We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant and it has an extensive vegetarian menu.
It was as usual outstanding,
the rice was perfect,
the vegetables in the sushi roll just amazing.
The chef had a new one;
avocado, that was sublime.
The wasabi cleared the nose.
The next plate was also sushi, with asparagus tips all sticking out, the same length, like soldiers standing to attention .
We sat at the counter where the chef prepares the food.
I asked the chef, "how do you do this so perfect, every time and don't you get sick and bored with the repetition?"
He joined us for tea after he had stopped serving customers.
His answer to my question was as surprising as his food and the message I got was a dharma.
He said, "I don't get bored with the repetition."
"The meal might look the same to you, but no two meals are the same, no two pieces of sushi are the same, no two plates are the same ."
"Everything I do is vibrant unprecedented and unrepeatable."
"You think they are the same, they even look the same."
"To me," he said "they are all different."
"This is because I am not In a habitual thought pattern.
I don't think "same old same old",
"I don't think this is boring ,
this is same as yesterday and will be tomorrow ."
"With that thought my food will be stale and old in a few days.
Most people get into a routine of doing something once and repeating it a thousand times until the mind becomes numb."
He said
"I don't think this way."
"Every sushi is different to me .
Every mouthful full of love,
full of flavor."
When I heard this it was like a thunderbolt in my head.
I knew what was meant when we become enlightened on the spot.
In zen, (cha an) there is a teaching;
I Chi Go , I Chi E
(each ee go, each ee ay)
In Japanese this means ;
"One time one meeting".
"This means that everything in this life should be unprecedented and irreplaceable.
Everything should be fresh and new and vibrant
Every meeting unique.
It will not occur again.
Each moment precious.
It will not occur again .
All encounters ,
every breath ,
every prayer ,
will never be the same again.
They may seem the same,
It all depends on our way of thought."
When I first heard this I thought it sounded logical,
but defied common sense .
How can everything be new every time?
Then I started to practice and found new tastes, new sounds, new smells, new feelings, that I never had before.
When we start to practice
I Chi Go, I Chi E
"one time. one meeting"
like the sushi chef,
we suddenly free ourselves from habitual thought patterns and feelings.
We allow our world to reveal itself to us as it really is and reveal who we really are.
Vibrant unprecedented and unrepeatable .
We are not all the same.
If we are treated as all the same, it would be a very boring world.
It is not the samenesses that are important, but the differences that tell us who we are.
Who we really are is vibrant,
unprecedented and irreplaceable .
Nathan
http://www.dharmamaster.com
Sent from my iPhone and
http://www.dharmamaster.com
With love
