From slippers to compost, a meal at the Monastery is a primer in Everything Is the Buddha. Everything IS, and we are given every opportunity to be present to it.
Why change from shoes to slippers to enter the dining room? Outside dirt doesn’t help inside floors. Plus, we’re required to stop and acknowledge a transition: we were doing that, now we’re doing this. Be here.
Wash hands first thing, using minimal water. We’re in a community; we have to share the water and want not to share the germs. Pull out the beautiful, hand-crafted plate and cup. What love and skill went into creating those!
The food is simple, ample and nutritious. Nearly all of it is organic and local. In the morning, monks prepared all the components, and their mindfulness is something we can taste as we eat. Not having to interact during the meal we can savor every bite. Ahhh....
Wash up time. Get the plate as clean as possible even before prewash and someone will not have to change the water in the bin as often. Wipe with a towel; leave the towel folded neatly on the drainer for the next person. Such simple ways to be kind.
Put the dishes back as they were, cloth napkin tucked in cup. Make sure to lift the stool slightly and put back under the table (why scrape the floor?).
Water from the kitchen dishwashing is poured into buckets; from the buckets it is poured on thirsty trees and shrubs. Nothing wasted. And then the compost. Leftover food that is not put in containers for tomorrow’s soup or casserole also goes into a bucket, and that bucket goes down to the outside disposal. But unlike household disposals, this one does not funnel remains into a septic or wastewater system, but into another bucket. That bucket goes to the compost bin, feeding the myriad creatures and processes going on there.
And that compost, when complete, will go on the garden beds, where it will nourish the plants that will feed the people who are changing from shoes to slippers on the porch….
Gasshō,
Penny