Work practice inside the temple: Studying the three minds
Work practice at Sanshin has in general included activities that support the practice calendar—things like morning soji (cleanup), ringing bells, taking care of altar flowers, cooking meals during retreats or teaching zazen—as well as the heavier work involved with maintaining the buildings and grounds undertaken during monthly work days. Both residents and householders engage in these activities according to their lifestyles.
Physically applying and experiencing the teachings is an important part of traditional Zen training. In the senmon sodo (training temple), six temple officers (roku chiji 六知事 ) take leadership of day-to-day operations, including the ino 維那, overseeing activities in the zendo; the tenzo 典座, in charge of cooking; and the shissui 直歳, leading work practice. Other individuals may also be put in charge of managing the vegetable garden, taking care of guests or other functions. Those without particular roles participate in morning and afternoon work periods that center on maintaining the buildings and grounds. It’s not possible to simply sit zazen from morning to night every day and survive as a temple or community, so work is necessary on a practical level as well as an important dharma gate.
Work practice supports the temple community as a miniature network, with each person’s practice supporting the practice of all the others. This network of activity includes everyone from the abbot on down, so in addition to individual work practice, there is also only one action—the action of the community as a whole. (This is not unlike chanting during liturgy; we all have individual voices, but when we put them together there is only one sound.) Work is a means of studying how to be together with ingredients, tools and other practitioners. It’s an opportunity to engage in the practical study of sanshin, the three minds about which Dogen teaches in the Tenzo Kyokun: magnanimous mind, nurturing mind and joyful mind. This concrete, practical, physical study within the temple makes possible practitioners' commitment to beneficial action outside of the temple.
Physically applying and experiencing the teachings is an important part of traditional Zen training. In the senmon sodo (training temple), six temple officers (roku chiji 六知事 ) take leadership of day-to-day operations, including the ino 維那, overseeing activities in the zendo; the tenzo 典座, in charge of cooking; and the shissui 直歳, leading work practice. Other individuals may also be put in charge of managing the vegetable garden, taking care of guests or other functions. Those without particular roles participate in morning and afternoon work periods that center on maintaining the buildings and grounds. It’s not possible to simply sit zazen from morning to night every day and survive as a temple or community, so work is necessary on a practical level as well as an important dharma gate.
Work practice supports the temple community as a miniature network, with each person’s practice supporting the practice of all the others. This network of activity includes everyone from the abbot on down, so in addition to individual work practice, there is also only one action—the action of the community as a whole. (This is not unlike chanting during liturgy; we all have individual voices, but when we put them together there is only one sound.) Work is a means of studying how to be together with ingredients, tools and other practitioners. It’s an opportunity to engage in the practical study of sanshin, the three minds about which Dogen teaches in the Tenzo Kyokun: magnanimous mind, nurturing mind and joyful mind. This concrete, practical, physical study within the temple makes possible practitioners' commitment to beneficial action outside of the temple.
