Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Lessons in Living a Life That Matters by Bernard Glassman and Rick Fields (Bell Tower, New York)
by George Mokray
he cover of this book is a circle of gray stones against
a white back ground. Each stone has a stratum of white running through it
and the stones are arranged so that the white line is a continuous oval.
It is a striking cover, beautiful in its simplicity. The pages it encloses
are much the same.
Bernard Glassman was an aeronautical engineer
at NASA working on the Mars mission who began to practice Zen Buddhism.
Eventually, he became a master and set up a monastery in the Riverdale section
of New York City. To support the monastery, they began the Greyston Bakery,
preparing gourmet baked goods and providing some of the ingredients for
Ben and Jerry's ice cream. When the bakery was successful, they decided
to provide food for a soup kitchen in Yonkers, NY. Through that experience,
they started Greyston Family Inn, a homeless housing project that provides
not only housing but childcare, job training, couseling and job creation
all together what Glassman would call "a full course meal." Now
Bernard Glassman is a director of the Social Venture Network, expanding
these ideas to the rest of the business community.
Instructions to the Cook is a guide
to preparing your life as if it were a supreme feast, full of all the tastes
and savors possible. It is based upon the book of the same name by Dogen,
the thirteenth century founder of the Soto Zen school. "The work of
the Zen cook is cooking meals and cleaning dishes. It's an endless process."
It is also a homely and necessary process that we all can relate to. In
the matter-of-fact way that Zen cultivates, Glassman says, "...The
first principle of the Zen cook is that we already have everything we need."
This is a simple statement that has a profound effect. We start from just
where we are with the resources we have at hand. There is no reason to wait
for something else or something better. We can begin right now with what
we have available. How empowering! How difficult to give up all our excuses!
We begin with what's in our hands and look
at it with a Beginner's Mind, eyes open to all possibilities. "Acording
to the way of the Zen cook, Beginner's Mind has three basic ingredients.
These three basic ingredients are doubt, faith, and determination. They're
like air, water, and heat. You need all of them for every meal you cook."
Where "doubt leads directly to faith" and faith leads directly
to determination. That foundation of doubt also keeps us from being too
sure of ourselves.
The work proceeds in mindfulness, as meditation
and religious practice, with great attention to detail for "details
are all there are" or as my friend Ann Stewart said last week, "Everything
is secretarial." Glassman tells us:
That story describes the attitude of mind necessary
for Zen study. It also describes the attitude needed to care for homeless
kids."
The work proceeds from step to step, from choosing
the ingredients, preparing them for the pot, stirring and seasoning, serving
the meal, eating it, clearing the table and cleaning up. It is a natural
progression and the discipline can go far beyond our household chores. "There
is an expression, 'Do the right thing.' But how do we know what the right
thing is? We can't know for sure. Maybe we should just say, 'Do the next
thing.' And if we do that - whatever it is - to the best of our ability,
chances are it will turn out to be the right thing as well."
Glassman tells us, "Before they eat, the
monks recite a chant documenting the 72 labors that went into making the
food ... reminding theselves to live in such a way as to be worthy of all
the effort that has gone into this meal." He also tells us, "And
after each meal, we offer leftovers to the hungry ghosts." Who are
these hungry ghosts? "In Buddhism, the hungry ghosts are pictured as
miserable creatures who have huge, swollen bellies and needle-thin necks.
Even though they are surrounded by food, they can never satisfy their hunger
or thirst because they can eat or drink only one drop of food at a time.
Their necks are thin as needles because they are so caught up in their conditioning
that they can't accept or appreciate the food that is actually in front
of them." Sound familiar?
Glassman offers us a vision based upon these
hungry ghosts:
He offers us another vision that extends directly
to what I am trying to do with "A List...": "The Zen cook's
way of working with others is based on the vision of Indra's net, which
is the Zen model of life. Indra was an ancient king of India who thought
a great deal of himself. One day he went to the royal architect and said
that he wanted to leave a monument of himself - something that all people
would appreciate.
The king's architect created an immense net
that extended throughout all space and time. And the king's treasurer placed
a bright, shining pearl at each node of the net so that every pearl was
reflected in every other pearl. And each single pearl - each person, each
event - contains the whole of Indra's net, including all of space and time."
It is also a vision that informs the way Greyston
manages its business and trains its workers. "In the first phase, workers
are closely supervised. the emphasis is on developing basic workplace skills,
such as showing up on time every day and getting along with coworkers and
supervisors.
In the second phase , workers are organized
into work teams, which take on much of the supervisory role themselves.
Pay is linked to production.
In the third phase, the workers will manage
the business through self-directed work teams. In this phase, the workers
will own shares in the business.
Self-directed management teams may have an
economic motive, but they also have far-reaching educational, psychological
and even spiritual effects. They lead to self-sufficiency and pride and
teach people how to help each other and work harmoniously together towards
a common goal. In addition, they can play an important part in revitalizing
our inner cities by creating a well-trained, socially responsible, and autonomous
workforce."
The meal does not end with the end of our own
hunger and offerings to the hungry ghosts unseen around us.
"In the Zen monastery, after the monks have eaten everything that's in their bowls, they clean the bowls with tea or plain hot water. Then they drink the water. The water that's left over in the bowls goes back into the gardens.
"This traceless 'nothing left over' has a very profound spiritual meaning, but it also has a very ecological application. If there's any trace left over, it should be used again - and again until nothing is left over. If you're a manufacturer you have to take into account what happens to a product after it's used up. You have to think how your product will go away. Whether you create a new car, a new refrigerator, or a new cookie tin, you have to create a way for your creation to be recycled.
"If you do that, if you get rid of the traces of the car you've built, or of the wonderful banquet you've just eaten, you open up the space so that you can see a whole new set of ingredients. So eliminating the traces is really another way of saying we're cleaning up, which is where we began."
Instructions to the Cook is a simple
and profound book. Last week, I wrote about my feeling that we've known
for a long time what should be done in order to deal with the present rolling
ecological disaster. Bernard Glassman confirms that opinion. We've known
all along how we must live with each other. It is not easy but it's simple.
That's what makes it so hard to do. Having grown up in Yonkers, NY, his
work strikes deeply into my own life and memories. I will try to do the
next thing with all of my attention and have faith that it will be reflected
throughout Indra's Net.
There is much more in the pages of this book.
If you want to learn more, I urge you to read it or contact Greyston Foundation,
21 Park Avenue, Yonkers NY 10702.
This review was excerpted from: "A
List..." a listserv and a Webpage
