I know we don't do a whole lot with Oryoki at Treeleaf outside of the Rohatsu retreat, but it is something I find very powerful in its simplicity, and try to do once a month or so.
This post on Gesshin Greenwood's blog really resonated with me. She spends a little time looking at how Zen and Japanese culture have perhaps co-created each other, and how we can adapt the Oryoki ritual to our own cultures. It brings to mind Jundo's oryoki set made with "everyday" bowls from the kitchen, and Dosho having cereal in his Oryoki.
"The intersection and overlap between Zen and Japanese culture is fascinating to me though, because I think that while they're obviously not the same thing, Zen and Japanese culture have influenced each other in undeniable ways. It's interesting to try to tease out what is "Zen," what is "Japanese culture," and what is a chicken and the egg type situation."
...
"I don't think the overlap between Zen and Japanese culture is a bad thing. We'll eat oatmeal and drink apple juice out of five Japanese bowls until we figure out a better way to express gratitude and not wasting in a ceremonial way. But when we get rid of Japanese bowls and go straight to gratitude and not-wasting without the chanting and ceremonial forms, I'm pretty sure that's not Zen; that's just being grateful, and not wasting."
I do enjoy learning about Japanese culture and cuisine. I know I've encountered little aversion and even embarrassment during our retreats when my Oryoki bowls were filled with chunks of sour-dough bread and cream of tomato soup. Gesshin's post was a nice reminder that "oryoki" really means "just enough", and that we don't need umeboshi and furikake. And yet there is still a core "something" to Oryoki for us to discover as we adapt it to our local traditions and tastes.
Gassho,
Sekishi
#sattoday
This post on Gesshin Greenwood's blog really resonated with me. She spends a little time looking at how Zen and Japanese culture have perhaps co-created each other, and how we can adapt the Oryoki ritual to our own cultures. It brings to mind Jundo's oryoki set made with "everyday" bowls from the kitchen, and Dosho having cereal in his Oryoki.
"The intersection and overlap between Zen and Japanese culture is fascinating to me though, because I think that while they're obviously not the same thing, Zen and Japanese culture have influenced each other in undeniable ways. It's interesting to try to tease out what is "Zen," what is "Japanese culture," and what is a chicken and the egg type situation."
...
"I don't think the overlap between Zen and Japanese culture is a bad thing. We'll eat oatmeal and drink apple juice out of five Japanese bowls until we figure out a better way to express gratitude and not wasting in a ceremonial way. But when we get rid of Japanese bowls and go straight to gratitude and not-wasting without the chanting and ceremonial forms, I'm pretty sure that's not Zen; that's just being grateful, and not wasting."
I do enjoy learning about Japanese culture and cuisine. I know I've encountered little aversion and even embarrassment during our retreats when my Oryoki bowls were filled with chunks of sour-dough bread and cream of tomato soup. Gesshin's post was a nice reminder that "oryoki" really means "just enough", and that we don't need umeboshi and furikake. And yet there is still a core "something" to Oryoki for us to discover as we adapt it to our local traditions and tastes.
Gassho,
Sekishi
#sattoday
Some things I think are just dumb (except symbolically), like the Kyosaku stick. Incense is great, until it was recently shown to cause cancer. Many beliefs of Buddhism are rather superstitious things that were picked up here and there. I abandon many of those.
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