A Meal Ritual

When I approached Max Bals (a GFR Mitra and ex-resident at Gampo Abbey) about coming to Gampo Abbey he said: "there's not much to do there for distraction, but there is a toaster". I knew what he meant, the attraction of comfort through food is common for many of us I think, particularly when our other favourite false refuges have been pulled out from under us.

Forewarned is forearmed and I guess I'd already started to think about how I wanted to relate to food before I got to the Abbey. Mmmm,as I write this, that shiny toaster and all that jam and peanut butter does look good, but I digress.

On my ordination retreat Manjuvajra advised us to think about our eating, for instance dealing with one mouthful of food before shovelling in another one and watching our existential angst driven desire for late night post puja snacks.

On a visit to Throssel Hole Abbey in Northumberland some years ago I was impressed by their mindful approach to eating and pre-food ritual, warning us against burning off all our hard earned merit in a frenzy of food lust, before we got a chance to transfer that merit to others.

Gampo Abbey has it's own meal time rituals, a highly developed Zen inspired Oryoki ceremony on Sunday practice days, on week days a simple pre and post meal chant. The phrases used in these chants did not seem to fit that well for me, being Shambhala chants, and so I have developed my own and in addition some other small reflections and practices.

In brief,

Approaching the dining room I become aware of my level of hunger. While queueing up to serve myself I watch my reactions. Am I tensing up, in a hurry to get down the queue?

In serving myself I try to avoid being overly fussy with what I choose. I choose a portion size with an awareness of my present level of hunger, the amount of time to the next meal and knowing how active I will be after this meal (will I be going for a big walk or settling down to three hours of meditation). Less activity means less need for food.

With practice I have reduced my portion size to allow me to experience a sensation of normal hunger before each meal. This seems reasonable and natural. I have to confess it's a sensation I had got a little out of touch with in the months before arrival at Gampo Abbey. A gurgling stomach is not something to be afraid of after all. My experience is that making room for a little bit of hunger is quite a challenging practice.

Before starting the meal I chant internally:

"To the Buddha for Refuge I go,
To the Dharma for Refuge I go,
To the Sangha for Refuge I go,

May I take this wholesome food
and turn it into wholesome action,
practising the Dharma for the benefit
of all."

The refuges help to remind me of my context and to remind me that it is on the Three Jewels that I should place my reliance and not on a plate of food.

The second part of the chant provides a direct link into my daily activities and is a point for reflection later in the day.

During the meal I follow Manjuvajra's advice and eat one mouthful at a time. I do not allow myself to start preparing the next mouthful until the last is swallowed. I just try to keep my knife and fork still. For me this takes some effort. I try to be mindful when cutting food and try to not overload my fork so that I drop food back onto my plate.

I try to be aware of the flavours and textures of the food and to note my responses e.g. "creamy sweet rice pudding mmmmm, this is tasty" or "cold, stodgy rice - hmm - interestingly nutty" I'm sure you get the picture.

I also try to remember the six element practice and reflect on the earth and water elements entering my body, it's not me, not mine - just passing through. I also try to keep my attention on the practice by avoiding glancing around the room or staring out of the window.

At the end of the meal I close my eyes and reflect (fairly briefly) on the people who have grown the food, harvested it, transported it and prepared it and how I could probably not survive very well without this chain of inter-connections.

I then say internally:-

"Thank you to all you people who's efforts have brought me this good food. May my efforts be worthy of yours"

I then make a very small seated bow with anjelli mudra before leaving the table.

The effect of doing this has been very positive for me. It has helped me to bring awareness to my body and to my emotions and cravings surrounding food. It helps me to transform what can easily be a bit of a weak point for me into a positive practice.

During practice periods between meals I am able to look back on my little mealtime chants and recall my aspiration to transform mundane food into spiritual practice to benefit all. This I find encouraging and in a strange way quite grounding.

Feel free to adopt, adapt or ignore this as you see fit. For use in a retreat type situation (with lots of silent meals) it is serving me well, but it could be easliy adapted for family or work situations. Perhaps our retreat centres could do something in this area to encourage retreatants to include eating within the scope of their practice, after all it is quite a big part of our lives.

Bon appetite,