HOMESTYLE ORYOKI

SOTO ZEN MONASTICS around the world learn a ritualized eating practice known as oryoki. This word combines the Chinese characters for “receive,” “amount,” and “bowl,” so it’s basically the practice of receiving the right amount. The ceremony is an elaborate sequence of bells, chanting, opening the traditional nested bowls that are wrapped in cloth, receiving food, eating, and cleaning your spot in the meditation hall. In the most formal versions of oryoki, certain monks act as servers and, moving from person to person, spoon out portions of rice and soup. During the more truncated, casual style of oryoki, the same ceremonial sequence is conducted at a table, with no servers.

In the ceremony