In a recent blessed practice opportunity as a visiting monk, there were daily opportunities for kitchen working meditation. As with all working meditation assignments, there is clear guidance about how tasks are done, including “please do this the way you are instructed.”
If there is a missed beat, there is kind and gentle course correction offered – a perfect opportunity to work with my intention for the month of “not taking things personally.” Especially, when there is nothing personal, no deed and no doer.
Something that was really experienced at a deep level is how practicing kindness and care in each moment, in each act, is caring for everything, for All. The dishes, the pots and pans, the knives, are instruments for this practice. Something unusual and fun about kitchen cleanup is how very few of the tasks are assigned. What could be random chaos in this design turns out to be a lovely improvisational flow. I would sometimes imagine being on the ceiling, watching the action below, a silent dance of humans, brooms, dish pans, sponges, spray bottles, food leftovers, all occurring seamlessly.
How does this dance occur when there are no jobs that belong to anyone? Here’s how: Everyone is following the guidelines, going to where the next thing is to be done, trusting in the adequacy of each person, being willing to wholeheartedly participate and dropping attachment to what is being done when all of a sudden someone else is doing the job you thought you were doing. There is then a direct experience of loving the kitchen and the beautiful food created there, recognizing the extraordinary opportunity for practice in the ordinary tasks of life.
Gassho,
Lorrie