( Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook – XXIII)

Maybe we could say this like this …

In cooking your life out of life’s cookbook … you had better see clearly what’s what.

If you do so, you may be able to obtain a life of whole and harmonious flavor … not limited to the words in the book.

If not, you may end up with a bitter, unpalatable, poisoned mess of a life.

So much of the result is up to you.

You can read a bit more about Viktor Frankl’s finding meaning and peace even in a concentration camp here [LINK]


Viktor Frankl’s 1946book Man’s Search for Meaning chronicles his experiences as a concentrationcamp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding a reason tolive. … Frankl concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment ofliving; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. …  Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner’spsychological reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of hislife, but also from the freedom of choice he always has even in severesuffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self relies on havinga faith in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that faith, he is doomed.

 

Some Viktor Franklquotes …

    * “A man can get used to anything, butdo not ask us how.”

    * “We who lived in concentration campscan remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving awaytheir last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offersufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: thelast of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set ofcircumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

    * “When we are no longer able tochange a situation – just think of an incurable disease such as inoperablecancer – we are challenged to change ourselves.”

    * “Fundamentally, therefore, any mancan, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him – mentallyand spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentrationcamp.”

_____________________________

You disciples who comeafter me, [must be able to see that side from this side, as well as this side from that side]. If you make this kind of effort, youwill be able to obtain ... the Zen of a single flavor [that goes beyond the surface of words]. If you arenot like this, you will be subjected willy-nilly to the poison of the Zen offive flavors, and when it comes to arranging the monks' meals, you will not beable to do it skillfully.

From: Tenzo Kyokun - Instructions for the Cook by Eihei Dogen - Translated by Griffith Foulk [with portion from Uchiyama]


(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)

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