Instructions to the Cook: Zen life lessons

Shambhala.com; CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Samu: The Dynamic Expression of Zen Practice (Roshi Joan Halifax's Upaya Zen Center)

The recipe for Zen cooking from Being Magazine (wellbeing.com.au)

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Instructions to the Cook (shambhala.com)

Zen [Japanese, from the Pali word for "meditation" and "meditative absorption" or jhana, Chinese chan] is not just about what we do in the meditation hall, but what we do in the home, the workplace, and the community.

That’s the premise of the book Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Lessons in Living a Life That Matters: how to cook what Zen Buddhists call “the supreme meal” — life.

It has to be nourishing, and it has to be shared. And we can use only the ingredients at hand.

Author Zen Master Bernie Glassman

Inspired by the 13th-century manual of the same title by Zen Master Dogen, the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen school, Instructions to the Cook describes the innovative business model American JuBu Roshi Bernie Glassman developed to revitalize a poverty-stricken section of Yonkers, New York.

Co-author Rick Fields

Using his own story as a base, Roshi Glassman and his co-author Rick Fields (How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America) shows how social engagement can be used as a spiritual practice to promote both personal and societal transformation. More

CO-AUTHORS

• Bernie Glassman (born 1939) is a Zen master and the first dharma successor to Taizan Maezumi Roshi, founder of the Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA). He is well known for integrating Zen practice with social, economic, and educational initiatives, author of Bearing Witness: A Zen Master's Lessons in Making Peace and Infinite Circle: Teachings in Zen. More
• Rick Fields (1942–1999) is the author of several books, including Chop Wood, Carry Water and The Code of the Warrior. He has served as the editor of The Vajradhatu Sun, an international journal of Buddhism (now called Shambhala Sun), and as the editor-at-large of Tricycle: A Buddhist Review. More