As there is something to be regarded as peculiarly Zen in the table
manners of the monks, some description of them will be given here.
At meal times a gong is struck, and the monks come out of the
Meditation Hall in procession carrying their own bowls to the
dining room. The low tables are laid there all bare. They sit when
the leader rings the bell. The bowls are set,—which by the way are
made of wood or paper and well lacquered. A set consists of four or
five dishes, one inside the other. As they are arranging the dishes
and the waiting monks go around to serve the soup and rice, the
_Prajñā-pāramitā-hṛidaya-sūtra_[f138] is recited followed by the “Five
Meditations” on eating, which are: “First, of what worth am I? Whence
is this offering? Secondly, accepting this offering, I must reflect on
the deficiency of my virtue. Thirdly, to guard over my own heart, to
keep myself away from faults such as covetousness, etc.,—this is the
essential thing. Fourthly, this food is taken as good medicine in order
to keep the body in a healthy condition. Fifthly, to ensure spiritual
attainment this food is accepted.” After these “Meditations,” they
continue to think about the essence of Buddhism: “The first mouthful is
to cut off all evils; the second mouthful is to practise every good;
the third mouthful is to save all sentient beings so that everybody
will finally attain to Buddhahood.”
They are now ready to take up their chop-sticks, but before they
actually partake of the sumptuous dinner, the demons or spirits
living somewhere in the triple world are remembered; and each monk
taking out about seven grains from his own bowl, offers them to those
unseen, saying, “O you, demons and other spiritual beings, I now offer
this to you, and may this food fill up the ten quarters of the world
and all the demons and other spiritual beings be fed therewith.”
While eating quietude prevails. The dishes are handled noiselessly, no
word is uttered, no conversation goes on. Eating is a serious affair
with them. When a second bowl of rice is wanted, the monk folds his
hands before him. The monk-waiter notices it, comes round with the
rice-receptacle called _ohachi_, and sits before the hungry one.
The latter takes up his bowl and lightly passes his hand around the
bottom before it is handed to the waiter. He means by this to take off
whatever dirt that may have attached itself to the bowl and that is
likely to soil the hand of the serving monk. While the bowl is filled,
the eater keeps his hands folded. If he does not want so much, he
gently rubs the hands against each other, which means “Enough, thank
you.”
Nothing is to be left when the meal is finished. The monks eat up all
that is served them, “gathering up of the fragments that remain.” This
is their religion. After a fourth helping of rice, the meal generally
comes to an end. The leader claps the wooden blocks and the serving
monks bring hot water. Each diner fills the largest bowl with it,
and in it all the smaller dishes are neatly washed, and wiped with a
piece of cloth which each monk carries. Now a wooden pail goes around
to receive the slops.[f139] Each monk gathers up his dishes and wraps
them up once more, saying, “I have now finished eating, and my physical
body is well nourished: I feel as if my will-power would shake the ten
quarters of the world and dominate over the past, present, and future:
turning both the cause and the effect over to the general welfare of
all beings, may we all unfailingly gain in powers miraculous!”
The tables are now empty as before except those rice grains offered to
the spiritual beings at the beginning of the meal. The wooden blocks
are clapped, thanks are given, and the monks leave the room in orderly
procession as they came in.