#oryoki

[olharbudista]

Oryoki: a tigela que contém o suficiente

Oryoki: a tigela que contém o suficiente

A palavra oryoki se refere às tigelas que são usadas nas refeições formais da tradição Zen. A palavra japonesa significa “a tigela que contém a quantidade apropriada.” O termo oryoki é usado principalmente na escola Soto Zen ou Soto Shu. Nas escolas Rinzai e Obaku é utilizado o termo jihatsu. O conjunto oryoki é composto por 3 ou mais tigelas juntamente com outros utensílios. A tigela maior é…

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[true-person-of-no-rank]

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[987days]

Oryoki

Last night I went to oryoki at the leader of the zen group's home.  It seems a bit strange at first to have such a ritualized way of eating.  There are myriad details that you have to follow and it can get overwhelming.  But as you eat, slowly, you begin to sense how the food tastes and feels.  They movements are done with care and compassion, washing your bowls, folding the napkin, etc.

I had a moment at my job last week where I was actually present. I was doing a mindless task and trying to do it the best I could.  Anxieties and concerns fell away and I had a moment of peace from the relentless gossip in my mind.  

Seems like all you have to do is pay attention to what you are doing.

Sometimes it feels like I am on the wrong path.  I am trying to rebuild my “life”, get a job, pay my bills, etc.  When the true freedom lies not in having things, but in experiencing the present moment fully.

I leave you with a note from Charlotte Joko Beck:

Attention There's an old Zen story: a student said to Master Ichu, 'Please write for me something of great wisdom.'

Master Ichu picked up his brush and wrote one word: 'Attention.' The student said, 'Is that all?'

The master wrote, 'Attention. Attention.' The student became irritable. 'That doesn't seem profound or subtle to me.'

In response, Master Ichu wrote simply, 'Attention. Attention. Attention.' In frustration, the student demanded, 'What does this word attention mean?'

Master Ichu replied, 'Attention means attention.'

Source: Charlotte Joko Beck. 1993. Nothing special: Living Zen. New York: HarperCollins. 168.

[cobotis]

Oryoki (Conscious/Mindful/Aware Eating) is not just a prescribed form of ritual. It is a state of mind. It’s not about chanting and bowing and bells. It’s a state of consciousness. Because food is life, it is of utmost importance that we receive it with deepest gratitude. When we eat we consume life. Whether it’s cabbage or cows, it’s life.

John Daido Loori Roshi  

[dk-thrive]

Oryoki, the Japanese word for a begging bowl, means “just enough.”

“Stay here forever,” said the little girl in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. We were in the Japanese Pavilion, leaning over the rail to watch the fish.

Cherry blossoms swirled like confetti in the dark water. “No,” said her father. “Gonna see more fish—” and he dragged her away from the ones she was already looking at: their shadowy bodies, their smiling mouths, their multicolored scales. Black and gold and pure albino white; cadmium yellow/charcoal; silver-blue-green-gray. The little girl protested, but her father didn’t listen. “More fish,” he said, as if more and different were always, unquestionably better. More fish. Again more fish.

Oryoki, the Japanese word for a begging bowl, means “just enough.” The Irish word go leor (anglicized as “galore”) also meant “sufficiency,” at least at first, sufficiency being a synonym for plenty. But over time, “plenty” has metastasized into “more than enough,” and finally into “too much.” There is nothing wrong with having “too much of a good thing” on a feast day, or for a celebration. But when one comes to take that “more” for granted, requiring excess on every ordinary day, then its celebratory aspect is destroyed.

“Stay here forever,” said the little girl. All she wanted was to watch the fish: to dissolve into that moment of enchantment.

~ Christian McEwen, "Slow is Beautiful." From World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down (Bauhan Publishing. 2011).