Zen is a school of Malayana Buddhism that emphasises meditation and experimentation rather than theoretical knowledge and information contained in textbooks.

Followers of Zen Buddhism live by the teachings of masters before them.
This branch of Buddhism originated in southern India by a prince turned monk – Bodhidharma. It spread from there to China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan.
Tassajara Zen Mountain Centre was founded in 1996 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and is the oldest Japanese Buddhist monastery in the U S A.

In Tassajara Dinners and Desserts, Dale and Melissa Kent explain in a very detailed fashion how they cooked for all in the monastery for seven years before taking on care taking I the foothills of the eastern Sierras, where they garden, cook, and promote sustainable living principles and organic food.

The authors describe the daily life at the monastery – rising up early, to reflect on meditation, kindness and cooking for all, while chanting and bowing a lot, and after the meal how everything is sanitized again and put in place for use the next time. For Zen Buddhists, kitchen work is sacred activity. Here all work in silence and concentrate on the task on hand.

All cooking is performed with reverence to all who will partake of the food.
At Tassajara cooking is interpreted as spiritual practice.

Accordingly to authors, carefully, and lovingly prepared food tastes better, and simple dishes take on a special elegance.

Recipes are all vegetarian and consist of few and readily available ingredients. All are relatively easy to prepare even for those who have little interest and desire to learn. This book emphasises the importance of food, its preparation, presentation and what it represents. Very few recipes call for canned food, and all are healthy, delicious, and thoughtfully perceived.

Anyone Buddhist or vegetarian or simply interested in new food experiences will benefit greatly from the contents of this book and be inspired to live thoughtfully and to be kind to others.

Guest Writer – Hrayr Berberoglu E-mail or interested in his books?.