This week the Monastery is hosting a retreat called “Not What, But How.” The retreat is focused on process, both the fundamental processes through which we suffer and the process that leads towards freedom from suffering and to peace, contentment, ease, and joy. One of the practices is “working meditation.” During working meditation, we engage with simple tasks in the silence as a way to practice directing attention away from conditioned mind and to the present moment, where Life is. Through this practice, we have the opportunity to experience Life as ourselves.
All of the working meditation this week is happening in the kitchen. We come together each morning for two hours to chop, peel, grate, mash —and even to julienne once in a while. The kitchen is a busy place for that time. Every horizontal surface is covered with cutting boards, colorful vegetables, pots and pans; everywhere you look someone works intently, focusing on the task at hand. Inwardly each person observes the processes that occur, watching to see what leads towards suffering and what leads away. As we practice together in this manner, it becomes clear that we have not come together merely to prepare our food for the day, as it might appear. We see that it’s not what, but how. We have come together in order to see how life works and how we each may live in our authentic state of gratitude.
Gasshō