Ango, but I'm making sure not to forget. I was stranded away from my house for the night, so I'm a little disorganized.

But when I sat at the table and started to chant before eating... I couldn't do it.

The reason is because I felt so Christian!

I am trying to make an effort to go through with the things that I don't really understand or resonate with, because it's good for my ego to be denied its gratification for "why, what, when, where, how, who... blah blah blah." Chanting before meals is awkward for me too. I just think of the Sangha, chanting anyway, working for the benefit of all beings, and my stubborn little ego moves out of the way for a time.

I put the meal chant on an index card and stuck it between my salt and pepper shaker so I "can't" forget it (I already have once or twice :roll: ).

Good idea!

It's the only aspect of Ango I've literally forgotten about, over and over again! I just did, in fact, eating my bowl of cereal before settling into Treeleaf and my morning sit! ops: I can't trace it to this or that: literally just forget about it.

There's a lot to remember about Ango, and it is hard when we are not in a Zen setting constantly. The important thing is that we try when we remember. Remembering and not trying is the "sin," if there is such a thing. Just a word.

[Kyonin]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

If one is feeling "baggage" from one's childhood ... put that baggage down. The only one making mental "associations and connections" between the practice and some other experience or interpretation is you.(Furthermore, Christianity is a beautiful religion for many people. As well, one can practice this Buddhist thing with a belief in God or absent a belief in God. Our own Fr. K is an excellent example of how one can open one's heart to both paths).

Indeed. I reckon the block has been mine all these years. Today I sat on this this morning and by breakfast I simply chanted. My girlfriend gave a funny look, but stayed respectfully silent.

And I felt great. I didn't even think about it. Just did it. Lunch time is in a few minutes so I will chant again.

So far day 2 has been smooth.

Oh and I'm sorry if I sounded disrespectful with the Christianity comment. It wasn't my intention.

[Kyonin]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

Speaking of Zazenkai, do you remember your 1st Zazenkai here? How did it feel? For me if felt the same as chanting the meal verse for the first time! It was difficult at first but now I greatly enjoy everything about it. Just hang in there and drop all ideas of hard, easy, Zen, Christianity or any other distraction of the mind.

Your words were very helpful. I am learning to drop ideas. To be honest, a day later, it all now seems a little easier.

Thanks, John.

[Kyonin]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

I put the meal chant on an index card and stuck it between my salt and pepper shaker so I "can't" forget it (I already have once or twice :roll: ).

I watch a lot of documentaries on where food comes from . . . it's often an unpleasant story. For me, the chant reminds me that food isn't just a given, and that I can sometimes make better choices about what I buy and where it comes from, and to be grateful for the people who did grow it, pick it, pack it, ship it . . .

Gassho

Jen

Jen, that's a great idea. If you don't have a copyright on that, I'll just do the same! :P

[murasaki]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

Morelos, I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt like that! I'm not even from a strong Christian background. But memories of family Thanksgiving dinners (full of drama once that prayer was over) keep coming back to me.

I also mean no offense to Christianity, it's just a funny feeling about things seeming to blend together when I had them "separate" in my mind. But we know that there is no separateness...

I also admit I'm a huge meal chant forgetter, and my ango doesn't yet feel like an ango for that and other reasons, but I will get there, just hold your hands out the back of the moving train so I can grab them and climb on.

Jen: I must have watched some of the same documentaries, because I'm mindful of that, too (not "mindful" in a Buddhist way, but a "what's-this-world-coming-to" kind of way). It makes sense to me now that making those better choices is nourishing not just for the body.

gassho
Julia

[Amelia]

Re: Meal time chant during Ango

Growing up Catholic, the meal prayer always seemed like something we did just because we had to. There was no feeling to it. With the gatha, there is feeling for me, so I have no troubles... other than remembering to do it.