Dharma Practice in Kitchen

From Metta Sangha (Chuckawalla)

I have recently received a job working in the kitchen. I have never worked in a prison kitchen ever. No do I want to. I thought it was the worst thing to ever happen to me. After a few days of working I started to see how things are done in order to feed the population of the yard I am on. I started to realize the amount of energy, time, concentration and awareness it takes to feed about 600 people three times a day. Before working in the kitchen I would get angry when salad would end up in my desert or in my pudding. Now I see exactly how easy for that to happen. I myself am guilty of accidently learning salad in the area designated for the putting.

I remember the contemplation you taught us to think while we are eating food.  How we think of the kindness of other people who prepared our food, who grow our food, who clean our food, who transport our food. Being mindful of all these processor and my new understanding of an institutional kitchen has helped me become more understanding and compassionate towards the people who work in the kitchens. Even after work I go outside and volunteer taking care of the softball field to help get the grass growing and landscape the field. I use the manual labor time to go into deep thought and become aware of my personal faults in which I am working on to become a more humble person.

  When master Hueiguang talked about marriage and for relationships he said that we must treat our partners as our house guests. I have never been married before, but I do understand that heating my girlfriend or significant other in this manner world be beneficial and keep everything fresh and new. I am also using this with my friends, regular acquaintances and strangers, It has made a big difference in the number of happier faces around me and more people have been open for conversation. A good teaching goes a long way. I am happy to put it in practice and reap the rewards of it- HAPPINESS

Sincerely

Steve (Guan Le)