At a vipassana meditation retreat participants eat in slow, isolated silence. Like eating at a vipassana retreat, the Zen meal continues silent practice but in communal form, and with speed variations. Everyone assembles around the table. For example, at the Shao Shan Spiritual Practice Center (a Soto Zen Temple) in East Calais, Vermont, the group may be approximately ten people. Once everyone has arrived in the kitchen, the group, standing, places their hands in gassho and bows. Once seated, Japanese-style on the floor, the Zen master claps wooden sticks together to mark the start of the meal practice, and there is another gassho. Now the food is served. A simple meal is offered for lunch of homemade squash soup, hummus, some greens, and steamed bread.

The Food Service

The food service is an exercise in remaining attentive. Participants are required to pay keen attention to maintain the group harmony. The Zen master serves the soup from a large pot. The person furthest from her sits with hands in gassho watching. When enough has been served, the hand is lifted towards the sky to signal “enough.” That bowl is then passed back along the participants until it reaches that person, who sets it down. This process is repeated until everyone has soup. Then the hummus is passed around in a bowl. The people on one side of the table become the servers. You serve the person sitting across from you, who sits in gassho and raises one hand when enough has been served. You then serve yourself and pass the bowl to the person next to you. The bread is served in the same way. Once all the food has been served, the meal chant is recited in Japanese:

To recite the meal chant is to become intentional about eating. The goal is to be awake while food is consumed and to come out of the trance where eating is taken for granted. The first stanza reminds you that countless events took place in order to get this food to the table that you are about to eat. It had to be prepared, bought, delivered to the store, planted in the ground, nurtured by rain, sun, and bacteria, and so forth. It is a reminder of the interconnected web of life and also a reminder that events do not occur out of this interconnected context. This helps to foster appreciation for the unique gift this food represents.

The second stanza asks you to reflect upon your efforts to date and to see where your effort may be strong or where it needs improvement. The third stanza is self-explanatory and at a deeper level resonates the Buddha's message of the Middle Way. Remember, in his own path he experienced both extremes of indulgence and starvation. Moderation with food is a reminder of moderation in all things, avoiding extremes whenever possible. The fourth stanza reminds you that this food is vital to your survival, to nourish the body with nutrients. And the fifth stanza builds on the fact of the fourth stanza to put that nourishment to good use — to use it to work towards awakening.

And you thought you were just having lunch! Once the meal chant is recited and the reflections on its meaning made, there is one more step: the food offering. Everyone takes a small bit of bread and places it into a bowl. Later, the group will go for a walk and offer this bread to the fish living in the pond near the Zendo. Then eating begins!

The Eating Process

Unlike vipassana meditation retreats where eating made be a very slow process, the group eats at relatively normal rate. One must be efficient and mindful of others while eating. Once the Master has finished her portion, an offering of seconds is made. Everyone stops eating and the process of serving begins anew. Once everyone who wants seconds is served, another gassho is performed and then everyone resumes eating. As with bowing before and after meditation, this is a group process and the meal does not end until everyone has finished eating. This communality is a natural deterrent to gluttony, because no one wants to be the last one eating when everyone else is finished!

The meal ends with tea served as the hummus and bread were served; you serve the person across from you and then serve yourself. Then a serving tray is passed for the dishes and each of the participants wipes their portion of the table. Then gassho. Then standing. Then gassho. Lunch is now over and the entire process has been conducted in noble silence — when it goes smoothly, no words or eye contact is exchanged.

Eating the meal in this ritualized way provides continuity to the practice and functions as a living reminder that all moments can be lived with intention. The entire Zen practice is an invitation to awaken. After lunch, a volunteer is solicited or someone is appointed the opportunity to do work practice by washing the dishes. Then a communal walk to make the food offering takes place. Then zazen practice resumes. This is a taste of the way of Zen.