Local food practice
|
Over the past few years here at Sanshin, we've made an effort to source a significant portion of the food involved in our practice activities from the local community in and around Bloomington, Indiana, where our temple is located. We've purchased from and partnered with nearby small-scale, sustainably-minded farmers and food producers for several years, and are entering our third season maintaining a modest sangha vegetable garden. This year, we're also planning for additional harvests of produce from our garden, regularly offered to the sangha beyond sesshin and retreats, as well as to local food security organizations. Below, we're gathering resources and insights gleaned from these endeavors, from soil to oryoki bowls and back. These materials are offered as points of reference and encouragement for our own and other sanghas, practitioners, and communities of spiritual practice aspiring to engage in similar explorations in various contexts.
|
|
okumura roshi on the wheel of food & the wheel of dharma
|
Yunmen’s every-atom samādhi can turn into
both the wheel of food and the wheel of Dharma. Bring a full container and fill the [monks’] bowls. The World-Honored One’s confirmation [of the tenzo’s practice] has been employed, and yet is fresh. -from Dogen's Dharma Hall Discourse 138 “The wheel of food” is a translation of jikirin (食輪) and “the wheel of Dharma” is horin (法輪). Of course, “dharma wheel” is Buddha’s teachings as the expressions of the Dharma he awakened to. It seems the word jikirin was originally used in the Vinaya. When a monastery was established, two important aspects were how to turn the dharma wheel and how to maintain the monastic community as an administration.
|
Copyright©2022 Misaki C. Kido
|
In the common usage of these terms, often the aspects of turning the dharma wheel and administration are considered to be two separate aspects of monastic life, which sometimes contradict each other... But here, Dogen is saying that in the tenzo’s work, both the wheel of food and the wheel of dharma are being turned simultaneously. These two wheels are not contradictory at all. For him, the wheel of dharma and the wheel of food are both turned in the monks’ practice. Read the rest of Okumura Roshi's commentary here.
|
This page is organized into three sections: In "The practice of sourcing food," we explore the place of what we might call local food practice within Sanshin's practice vision, at the intersection of Buddhist traditions and modern contexts. In "Establishing food connections," we outline the various avenues we've explored for procuring food grown and/or processed in our region. In "Sangha growing," we consider the practicalities and meaning of the practice of growing vegetables together. |
Related pages:
|
The practice of sourcing food"We reflect on the efforts that brought us this food, and consider how it comes to us..."
-from the verses chanted during formal meals in the Soto Zen tradition Our engagement with local food practice initially arose out of particular interests, skills, and connections in the sangha. It grew more defined as a form of operational alignment with our Environmental Statement, written by practice leaders and adopted by our Board of Directors. But most fundamentally, it really starts to make sense as a natural extension of our experience of sesshin – meals included – as moment-by-moment seamless immersion in community, dropping fixed ideas of self & others. Our ongoing study of nyoho (or, according with the dharma of thusness) further refines and grounds our approach to food as a straightforward, tangible expression of the total dynamic functioning of all beings. Sesshin and the local food & farming community
During sesshin at Sanshin, we simply sit, sleep, and eat. Quietly living out this schedule together for three, five, or seven days at a time, we embody the central questions of our practice in a very concentrated way: How do we live together without causing each other's suffering? How do we support (and get out of the way of) each other's awakening? Cooking and eating can be a deep study of community. This may become especially apparent when these are our only waking activities besides sitting, as during sesshin. We can’t help but notice that in order to live, we all need, as Rev. Tatsuzen Sato writes on Sotoshu's food practice webpage, “to put other forms of life such as those of animals and plants into our mouth.” Less obvious is that underpinning this immediate dynamic is the interaction of countless beings in the growth, harvest, and transport of living food. Our food practice, like zazen, teaches and embodies interconnection. Eating fresh vegetables grown in nearby soil during sesshin can be a very direct reminder for us. In just devoting ourselves to quietly upholding the posture of Buddha throughout sesshin, we also loosen our grip on (or see more clearly) the noisy, deeply-held, self-involved tendencies often at work in ourselves and our society. So, in procuring the food that sustains and also embodies this practice, we have an opportunity to maintain that same posture of interconnection, more closely experiencing the relationships of food, place, and living beings that tend to be obscured in our culture's dominant food systems. Relating to the local community and environment through the basic necessity for food has been a given in sanghas across the world through most of Buddhist history. In our modern context of supermarkets, industrial-scale agriculture, and deep and widespread environmental degradation, it takes intention to participate in this long tradition -- and to do our best to avoid some of the harms to living beings inherent throughout much of the global food system in which we're all currently enmeshed. Engaging as best we can with smaller-scale contemporary food structures like CSA (community supported agriculture), farmers' markets, and backyard and community gardens, we begin to step back into the long and joyful tradition of Buddhist sangha embeddedness in the land and communities that have always sustained life and practice. Coordination efforts in this direction are built into the job description of Sanshin’s operations manager. holding out our bowls
One of the primary characteristics we've identified about nyoho practice (and basic sustainability) is using what exists. We aim to notice what's already present around us, and try to make good use of it first, instead of immediately following our impulses to run around in search of something better elsewhere.
At Sanshin, our early local food sourcing attempts grew out of pre-existing relationships between our operations manager and farmers in the community. Sawyer says, "One time before planning meals for a sesshin I was cooking for, I thought, 'Wait. My friends grow an acre of vegetables just outside of town. How about I just go over there, see what they're growing, and decide what to cook based on what we can buy directly from them?" That basic principle - receiving what's offered - animates all of the procedures laid out below. In a way, we're calling back to the practice of the Buddha’s early sangha, simply holding out their bowls to receive whatever almsfood was offered by nearby community members. In our context, letting the farmers and the seasons choose a significant portion of the ingredients for sesshin meals is just another embodiment of letting go of our own ideas and folding into the healthy functioning of the community. For similar reasons, one of the names we’ve come to use for our own little community garden plot is sesshin garden. Coordinating with farmers, working in the garden, can we hold our practice with the kind of maturity that remembers that sourcing and growing food for sesshin is deeply embedded in sesshin itself? Can we accord with the dharma, with the broad reality of giving and receiving, to the degree that the very earth, close at hand, helps us to decide how and what to eat? Purity, defilement, & stewarding sangha resources
An abundant summer harvest from Seven Ridges Farm outside of Bloomington, used for meals in the July 2025 precepts retreat.
Living beings (human and otherwise) often have strong feelings about food. Just imagine two dogs in a room with one chicken-wing, or yourself with a plate of your favorite or least favorite food laid out on the table before you. Our concepts of "locally-sourced food" are not immune to the myriad forms of the same old like/dislike dynamic, and can actually intensify it in interesting ways. There are subtle (and not-so-subtle) possibilities here of clinging to various ego-boosting ideas of purity. We also need to make sure that our apparently valiant efforts are practical, harmonizing with how our sanghas and communities actually function and get things done together. In all cases, we need to be honest about what our communities can actually manage. The resources on this page are meant to offer a framework for this kind of discernment and planning, but these approaches simply won't be feasible or fruitful for everyone. Regardless, the teachings behind them may remain relevant. Aspiring to source food close to home can hit real obstacles like higher prices, limited availability, and increased complexity in purchasing and coordination procedures. It can also tip over into a kind of self-righteous identity: being the kind of "good" person (or sangha, or community group) who buys boutique, artisan, health-and-environmentally-conscious local produce. This is the opposite of receiving what’s offered for the sake of our practice. In many people’s everyday experience today, abundant supermarket grocery store aisles offer up the convenient, unpretentious reality of our life in a globalized world too large and unwieldy to fully grasp. These same shelves may also reveal to us a microcosm of a complex system – in which we're all entangled – that is eating up our shared world more quickly than it can regenerate. Regardless, it's important to note that none of the approaches described below ask us to swear off any and all trips to the supermarket, during sesshin or otherwise (indeed, at least half of the food we use during sesshin still comes from the grocery store, which we use to supplement what we can get from our garden and local farms). We're simply invited to step through a dharma gate that may be particularly potent in the time and places in which we find ourselves alive and practicing the dharma – returning to embodied experience of everyday interconnectedness, sincerely aiming at harmony with others. Discussing a teaching on "pure mind," Hoko reminds us to stay grounded: We can see that purity can be found in the everyday things and situations we encounter. We don’t need to go somewhere else and leave the dusty world behind in search of a paradise. Simply letting go of the three poisons here and now is itself purity. Some practitioners have the idea that money, for instance, is tainted and if the dharma center is concerned with it then somehow the practice is defiled. Money itself is neither pure nor defiled, but our response to and relationship with money can certainly be a problem if we greet and treat it with craving or aversion. The same is true, of course, for anything: alcohol, sex, technology, power, or other items that bring up strong feelings. These encounters give us important opportunities to observe our habituated thinking and do some discernment about how the three poisons arise, lead to delusion and defilement, and perpetuate suffering. Local food practice is essentially an on-the-ground inquiry into right livelihood, into wise stewardship of the limited resources (from organizational time, energy, and budgets, to the actual food and land) that support our life and practice, in widening circles of communities - individually, communally, bioregionally, and so on outward with the sangha of all beings. |
|
Establishing food connections
|
sangha timing & budgets
These days at Sanshin, sesshin is carried out quarterly (in the first weeks of March, June, September, and December), and a precepts retreat is held in early July. Typically, 7 to 12 practitioners participate, averaging at 8 or 9. The usual amount of practitioners and overall timing of sesshin and retreats on a practice community's calendar are of course tied up in the logistical considerations in everything that follows. Timing & coordination The practitioners offering their time to plan the menu and/or cook for sesshin and retreats need to begin their work well ahead of time. As part of the process, we aim to generate a list of what's generally available locally two weeks before the opening zazen bell. This can then be used as the basis of the meal plan. This requires clear lines of communication and defined responsibilities for all those involved. In our case, the operations manager (a paid staff position), coordinates with the sangha to see who's willing and available to plan and cook which meals, investigates what produce is available locally (see below), and communicates that information to those slotted in for meal prep. There are other ways to arrange this process depending on the time and enthusiasm of those involved, but in all cases forethought and communication are key. Budgeting Using the process described above, we've found that about half of the funds we use for food purchasing have gone toward local producers in the past year or so. For sesshin, retreats, and workshops at Sanshin, we budget $6 per person per meal. This has been more than enough to cover these expenditures. connecting with growers
Farmers' markets
Farmers' markets can be a logical starting point for a practice community interested in making local food connections. In Bloomington, there are farmers' markets on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Sesshin and retreats at Sanshin typically begin on Tuesdays or Thursdays, so one market or the other can typically work well for pickup timing. Strolling around the market a couple of weeks before a scheduled practice activity can be a good opportunity to get a sense of what's likely to be available and who's growing what, and even to establish relationships with particular growers over time. In Bloomington, we're fortunate to also have a 7-day a week grocery store operating in town that stocks its shelves exclusively with locally & regionally grown or produced food. We often incorporate a stop at this shop into our food purchasing missions. Cultivating farm-to-temple connections Partnering with an individual farm offers its own opportunities and requires its own considerations. At Sanshin, we've found that this can actually streamline the sourcing process once the relationship is stabilized, and the very direct connection feels meaningful. In establishing these connections, it's important to consider the practicalities from the farmer's perspective as well as that of the sangha. For example, arranging a produce pickup to be at the farmers' market where that particular farm already shows up to sell their goods each Saturday morning is often most convenient for them. If that timing doesn't work with the sesshin schedule, is a sangha member willing to visit the farm itself for a pickup? Many small farms have websites these days, and contact information can be found there or through the markets where they sell - or, of course, just talk with them face to face at the market! Sesshin-CSA Since the summer of 2025, we've maintained an arrangement with Seven Ridges Farm (located just outside of town) that we've come to think of as a "sesshin-mini-CSA." Based on the model of community supported agriculture, it works like this:
Sanshin's CSA box amongst the others (bottom right), ready for pickup
Picking up produce at Stranger's Hill Organics in Bloomington ahead of September sesshin, 2023.
|
Sangha growing
"With the face of buddhas and ancestors, [the temple garden workers must have] horse and donkey legs, like farmworkers and field hands. Without holding back their own life energy, throughout the day they must carry spades and hoes, plow and till by themselves, and haul manure. They can only wait for the vegetables to ripen, and then must not miss their time."
-Dogen Zenji, from the enju (garden manager) section of "Chiji Shingi" (Eihei Shingi, pg. 146)
-Dogen Zenji, from the enju (garden manager) section of "Chiji Shingi" (Eihei Shingi, pg. 146)
|
sharing the work: sangha coordination
Since the spring of 2024, Sanshin has rented a 200 square-foot plot from the City of Bloomington at the Willie Streeter Community Garden, located about a half-mile (a ten-minute walk) up the road from the temple. We chose this location because the temple grounds themselves are largely shaded by trees; it also gives us an opportunity to fold into a broader community program. Currently, planning the garden and coordinating its upkeep is led by our operations manager. Though it need not always be part of a staff position, we've found that the presence of someone committed to and capable of overseeing the project as a whole, and ideally at least one other closely involved practitioner, is important both to adequately care for the plants and to ensure that the endeavor is actually experienced as shared practice. Before breaking ground at any scale, it's a good idea to take stock of the community's current levels of interest, relevant knowledge and experience, and willingness/commitment to be involved to various degrees. A temple garden may not work for every sangha, and of course there are many variables (size, complexity, etc.) that can be adjusted according to what may be manageable. Regular opportunities for involvement help to incorporate the garden into the practice life of the community. At Sanshin, balancing the amount of work called for in the garden, space in the overall practice schedule, and the limited size and availability of our own sangha, we've landed on scheduling regular two-hour work periods at the plot for every other Friday evening during the growing season. A day or two before each of these work periods, the operations manager sends an email to a list of practitioners who wish to be kept in the loop, outlining the tasks planned for the evening (see our current list of weekly tasks at right) and generally keeping the group abreast of the state of the garden. On a typical work evening at our plot, two to four practitioners show up. Regardless, one person always agrees ahead of time to be present with an understanding of the tasks at hand. This person also needs to be okay with potentially finding themselves alone with their practice and the various beings of the garden for the evening. We also typically send a pair of practitioners to the garden for some portion of our monthly work days, so that there are usually three regular opportunities for garden engagement each month. Additional meet-ups at the plot are occasionally held as needed, based on time-sensitive tasks or practitioners' own schedules, and those with primary oversight of the garden attend to necessary upkeep on their own in between. Throughout the growing season, practitioners have been involved in various other ways, such as caring for plant starts in their homes until they're ready for planting, re-potting seedlings after Sunday practice, taking up a regular weekly watering day, or donating plant starts or compost they've made at home. planning a "sesshin garden"
The primary purpose of the garden at Sanshin is to grow food to be served during sesshin. Keeping this in mind guides our garden planning throughout the growing season, linking the practice calendar to the rhythms of planting and harvesting. At right is a chart we use each year as a handy reference for deciding what and when to plant with the intent to harvest in time for various practice activities. Comparing the number of days out from a given practice activity to the "days to harvest" typically listed on a seed packet, we can come up with a general plan. Coordinating with the kitchen Some of the specifics of the sesshin kitchen can help us decide what to grow. For example, we don't bother planting alliums (onions, garlic, leeks, etc.) since we avoid using the Five Pungent Herbs in sesshin meals. If we plant beets, we choose golden varieties, since the more common purple beets tend to stain oryoki bowl wiping cloths. If a sangha has an official tenzo role (or just someone who often cooks for practice activities), consulting with that person(s) may significantly guide planting choices. For the past two seasons, we've decided to focus primarily on growing leafy greens like kale, lettuce, chard, collards, spinach, arugula, etc. Greens are straightforwardly adaptable to a variety of sesshin recipes, are generally low-maintenance to grow, and often offer several harvests in one season. Coordinating with other sources & outlets We've also found that this simplified suite of expected vegetables in our own garden streamlines our communication process with our farm-partners: we often simply say, "We've got greens taken care of. Could you get us a list of $50 of whatever else you're growing?" This year, we'd also like to experiment more intentionally with regular offerings of garden produce to the sangha and local food banks and kitchens. Likely, this will mean planning harvests for each Friday evening work period (even without a sesshin on the horizon), offering some portion to the sangha two days later following public Sunday practice activities, and bringing another portion (or what's left) to the nearby Community Kitchen. Work and ritual: practice in the garden
"Work and food here are directly related, with all of our actions both rooted in and aimed at the one force that keeps us alive."
-from Antaiji's website 
2025 temple garden opening ceremony
One of the basic elements of work practice that we tend to emphasize at Sanshin is that it goes beyond our ideas of engaging in 'volunteer work,' of simply doing a good deed or making a contribution of skills and time that supports the temple (though of course, that's great!). Though more loosely structured and wider in its scope of activities, shared work practice actually offers the same opportunity as that embodied in sesshin: total engagement with body and mind in the beneficial activity of the community at a particular place and time. If practice is alive in the garden, it's expressing the same reality of life as zazen. In a garden of any size, we're tending a tangible, miniature Indra's Net, a fukuden (rice field of happiness) just like an okesa or rakusu. So, is the garden a zendo?
Ritual in the garden Partially because our garden plot is not located on-site, and because our formal work periods are relatively infrequent, we've found it supportive to create a few layers of ritual structure around our activities there, to help keep us grounded in practice and connected to our tradition and ancestors. For the past two seasons, we've set up a modest shrine, constructed of bamboo poles harvested from the temple yard, housing a small figure of Avalokiteshvara that Hoko found at a Goodwill (pictured near the top of this page). This year, we've set it up such that a narrow crack in one of the bamboo poles is oriented to be able to hold an incense stick upright. Before each garden work period, we follow the same routine as for Sunday work days, offering a stick of incense and three standing bows together. As it happens, the shrine faces the same direction as the one in the temple yard (also housing Avalokiteshvara) that we use to formally open our sangha work days. Beginning last spring, we've carried out brief ceremonies in the garden in mid-April and early November to mark the opening and closing of the growing season. Right after zazen on the Sunday work days in those months, those who are present walk through the neighborhood over to the garden together, rakusu and okesa and all. We set up a small folding table in front of the shrine to hold a candle, flowers, and incense, and then we chant the Heart Sutra and the Sho Sai Myo Kichijo Dharani (Marvelous Disaster-Preventing Dharani), and the kokyo recites an eko (dedication of merit) written for the occasion. Particular communities may find ways of trellising their practice that are particularly appropriate to them. At Green Gulch, for example, the six paramitas are carved onto a board nailed to their toolshed, and they begin each work period with a reading from a dharma book. At Sanshin, a stone imprinted with the word "sanshin" and gifted to the temple years ago has found its home at the plot, reminding us of the three minds of kindness, joy, and magnanimity at the heart of our community and shared work. 
returning to soil: sangha composting
Owen & Seigen tending the plot at one of our regularly scheduled Friday evening garden work periods.
|
This week in Sanshin's garden (May 25 - 31):
This year's seed starting timing guide, showing sesshin/retreat dates for cross-referencing with various seeds' projected "days to harvest"
|
Temple Foundation
|
With funding support from the Temple Foundation's "Peace Grant," most of the material on this webpage was written and/or gathered by Sawyer Jisho Hitchcock, who coordinates food practice activities as Sanshin's operations manager. If you wish to follow up about any of the materials on this page, how they may be relevant in your own community, etc., you are welcome to contact Sawyer here.
|
