This podcast is offered by the San Francisco Zen Center on the web at www.sfzc.org. Our public programs are made possible by donations from people like you. So just to start out with the history of Oriyuki, the Buddha practiced alms, you know, going on the alms rounds to receive... food, and the monks and nuns at that time had one bowl, and the practice was to go to each house, whether well-to-do or not well-to-do, giving everyone the opportunity to practice generosity. So it's giving, not picking out a house that one might think, well, they won't be able to afford it. but everybody, it's the practice of generosity, and Dana is for everyone's benefit, so to not skip any houses, to go from house to house.

[01:03]

And the practice was to have one meal a day before noon, and whatever went into the bowl, it wasn't vegetarian necessarily, it was whatever the lay people of the village offered, and you just received and accepted what was offered. So... As Buddhism traveled to different countries, that practice was adapted to climate and the situations. When Buddhism came into China, often the temples and monasteries were in the mountains, not near villages, where they could go on an alms round, lay people practice dana by giving maybe bags of rice. But there was also gardening and raising crops. and greens and so forth for the community. Also, because it was cold countries, the practice of not eating afternoon was not healthy, you know, to be cold and not have nourishment later in the day.

[02:12]

So the evening meal, which we call medicine bowl, which derives from this word that means medicine stone, became the evening meal to eat. hold body and soul together through the night before the morning meal. So these practices adapt and change as all of Buddha's practice does, as it meets a new culture and new situation. So right now, the Oryoki practice that we do, just to let you know... I just recently had an Orioki instruction from Soto Shu, from the Soto headquarters, from the Bishop of Europe, who was in Los Angeles for a meeting. And she started out by saying, every temple has their own Orioki practice. Many things are shared, but the details and slight things are different according to the temple.

[03:14]

So some of you... in a different temple may have learned one way, and then you come here, and it's a different way, folding, turning things different ways. But basically the feeling, I think, is the same for Urioki, of accepting what's offered with gratitude, acknowledging with gratitude that this food has come to us by innumerable, inconceivable labors of... We can never know how many people helped in bringing, growing, preparing, the fact that we are able to eat, to practice, to continue our practice, and to give back to the world. So it's a circle of giving, receiving, and gift, the emptiness of the three wheels. So that's the spirit of Orioki. I was trained when I first came to Zen Center by the last disciple that Suzuki Roshi ordained, Angie Runyon, who after Suzuki Roshi died, which was pretty soon after she was ordained, she did not wear her ropes anymore and actually became a T student and a Tibetan practitioner.

[04:33]

But she taught me Orioki almost wordlessly. I just sat next to her and she did things and I followed along. which is a traditional way of teaching and apprenticing with someone watching. But we've come to, you know, do maybe a lot of talking, maybe too much talking when we do the oryoki practice. So basically it's mindfulness, a mindfulness practice, a way to receive food, the ceremony of receiving food and all the forms and ways to handle the utensils and cloth and the admonitions of quietness is all to not disturb one another with noisiness or to be in harmony with everyone else. And it's a rather intimate practice between you and the server and your neighbors and...

[05:35]

So it's not another opportunity to judge yourself or evaluate somebody's practice for what they did or forgot or are doing wrong. I think it's a chance for patience when we have irritation or confusion, patience with ourselves, compassion for one another, and trying to feel the foundation of the oryogi practice, which is great respect for the dharma for food as dharma. And I really recommend that everyone in the practice period read Dogen's Fu Kushu Hanpo, The Dharma of Taking Food. It's in Dogen's Peer Standards. Maybe Tova can put this on the reserve shelf. It's the chapter, The Dharma for Taking Food, written in 1246, so she was 46 years old. And it really describes what he brought this practice back from China, that it was not... as developed in Japan in 1246. And it describes a ryoki very close to what we do.

[06:41]

Some other kinds of ways of people's jobs during the meal and all, but basically it's, he describes, you know, handle your bowls and utensils quietly and various things. So it starts out with a quote from the Vimalakirti Sutra, If you can remain the same with food, all dharmas also remain the same. If all dharmas are the same, then also with food, you will remain the same. So this equanimity around food, I think this is one place where aversion and greed and all sorts of emotional things can come up around food and all these, you know, whether we like it or don't like it, gauging, good and bad, and that can all be there, too. And I think the practice is how do we remain, you know, understanding food and being grateful for the food that supports us to practice.

[07:47]

I'll read a couple things from here. Some of it is very funny and, you know, like... Don't ask the servers to fan you when it's hot outside. Things like that, which, you know, you imagine Dogen, just like the Buddha, had to mention that because somebody must have said, could you please, you know, fan me? It's really hot. Okay, so our one bowl that the Buddha had has... you know, developed into nested bowls. The lay bowls have three. The priest bowls have a few extra bowls that we really never use, although I imagine in another temple you might put gamashio in one of those littler bowls and dip rather than putting a gamashio in the Buddha bowl. There may be different practices. So the Buddha bowl itself is symbolic of the Buddha's head, and it's carried. And all of oryogi, we use the thumb and the first two fingers pretty much exclusively.

[08:57]

Not totally, but a lot. We use these three digits. So when we carry our bowl, you know, I feel like we're practicing oryogi so beautifully. This all may be very redundant for you, but we'll just go through it. And for the tape, we'll go through it. So when carrying your bowl, you make a little... I think of it almost as a little throne with these fingers. And in the front, the thumbs and base of the thumb are touching. So it's a closed throne. And it's held, the word takuhatsu, which is the word used for going on alms rounds in Japan when you go and collect and chant and receive donations, The word takuhatsu means that, but it also means, or originally meant, entrust and carry the bulls at nose level. Carry them up. So this is kind of the standard way to carry them.

[09:57]

When you're going to the zendo, we carry them a little lower. When you step in, if you're carrying your bulls in, it goes up to kind of eye level, nose eye level, right in there. Okay. Does anybody have difficulty tying the knot? Or is everyone pretty good with time or not? I had mentioned earlier you could use some work. Okay. So let's begin. We begin by, we chant. Just if you picture the meal the Buddha tray has offered, and then we chant and bow. And start out by... It's a two-handed practice, so you steady the bowls with your left hand with these three fingers. You steady the bowls and then pull your knot, the small part of your knot, and open up your... Now, right here, I'd like to pretend we're at the end of the meal.

[11:05]

We're going to tie up because if we wait for an hour, it's like the details and all we won't be able to concentrate on. So let's tie the knot now, okay? So let's see how we bow. Lay down the left hand. Cross over with the right and gather under the thumb and between the baby finger and the ring finger. Yes. And then gather the right hand in between the pointer and the middle finger. Holding the upper right. Draw your hand forward, bringing the tail with you. Yes, and pull down. Okay, and then this part, what I do, or was taught, is the thumb is under the tail and the two fingers are on top, and you flip it up on the left hand, with the left hand. Flip it up, and then the right goes, I think of it as going around the tree.

[12:11]

And there's these two fingers that are waiting, sort of sitting there in the knot. And you just draw those halfway through so that the little tail sticks out. And those of you who are sitting next to anybody who could use some help, also, are there any left-handers? Left-hander, Kaixin, Benson. It's sometimes helpful to sit with a left-hander, but you're probably okay. Did you get that? Um, Nate, that... Yes? Okay. Anybody want to, uh, help on that? So, two fingers on the left. Oh, these fingers. Yeah, so, up. And then around the back. And then, well, by the way, yes. Up. Around the back. You know, those fingers are sitting waiting for... Anybody else?

[13:16]

Yes. Hi, I have a question about your left hand or whichever hand through that you're holding the box. Yes. Halfway through. How much do you cinch the knot down? Yeah. And also, like, how much do you... Right. So the knot, this tail, the long tail that's left... You don't have to do it too tightly or it's hard to undo it the next day. And it also lies flat. So somewhere, this happens often with forms is different things start happening and people start doing it. For a while people were doing these elaborate sculpted kind of bunny ears standing up. So it just lies flat. It's just simple. Lying, yeah. And you don't have to cinch too tight or it will be hard to pull it out the next day. Let's go on, because anybody who needs more help on the knot can get help from a number of people.

[14:37]

Okay, so let's open again and steady the bowl. It's a wonderful practice of using the left and right, developing your non-dominant side. This is a form that different temples do differently. In this... temple, we lift the wiping cloth in half and it folds in half. The wiping cloth, oh, by the way, the wiping cloth is open on the left side, yes? Okay, so you pick it up in the middle and it folds in half and then you spread your fingers like this so that you can move it and fold it in thirds vertically, okay? So the right hand comes in front, and then the right hand goes to the bottom, and the left hand is at the top, and you swing it away from you and put it down on your setsu bag.

[15:45]

Swing, yep, right nape, down on your setsu, and then your right hand's right on top. You lift your setsu bag and just turn it vertically. And that, this is hard to do on the table, but it goes, you know, under your, in front of you. Did everyone see that? Yes. Okay. And then your lap napkin, which has the open edges on the upper left. Yes, lap napkin. Okay, lap napkin. Every time I do this, I think of this. I'll just tell you, which is that fairytale where you had a magic tablecloth and you'd say, spread cloth, spread. And it would have all sorts of delicious things on it. So the lap cloth opens up like that and spreads over here. Yes? Yes.

[16:52]

The seam is showing when you put your lap cloth on, but not showing for your wiping cloth. Yeah. The lap cloth is not a napkin. It's not used to wipe your face or your mouth. It's basically to protect the ocasa, protect your robes. So it's not used the way we usually would use a napkin. So I always have... Kleenex or something in my sleeve in case I need to wipe my hands. Okay. Okay. Are we good so far? Julia, can I? Yeah. Well, my floss aren't right. All right. I'll take a look at them. Yeah. Okay. So then the top drapes over the meal board with no tucking or anything unless you're on the floor ton and if you're on the floor ton it'll be in the aisle so you do have to tuck but we're all on the upper ton so it just comes forward and hangs over bring the one closest to you to you and then there's a a way to make these folds for the one closest to you you put your pointer finger your index finger

[18:16]

right where you want the fold and kind of pinch it and use your middle finger to kind of swing the material back. Okay, and then we go to the left and this time you put your middle finger in and use your pointer and thumb to pinch and make that fold. Same on the right. The middle finger goes in and the pointer makes the fold with the thumb. Okay. If you... Yes? The bottom triangle is showing. It tucks in a little bit. I think it can be hidden under your robes. Yeah. Those of you who have priest bowls, it's time to pull out the hatan, the...

[19:18]

the placemat, and if it's on your bowl's right, the bottom left is where you grab, and in the back, the top, excuse me, bottom right, top left, and you just pull it, and it opens. I'll show you. Those of you, let's see. And everyone else, move your bowls to the left. They're just right there. Yeah. So this is the bottom right. Bottom right. Bottom right. Top left. Okay. And the back, all the way in the back, this top one. And then with your right hand down here, your left in the back.

[20:20]

And then... You lift up your bowls with your left hand, the whole caboodle, kitten caboodle, and slide it, and the bowls go on the left. And everybody move your bowl to the left, and then press out with two hands, you know, press, and then the middle one with two thumbs, and slide it into the center. Okay. Now, yes? Yeah, just pretty much the center. Yeah. I think even just, yeah, even across the center. I noticed some people put closer to the top so they have more room for utensils. Okay. Well, it seems like there should be enough room for the utensils if it's in the middle. Yeah. But if there isn't, then you can make that adjustment. So now you're going to grab your...

[21:23]

reach for your setsu bag, and you kind of lift up your wiping cloth a little bit, and with your left hand, bring up your setsu bag and kind of steady it right on your chest, actually. And with your right hand, you, yeah, the setsu is facing you, right? And you flip it open, and then work down the cloth until you can see all your utensils. kind of holding it with your left hand. Then you pull out the tail. Yes, Diego? Right now I'm wearing a rock suit. It's right on the strap, actually. That seems to be okay. Then you fold the tail in thirds and hold the whole thing with your left hand. Yes? And then starting with the chopsticks first and you... kind of, this is hard to do on a table, but you pull them out and flip them like that.

[22:26]

So the angle's not right, it's a little too high for you, but in the Zendo, it's perfect. And then the spoon, pull it out and flip it down. So the flip is, makes the bowl be right side up to, yeah. When you pull it out, Do like this. Put your fingers down. Yes, and then, yeah. Okay, and then the setsu, same thing, pull it out, and then it gets pushed using your index finger in between your middle and small bowl. Okay. And then you've got your setsu back right in your left hand like this, and you just make, what I think always is my thumb is going to point to my stomach, just... underneath there. But it's kind of natural. You've got it and then you go like that.

[23:28]

This will go under the wiping cloth and under this section. So you lift the... Yeah, you kind of lift it and slide it under there. Okay, so all the bowls are set. Any questions about... Yes? They're on the left. On the left and... They could slightly, mine are slightly hanging over from the placemat that I made. Yours may fit perfectly. I think mine would, but my placemat, other placemats. Okay, so now it's time for the food to come, right? And we do our chanting. So our first bowl is grain in the Buddha bowl. This is for breakfast and lunch. and the server comes, you know, the server bows to the two of you. Whoever the server passes first, that's who's served first, because servers come from both sides, right?

[24:32]

So if they come from here, this person served first, the second person wastes in gaucho. So let's pretend we're all the first person, the server's here for cereal. Lift up your bowl, hold it for them, and the signals, as you know, little bit, in a way that the server can see, enough. And usually we do this, whether we've said a little bit or not, just to indicate. And it's a quiet motion, nothing too excitable. All these motions, by the way, are very intimate communications. You know, when you do something like that, it's so dignified, respectful. Place it down and wait for your neighbor to bow together. The neighbor, if you're second, You hold your bowl out, and then you don't try to get it down in order to bow. You bow with it. Okay, middle bowl. You bow with your neighbor, and using your three fingers, you pick up your bowl.

[25:35]

And I always use two hands whenever I can. So the server, hopefully servers have been instructed to use these three fingers to receive the bowl, yes? So you kind of give it to your server like this. The top part of the bowl, this half inch or so, is called the pure part of the bowl, and you try not to, if you're a server, get close to that or touch it. You stay down lower. The person drinks out of the bowl there, so you don't want to touch that. So you give that to the person. They serve it. You receive it back. It might be full, so you carefully put it down. Or if you're the second person, you bow with your bowl. Yes. Yes. Let's see.

[26:37]

I think it often is pretty full at that time, so you're both very careful. They're holding it quietly and extending it, but they don't go way over to you. Yeah, you go towards it. slightly go towards you, I think. Yeah. Sandy? Some kind of what? I don't know about that. Yeah. And the third bowl, you bow to your server, pick it up, and hold it. And same thing, you know, enough for a little bit. If you're the second person, you bow with it. and set it down. Okay, any questions about any of that? Yeah, I think this is about the second ball. Yes. Because we have, like, we said, like, the interest of the practices that people do is that people are doing. Yes. If we, when we, like, I always put the ball in my left hand before giving to the person, like, I would have to do this, or I could just do that.

[27:49]

As I was saying, if you can use two hands, if there's a moment when you can use two, that's part of that practice of using both sides. So to lift it, you know, to hold it. You can do it this way, and, you know, if for some reason that's more comfortable. But I think thinking about how can I use two hands for this action so both sides of the body are involved, not just the dominant hand. But it's not about cleaning it. It's not about cleaning it. It's just the handy. Yes. Yes. Yes, because you mean not give it to the server, just hold it for the server. Yes. So it acts as the third bowl kind of in the evening if you're, yeah. But still. Yeah, I think so.

[28:51]

I mean, otherwise, how are you? You're grabbing it with your thumb or? Oh, both hands. That might be fine, both hands. Sometimes there's more space, so you could do that. I think the feeling is two-handed and careful and kind of dignified, and then these three fingers are often used for that, yeah. If you've just been served and you set it down, you're waiting. Or if you're, let's see, if you're the second person and you've bowed with the server, you wouldn't bow again. Yeah. Yes. No, no. You just wait until your neighbor's done. Yeah. For the first of all, if there is no time, can you... If you're the second person, you don't put it down.

[29:55]

If you're the first person, there's plenty of time. If you're being served by yourself, you would hold it. Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. Just while we're here, why don't we quickly kind of set up for dinner, which would be the priests would just set out their black lacquer placemat, and they would wrap in their wrapping cloth their bootable and set that aside. So you'd be working only with, and your spoon you don't take out. So for the evening meal, no bootable, and then... middle and small, and just chopsticks, okay? And for the lay bowls, I think people are doing different things, right? Some people are using their Buddha bowl and middle bowl. Is anybody, or you don't have to say, but some people might be using their middle and small and not the Buddha bowl, setting that aside.

[31:01]

And if you're using just the middle and the small, you just use your chopsticks, okay? The spoon is... in the oryoki is reserved for the use in the Buddha bowl, although because of our different dishes that are offered, we do have to use it really for yogurt and different things in other bowls, but the kind of usual way is just using it in the Buddha bowl, the spoon. Any other questions on this? Yes, Jay. They're on the left side, yeah. Yes. You can use the Buddha bowl and the middle bowl if you'd like. Yeah. I think with vegetable, I think for the priest bowls, the third bowl is bigger than the labels, some of the labels anyway.

[32:02]

So you may, in order to get a good portion of vegetables, want to use your Buddha bowl and middle bowl. This is a long question about accepting what's given. Often at night, because I've been at the back door, I don't really care for the medicine bowl. Is it proper to just go like this to say that you don't care for any, or should that be a ceremonial amount? So this is a question that is important for us all to be... to gather on harmonious about. Unless there's some allergy or you're vegan or something and not eating dairy, that would be the only time to completely refuse food. Whether you like the food or not is not the main, or love it or not is not the main thing. It's receiving the offering with gratitude.

[33:03]

So you would take a small amount. So if it's a small amount, You let them know, and servers, and Dogen says this in this Fukushu Hanpo, which I was going to read to you because it's so great. He says about the servers serving what people want. If I can find it. So many different things. Follow each monk's wishes as to the quantity of food. That's joking. So really the servee is the arbitrator of how much food they get. So the servers, you know, if they say a little bit, then go slow. Otherwise, it's not up to you to decide what a little bit is for them. So you just go slow enough and be watching to see when they say enough.

[34:06]

Your little bit and their little bit may be completely different. They may have a full half bowl and you thought, I thought they wanted a little bit. So just as a server, you're very in tune with what the person is wanting. So you have to go slowly enough, especially when they want a little bit. Okay. Yes. Sometimes when I give a little bit somewhere else, then it's really a tiny amount. And then I think maybe I am torn about whether or not I should have said a little bit. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not familiar with a third, a third, a third. I feel the most safe kind of communication is to just go slow and let them, rather than assuming a third will be there a little bit.

[35:12]

It might be too much for somebody, especially if you really just want to taste as accepting the offering, then a third might be too much, yeah. Okay. Tova? Perhaps you were going to talk about this, but I remember you were saying that the spoon, the Buddha bowl is the home of the spoon, and the second bowl is the home of the chopsticks, so if we have juice or something like that, we would hold the chopsticks. Yeah, let's do our chant and get our utensils in our bowl, and then we can talk about the foods and different ways to eat them. So, let's see. We respectfully, let's see, we reflect on the effort, I think, and why don't we do that together? 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 keep the body free from access to such as greed.

[36:21]

We regard this food as good medicine to sustain our life. For the sake of my life, we now receive this food. First, this is for the three treasures. Next for the four factors. Finally for these six rounds. Okay, just about these, putting the, so the first portion is to end all evil. So it's a two-handed thing, steadying your bowl with the left and sliding in the spoon. So that's two-handed. And then picking up the chopsticks with two hands. And then there's steadying the pointer side, the business end of your chopsticks with your left hand in a kind of cross movement. So you pick it up and place it across, steadying the bottom. The right hand is towards the handles and the left steadies the points.

[37:27]

And then at the end, let's see, skipping to... The first portion is to end all evil. The second is to cultivate all good. The third is to fear all beings. May we all realize the Buddha way. And then this bow at the end is you're kind of like we do the Buddha tray. You kind of lift it a little bit as you bow rather than kind of bowing with the bowl up and down. The bowl kind of stays and you incline and lift it slightly. And then everybody takes the first scoop together, even if you haven't had time to do gamachio. So just a note about gamachio. We've said this in the announcements after all three bowls. If you're the first person, you don't bow. You just pick it up. Pick up, use it, pass it, and bow. And if you're the receiver,

[38:32]

You bow when it comes to you, use it, set it down, and bow. And just to say this, you know, there's a tendency to add bows, you know, when in doubt, bow. So for a while, people were bowing, picking up the gamacho, raising it, using it, raising it, passing it, bowing. And it was like... Eight bows for passing the salt, you know. So it's just pick it up, use it, pass it, and bow, which I have a mnemonic for. Yes? Yes. So if there's another condiment and you're the first person, first person who's served is the first person who picks up, you've used, you've passed your gamasha, then you begin with the croutons or whatever else it is, cheese. And, you know, if you're faster than your gamachio partner, you just wait until they've set it down and pass.

[39:34]

You're the second person, but your first person was like Jigo or they were in the bathroom or something, so you took them out here for them. Yes. Are you now the first person that you pick up? I think it's the first person who served it, but, of course, that could be either way. That's a very... What a puzzle. It's like Jeopardy or something. The Jigiro's gone to the bathroom and you moved to it. Who starts the gamachio? That is, that's really, I've never thought of that one. Yeah. My mnemonic is Pup B. Pick it up, use it, pass it, and bow. Pup B. I don't know, whatever feels best. I don't know what to say. Yeah. Myles. This is a little granular, but when we go from gaso to mudra, it seems like it's happening around food. What is that? We're in gaso, and then we do this, and we're in mudra. It happens around food? Is there a... You know, I don't know.

[40:42]

It's... Reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us. And then we go into this mudra, right? So there's three mudras in that first line. I don't know. I don't know. Ceremonial. Was there a question over? Yes. Yes. Thank you. So if you're the first person, you would pick it up and just pass it. rather than the other person wondering, are they going to use it? Did they forget? Should I take it? You want it to be just as smooth as silt. So if you're not going to use it, you just pick it up and offer it to your neighbor. And if the second they receive it and set it down. Yes, that's a Dogen.

[41:44]

I think the, I understand all these things in terms of helping us with greed, you know, helping us with I want it just the way I want it. And so, yes, in fact it says not to stir at all. So that might be a practice to not stir. Each of you has to individually decide if you want to try that, but Dogen says not to stir. And to me, it has to do with my cereal the way I want it, just right, you know, and just receiving it. But I really leave that up to you. I don't think we're going to stop people from stirring, and it gets stirred by just taking a spoonful, too. Yes. Later, when you want a little more Damasio? Yes. Puppy, does it still work? Yeah, pick it up, use it, pass it. and set it down. What? Can number two do that?

[42:48]

Yes. It used to be gamacho for three people, and the third person really had to always, or the first person, ask for it if they wanted it back. But it's in between the two of you. It's at your pleasure. If you want more, didn't put enough on. That's fine. So let's talk about the food in what's served. So the classic is the spoon goes just with... The Buddha bowl, which is usually grain, although on occasion it's, what, pasta, or we used to do bran muffins. I once did cinnamon, cornbread, yeah. Did cinnamon toast once. And the chopsticks are for the middle. And these are their home spots. So if you're going to, for yogurt, let's say, use your spoon for the middle, you would remove with this mudra, I guess, remove... and set down on the... When they're used, after you've used your utensils, they flip over to the other side of your placemat.

[43:49]

So you would pick them up and put them on the used side, whether you've used them or not. It's like the meal's begun. Then you transfer your spoon and lift up. So the... The feeling is to complete each movement rather than kind of picking up your bowl and grabbing your spoon out of it. You actually transfer and lift and eat quietly. Do you have metal spoons, a lot of you, or wooden spoons? Some wooden, some metal, some... Anyway, being really attentive to the sound, especially the metal spoons, can make on the ceramic or scraping... with any of the utensils. Then when you're done with your yogurt, you would set it down, put it back, and pick up your chopsticks. And if you're done, they would be in their home spot, even though you're not gonna use them for that. And then they're used for the small bowl.

[44:51]

And after you're done with the small bowl, they go back to home base on the middle bowl. I picked them up in the same way I put them down, with the right hand towards the handles, and the left hand's steadying them. So it's this cross movement. So lift, and then... And I guess if you're lifting your bow, you lift and pick up the bow. Another thing I wanted to mention, and Dogen also says this, which I... which is about where to hold the bowl while you're eating. So, and I don't have to read Dugman's quote, but he does say to lift the bowl up, raise the bowls near your mouth to eat. Do not eat by leaving your bowls on the placemat and putting your mouth over them.

[45:57]

Now, how I... Thank you, Goyo, that should go to the altar probably, but here, thank you. So my feeling of our oryogi is that we're sitting zazen. We're sitting zazen in Luzendo, and we bring zazen into this activity of eating. bringing zazen mind into our everyday life. So we take a zazen posture. Our bodies are upright. We're sitting often in zazen posture, waiting for the meal, for food to come or for the things to start. And then it's time to eat. Hey, so here comes the bowl and we're still in zazen posture. And then we lift the bowl high enough so that we feed the Buddha is how I think of it. You feed the Buddha the meal. And if someone were to take away your bowl, you would be just ready to sit. Okay? So if you just imagine yourself in zazen, but with a bowl and having a nice lunch, that's the posture.

[47:00]

And you can notice if there's a tendency to do this and kind of bend over, and if the bowl were taken away, you know, would you be able to sit comfortably? Maybe not. So that's, to me, it has a a kind of noble, upright feeling to feed the Buddha. That's how I think of it. So all the bowls are upright and drinking. And I tend to, as somebody pointed out to me, have my arm rather than like this. It's more like kind of some space under here in that mudra, kind of similar to gasho, just spacious area around here rather than kind of closed down and feeding. That's the feeling. And you can see in terms of how mudra both expresses and evokes, you know, when you see mudra, various kinds of mudra, it expresses something and it evokes something in us and is communicating something.

[48:04]

So in the same way as oryoki, taking that posture and feeding, doing the bows and all. So... What I do for juice in the middle bowl, I just use, if it's soup or juice, I use for a two-handed event, I do this. You don't have to. You can set down your chopsticks and just drink juice. That's fine. I kind of put them in the bowl. If it's miso soup, then there's vegetables to be eating. If it's juice, there's nothing there, but I just do that. But you don't need to. Also, for the third bowl, when there's something like nuts, I go along with eating with my chopsticks and find it very interesting to grab an almond with my chopsticks. But other teachers do different things. And as you know, some teachers eat the nuts with their hands.

[49:05]

And the Buddha ate with his hands. That was all through India. So eating with your hands is a dignified practice. We don't have it here as our standard practice, but I think it seems to be okay to eat your nuts with your hands. Probably not much else besides nuts, probably with your hands. They're dry and kind of clean. I think cheese, even probably better chopsticks. So I do my best to stay with chopsticks for the middle two and spoon each. in the Buddha bowl, but sometimes it's not possible. Yeah. Nate. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like the left handers have Benson or another left hander. What do you, when you pick up your chopsticks, do you pick them up with your left hand?

[50:07]

Yeah. On the bottom, so you do that. Yeah, yeah. I think for left-handers, do the best you can, what feels comfortable, and so that we don't drop our utensils, you know. So I leave it up to the left-handers to kind of work it out. Yeah. Speaking of dropping your utensils, I think you all know now, if you drop your utensil, your meal stops. Actually, originally, everybody stopped eating. Everybody had to stop. A group, you know, pressure to not drop your things. But right now, if you've dropped it, you stop while the soku gets around to it. Sometimes the soku can't get to you right away because they're in the midst of something. So you just patiently wait until it's returned to you. And originally, I think the utensil went up and was put into the incense and brought back.

[51:11]

Now we just bowed the back of the mat as a... It's re-purifying from dropping it on the floor, even though it's not washed. Kind of symbolic purifying it. Is that all the sanitization we get? Is that it's purified at the altar? Yeah. Yeah. I think the concern about hygiene and the oryoki meal is, other than the ceremony of eating and contemplating food as dharma, and the intimacy of giving and receiving. It's also a very efficient way to feed a large group of people, serve them, feed them, and wash the dishes. You know, this meal, depending on the number of service, you can feed 100 people and wash dishes, you know, in about 40 minutes or so. So the fact that the bowls aren't washed and scrubbed, they're your own bowls, that you've eaten out for three or four days, five days. So...

[52:12]

it may not reach, in some ways, your level of what you would do at home. So that may be a difficulty for some people. One thing I wanted to mention about the Orioki Clause is that my suggestion is that the sets will be changed every week, every four and nine day. There was a student who will remain nameless who had never been told that and had never changed the setsu for two years and was like shocked, you know, that I had never known this. And so every week, you know, a fresh tip. And I washed, I now have Anja who washes my claws, but for 30 years I wash my claws weekly on 490. The outer wrapper maybe doesn't need to be washed. The lap cloth, depending on if you drop something on it.

[53:14]

But the wiping cloth, I would wash weekly. And I would actually suggest having a second one. I have several. And to have a fresh one for sure in case yours doesn't dry on day off. But this one, to have a fresh, clean wiping cloth is a good idea, I think. And do we have bleach in the laundry area? No bleach, yeah. So they get kind of some bleach in the dish shack, yeah. I used to boil it in lemon juice, you know, just to see if I could brighten it up a little, because the tips, of course, get a little, you know, with wiping the setsu tip in particular. Any other questions about, yes, Kim? Okay, yeah.

[54:15]

I had wanted to be sure and be able to return for our salsa, and so it's 9 o'clock right now. Any other questions about food? Oh, mixing? Do we want to bring up mixing? The traditional or the usual thing is you don't mix. And we've, for years, you know, had certain meals where the Tenzo invites, right, to mix often... Second bowl, not into the first bowl, but third bowl into second, depending, nuts into fruit. So that's the mixing thing. You might choose not to mix just as a practice. I don't mix pretty much unless it's a condiment. That's my mixing practice, but you're invited to mix. It's up to you. If it's something that they typically were about to mix and they don't invite you, does that mean you don't? That means you practice not getting what you want. Yeah. I think that sometimes the Tenzo might, it might slip their mind that I have to tell the Soku.

[55:24]

There's sometimes practice periods where it's a blanket you can mix. I've appreciated hearing the Tenzo invites when it's time to mix. And sometimes a blanket thing, people mix all sorts of things into all sorts of things. So to keep it to those particular meals, yeah. Nate? So I often wonder, I'm not really quite sure. So my understanding as far as that Gamasio only goes in the first bowl, and then if you have a second condiment, that only goes in the second and third? Yeah. I was not sure about the second bowl part. I think the condiment in the menu planning is probably meant for a particular bowl. Like the cheese yesterday? Was that for the salad or the soup? I put it in both, but I have a little twinge of guilt. Well, I don't think... I'm sorry you felt guilty. I was wondering what did the tanzo mean? And I thought probably soup rather than adding it to the salad. But it would have been really good in the salad. It was.

[56:25]

It was. Good. I'm really glad. I realized that we hardly have any time and we haven't even begun to wash our bowls, which is a whole thing. So I think, shall we move... Yes? Gamacio in all three. Yeah, that condiment in all three. Just that extra, the extra. You knew that one. Yeah. Yes. There was a leader of a practice period who was going to say no, Gamacio. No mixing, not even Gamacio. There's a little rebellion. Okay. So let's say... Seconds have been served. You didn't take seconds. The servers are leaving. This is breakfast and lunch. No, not lunch, because you have your spirit offering. We're all clear about how to do the spirit offering. Oh, spirits and powers, and taking a little. When the servers come, the other day I somehow pressed on this and it went flying.

[57:25]

You know, just holding secure your sets while they scrape so it doesn't get pulled off your mat. Yeah. Okay, so let's pretend we're going to clean up now. So we bow, and we first take the chopsticks. Chopsticks first, and clean them. Covering. You don't want to disturb your neighbors by having them watch you do this. So this is a, I don't know, etiquette thing. And then they go onto the used side, and then you slide out your setsu. and exchange it. The way I was taught was you just, with steadying the bowl, you lifted out the spoon and put in the setsu, and it got changed to going around, giving the setsu to your left hand. You can do either one. And then cleaning the bowl down, or convex, concave, anyway, the rounded part on top.

[58:31]

And then you lift up and begin cleaning. I call this dry cleaning with just your setsu and getting little pieces of food, gamashio. Then set the whole thing down and transfer. Cleaning and eating so you don't waste, not even a grain. You know, that's kind of the feeling. A grain of rice even you. And then the third. Okay. Set it down all the way back to the first bowl. Okay, water comes. Bow to your server. Pick up your Buddha bowl. Take out your Setsu. And I guess extend so that they can pour. And then lift. And down. Place it in your bowl. Wait for your neighbor. And bow. And if you're the second person, that's a pretty... You do that with alacrity, and you get that in there right away.

[59:33]

Bow. And then the Buddha bowl is the only bowl that's steadied on your leg, on your thigh. It's got water in it. You're cleaning. Okay. And filled with water, you bring it over to your middle bowl, and using your two thumbs to steady the setsu, and these fingers, you pour. So these fingers are... It's the threesome. Does that work? Letting in the drops go in there. And then this is a dripping set, so you want to be careful to put it right into your bowl. Then with your free right hand, you reach under for your wiping cloth, which is sitting there with the open edges on the upper right. And this is, you know, tea ceremony derived from the monk's oryoki practice. The wiping cloth things are very tea ceremony resonant. You pick up the corner of your wiping cloth and have the corner go all the way down into your palm and hang, and you've got your baby finger and your pointer on either side, okay?

[60:50]

And this point is way down deep, and you lift it up that way and hang it over the back. of your palm like this, okay? Palm up, palm up. And then you take this cloth and drag it from 11 o'clock to four o'clock if your Buddha bowl was a clock, okay? Palm up. Keeping that point in your hand, don't let it go. You put two thumbs, thumb, thumb, thumb, thumb. Then you begin pushing your bowl clockwise And going around three times, one, three and a half times, two, three and a half. And when you get at the half, you lift it so that your hand is now at six o'clock, excuse me, 12 o'clock on your bowl. Lift up your whole wiping cloth and kind of narrow it and go down into your bowl at 12 o'clock and roll, roll, roll your wiping cloth.

[61:58]

And then with this little corner that's left at 2 o'clock, you set it down. 2 o'clock. Okay. Then it's time to clean your utensils in this little dishpan that you've got. So you lift up your spoon like this, slide it into the dishpan. So it's lifting and sliding, giving it to your left hand. And then cleaning. cleaning the throat kind of of the spoon and all around. And then when you're done, Setsu goes down, give it to your right hand. And using this little tip, you dry it, swing the spoon around, and push. And then with your four fingers on top and thumb underneath, you pull it out. Let's see.

[63:00]

Let's see. Yes. You pull it out, and then it's going to slide right into your setsu bag, which is waiting for it, with the open edge, and you slip it in. Okay, next, you pick up with your revolver. It stays in the thirds. Yeah, still. When you look down at it, the point is on the right. open on the top yeah and then the spoon will slide right into that open edge yeah the spoon goes this way so if when you were when you push it through you pick it up like this and it goes right in I can't hear you

[64:01]

It goes towards the top. Yeah. Okay. Chopsticks. You pick them up with your fingers on top and slide them into the dishwater, or excuse me, into your washing water, and then you roll them. You just keep them steady and just roll them with your thumb. Okay. And then set down the setsu. Give them to your right hand. And this little tip is waiting for you to dry them. And you roll them in the cloth and then swing them around and push them through. And this time, when you pull them out, you have your thumb on top. You pull them out like this. Then you reach with your left hand for your setsu bag. Bring it up to your chest and slide them in there. And then holding them, you drop fold and work them down quietly.

[65:04]

Fold down. No. I pulled them out with the right and then they slid in and then I hold the sets of bag kind of with the and the utensils with the left as I pull out the tail. and slide them in. Fold it down and then with your left hand, you just put it back with that thumb again pointing to your, okay? So now we clean the middle bowl. And the middle bowl often we drink out of, so I always run the sets around the outside edge, you know, keep it in one place and swivel the bowl. against it to kind of clean that okay and then lift the middle bowl give it to your left hand steadying your sets there's water in here move your third bowl to the center and pour and you can pour it all or you can pour some and drink

[66:26]

Setsu goes down in there. I like to drink the hot water. As some of you know as servers, I like to take a lot of water for cleaning and then to have a hot drink. Drink if you want to. If not, we're ready for the wiping cloth again. So you've got your corner waiting for you. Allow the corner to go deep into your palm. Lift up. And it's already been folded a little bit. So you let it stay in that fold. Draw it. Palm up from... Ten to four. Holding it in your palm, you do thumb, thumb. And then three and a half times around. One, two, three. Using the corner, you shine the bottom. That was one of those little details that, how fun is that? And then place it down... so that your hand is at 12 o'clock, lift up your cloth, fold it in a little bit, down, and roll.

[67:32]

And then with two thumbs, you lower it in. And then the third bowl, cleaning. This is also a chance to... If it's lunch and you've had spirit offering on the end of your setsu, you would use a little water to clean that. So you squeeze, as I usually say, squeezel, squeezel, the setsu tip and clean the shaft of the setsu. Now the setsu is done a little differently. You give it to your left hand and blot kind of the setsu tip itself. and then pull it through with your left hand. Pull it through with your left hand. And this will now go into your bag. You can use your right hand to lift up this up a little bit so you can slip it in.

[68:37]

What the right hand is doing? It's kind of blotting the end, and then when you pull it through, the right hand is drawing the... Oh yeah, when you draw it through, you're holding the fabric. So when you give it to your left hand, you're just working with the sets of bottom, and then pull through. Turn it the other way. There you go. Yeah, and then pull it through with your left hand, and then it will go right in. Okay, time for spirit offering, water offering. Any question about it? For the priests, I wasn't aware that we just leave this other bowl sitting there. Yeah. So I'm curious to know what happens to it. These kids...

[69:47]

Back into the third bowl when we nest everything together. But yes, they just stay there. Yeah, so you move that to the center. So you're doing everything in a centered upright way. So you move that for pouring rather than going to the side like that. Okay, spirit offering is coming. And you bow. What I do is pick it up with the right hand, three fingers, and cover with the left and pour together. myself. And this is, you know, Dogen, when he took the dipper of water and then poured back towards himself. So it always is reminiscent of that. Rather than tossing your water away, throw water. It's a respectful offering that's turned this way. I mean, it's mudra, you know. But you do want to cover it. And we used to hit the bucket, make a little sound, but we let that go for some reason, but I miss it.

[70:55]

Okay, and then your neighbor does that. You both bow, and then the last drops, really, you be sure and drink up. Then same thing, you've got your corner waiting for you. Bring it deep into your palm, and hang it over your palm up, hang it over the back. Draw it across, 11 to four, keeping it in your palm, thumb, thumb, and turn it. One, two, three and a half. Shining at the bottom. Place it on your palm, lift. Narrow it down at 12, round. And now you don't leave it in your bowl. You kind of put it in these last two fingers of your hand, leaving your three fingers, three digits free. You put it quietly into the bowl.

[71:59]

If you have priest bowls that have extra bowls, you put those in now. And then if you're lay bowls, you use this as a little whisk broom or mop up. If there's any spills, you kind of... Do that, and the priests have a slightly different for this placemat. They do two horizontals, one, two, and then they, with the bowls still here, and then you move the bowls to the center and do one vertical on the left. So it's one, two, move the bowls. Then the priest bowls, you lift the whole set with your left, And then fold up your mats. Everybody else, bowls, go to the center, pull out your sides. Bottoms up. Top down. And then to fold up your lap napkin, you lift the center with your left hand.

[73:09]

This is the lap napkin. just pinch it with your left hand and the right hand goes down and under. And then you slip it over. And that's folded in thirds. And then from here, left hand to the center, fold it all the way down and keep going. And place it down. And next is your Setsu, which you lift up and place. And you have your little wiping cloth in your hands, right? So you find this corner, which is just really waiting for you, and it should be the long side. You kind of iron it.

[74:11]

It's damp. So you pull that. You come up and take the next corner without, and then slide your hand down, drop. Pull. Take the next corner, slide down, drop. And the last one. This is exactly tea ceremony, what you do with the silk fucsas. Okay, then hands away from you in half. Pinch with the left, slide down the vertical and around. Iron it, you know, pull it a little bit in half. Pinch, slide, and then the top half and then open up. Okay, and this is a full bow down and up.

[75:11]

And then we do our knot. And there can be a little arranging here, you know, afterwards, but it doesn't have to be too fussy. And then the last bow is just palms pressed together. Yes, Sam. I think that's what Zen Center is wanting me to do, a video thing. But I don't know about it being, other than that, draw on a... Say it again? Okay. Anyway, hopefully it'll be online sometime. Yes. When they come to take the gomaggio, and I'm with my satsu, for example, in my second pole, before giving the gomaggio, the satsu should go back to the first pole, or you can stay in the second one?

[76:27]

You just leave it where it is. The first pole has your wiping cloth in it, so it will balance. It won't flip out or anything, so you just... No, it's before. It's when they come to take the gomaggio, so it's before it's knocking. when you're dry cleaning. Oh, I see. You're doing dry cleaning. I would put it back in the Buddha bowl. If you're working on that bowl and they're coming, I'd set it down and go back to home. Yes, Benson. Yes, and then when you fold it, And it's here, the seam is on the inside. Yeah. So it just follows this. Right now, you call it the right side is showing. Then when you open it onto your lap, the right side is next to you, next to your body or next to your ropes.

[77:30]

And the inside is showing. And then when you flip it over, yeah. For more information, visit sfcc.org and click Giving.

[77:58]

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