With Thanksgiving in a week, I am already starting to hear the comments that are a strange conglomerate of guilt and gluttony. The desire for people to maintain their ‘diet’ but to also go hog wild and eat as much turkey and pie as their body can ingest without going into a coma, at least not a full coma. I thought, well isn’t this a good time to share my experience eating at last year’s Thich Nhat Hanh retreat?
There were over a thousand people at this retreat, and come mealtime we all packed into the YMCA cafeteria. The meals were silent meals. No talking whatsoever. Imagine a full cafeteria with the sounds of clattering dishes and silverware, but no voices. The food though, oh man, best cafeteria food ever! It was all vegetarian, and throughout the week we were encouraged to refrain from caffeine or alcohol. There was also very little sugar, no sections full of different desserts, mostly just bowlfuls of fruits and veggies.
We would stand in line starting outside the building and patiently work our way in toward the buffet. No conversation, just looking. Looking at one another, looking at the beauty that is Rocky Mountain National Park, looking at the people already seated and eating their food. Every 15 minutes or so there would be a gong from the large singing bowl in the middle of the room and everyone would stop what they were doing. The clanging would stop, the shuffling, the banging, and for 15 seconds of silence, all these people would be present with their breath and the sound of the bell. As the resonance died people would pick up where they left off and the sound would once again rise.
When we arrived at the buffet we would pause and bow in Anjali mudra (hands at heart) in respect for the meal prepared for us. We would then pick up a plate and utensils and select a bit of this and that from the wide selection of delectables set out before us. Rich and I would share a plate of food as we have made it our habit to do, and we had great fun pointing to this or that and adding it to our plate. The tables in the dining room were round or rectangle and sat 8-10 people a table. Each time a person came or left the table all the other people would bow in acknowledgement of the person.
In the middle of each table sat a paper triangle with the Five Contemplations. Before eating we would read the contemplations, thinking about the process from planting seed to the moment the food is placed before us, and cultivate gratitude for what we were about to ingest.
The Five Contemplations:
§ This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings and much hard and loving work.
§ May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.
§ May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.
§ May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet and reverse the process of global warming.
§ We accept this food so that we may nurture our sisterhood and brotherhood, strengthen our sangha(community) and nourish our ideal of serving all beings.
We then picked up our forks, took a moderate bite of food, placed it in our mouths, and set the forks back down. We rolled the food across our tongue, chewing slowly, 10 times, 20 times before swallowing. Savoring the flavor, the texture, and how that changed as we held the bite on our tongue. Taking moments to glance at one another and smile. Connecting in appreciation over the meal, the company of strangers so comfortable and inviting without the expectation for verbal communication.
Five days of enjoying meals in this way. Rich and I both felt we had eaten so much food, enjoying flavors and textures we had spent little time noticing in the past, the nuances of spice becoming more apparent throughout the week. By the end we felt we had cultivated our palates through mindfulness, like a master sommelier, but of food. We were amazed when we got home, weighed ourselves, and saw we had both lost weight.
I can’t think of a better way to practice giving thanks at Thanksgiving than this. We can take a plate, put a bit of everything on it, contemplate, savor each bite, feel completely sated at the end, and not end up regretting it later. All the while cultivating gratitude and appreciation for those that make it possible for us to eat.
Happy Thanks-givings and Namaste.
No comments:
Post a Comment