Thursday, January 02, 2003

So I was doing a

So I was doing a little reading on the bus and encountered Dogen Zengi’s Tenzo Kyokun - a guidebook for management of kitchens in zen monestaries.  In the discussion of this work, which I have not myself read and let’s not get crazy now with the weird exotic reading material anyway, I found a discussion of the old Chinese tenzo (cook/chef) who was working hard to dry out his mushrooms in the hot sun; in his late years, he was glistening with perspiration as he labored.  Asked why he was working so hard at such a warm time of day, and why he hadn’t assigned the task to someone else, he replied (reportedly) “Other people are not me.  And if I don’t do it now, when else can I do it?” This response was cited as a good example of certain zen practices which are at the moment somewhat obscure and vague in my weary mind.  Regardless, it seemed remarkably similar to the famous challenge of Nasi Hillel: “If not now, when?  If not me, who?” I hadn’t thought of such active, worldly words as partaking of zen spirit.  Shows ya what I know.  Maybe it’s time to get back into some comic books.