Dagens middag 19

14/02/2009 in Uncategorized
Tags: animaliskt, ägg, blogg, brad warner, buddhism, citat, dagens middag, fett, fläsk, foto, illamående, kött, mat, mättnad, nori, ramen ki-mama, rāmen, salladslök, shunryu suzuki, shōyu, vegetarian, zen

Shōyu rāmen (från Ramen Ki-mama)
Bland annat ägg, fläsk, nori, salladslök etc.

Jag åt idag kött för första gången på mer än ett år, och det är förmodligen också sista gången på mycket länge (minst tio år, förhoppningsvis). Det är inget fel på smaken direkt, men illamåendet, den överdrivna mättnaden, det animaliska fettet och helt enkelt det faktum att jag åt kött (vilket jag inte vill/bör eftersom att jag är vegetarian) lockar mig inte.

Citat:

What´s your practice when it comes to food and eating?

I’m a vegetarian and have been since I was 18. I wanted to be a vegetarian from the time I first learned that hamburgers were made from dead cows and hot dogs from dead pigs. My mom freaked out over the idea of having to cook special food for me. So I decided I’d wait until I moved out of the house. Once I moved out I quickly went veg.

BUT, vegetarianism is not necessary for Zen practice. There’s a story about Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. It seems he was traveling with a student of his who was a very strict vegetarian. They were hungry and the only place to stop was a little roadside diner. The diner didn’t have anything vegetarian on the menu so the student ordered a grilled cheese sandwich to be made specially for him (maybe like that scene in Five Easy Pieces). Suzuki ordered a hamburger. When the sandwiches came, Suzuki quickly grabbed the student’s grilled cheese and stuffed it in his mouth. Then he said, ”It’s OK, you can have mine!”

I started Zen at roughly the same time I started being vegetarian. I think vegetarianism came a few months earlier. I was pretty hardcore about it at first. So when I heard stories like that I worried a lot that some Zen teacher would force me to eat meat or that my vegetarianism was somehow un-Zen.

But both of my teachers encouraged my vegetarianism, although neither one of them was a vegetarian himself. Tim McCarthy used to say he was a ”liberal vegetarian.” This, he said. was a ridiculous designation, even though he used it. He said, ”It’s like saying your a ‘liberal celibate.’ Like, ‘I’m celibate but sometimes I still fuck!’” He ate meat, but not much and never red meat. Nishijima’s pretty much the same. Though he might eat a bit of beef or pork sometimes. I don’t know for sure. Nishijima has great respect for vegetarians, though. He used to say that if there were more vegetarians there would be less violence in the world.

The thing about eating is that even if you’re a vegetarian you’re killing other beings so that you can live. A carrot is almost certainly less self aware than a cow (though who can say for sure other than a fellow carrot? And they ain’t talking!). But it’s no less alive. So it’s important to have respect for your food.

This is why Zen monks recite big long chants before eating — so long their food is always freezing cold by the time the chant is done. The chants remind them that eating is a big deal and must not be taken lightly. In part the Zen meal chant goes like this:

We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us.

We reflect on our virtue and practice and consider whether we are worthy of this offering

We reflect on our illusions and mistakes, we must avoid greed, anger and ignorance

We reflect on the reason for eating meals, it is to avoid becoming weak

For the sake of attaining the truth we now receive this meal

Nishijima Sensei chants this whole thing before every single meal even if he’s eating prepackaged bento from the local convenience store. I’m not as hardcore as that. But every time I eat something, even a bag of Fritos (see photo above), I fold my hands and say, ”itadakimasu,” which is a Japanese word meaning something like ”I receive this with gratitude.” Half-assed, sure. But so am I!

— Brad Warner