One great thing about living in this Buddhist dormitory is the abundance and variety of free rice! Brown rice white rice jasmine rice basmati rice, we've got it all! At first I thought it was a tradition of generosity or almsgiving (sp?), but lately I learned that it's a (Pureland) Shin Buddhist tradition of daily offering of rice to the Buddha, the Amita! No wonder the neuro-fuzzy Japanese rice cooker is set to finish cooking at 8am everyday! And all day long we can enjoy warm rice.
Once I learned that the 8am rice is reserved for the Buddha and after it's offered to him we all can enjoy the rest, I asked our house manager whether it's possible to set it at 7:30am so I can take it for lunch before heading out the door at 7:45. She was so happy to hear that I could use the 'leftover' but freshly-made rice! "Of course! But the Buddha has to eat it first." "Hmmm, but I don't actually eat it until noon time, does that matter?" "Well, the first scoop has to be brought up to Him. Can you do it then?" "Sure, I'd be happy to. Just teach me how!"
So I learned how to scoop out the rice and put it in the golden dish, carefully making a mount-shaped top, and respectfully bring it upstairs to our prayer room, putting it in front of the middle god, the Amita. It was easy, and offers a good 5 seconds of meditation! And then I go down to scoop out a bowl of nice nutty brown rice into my beloved lunch thermos (yes this thing is amazing.. it keeps your food warm for 3 hours!), accompanied by whatever I have in the fridge.
Now, I am sure my friends in Taiwan would be appalled to hear what I ate today along with my brown rice: not wanting to really cook in the morning, I boiled some fresh string beans, seasoned it with sesame oil and tamari soy sauce and toasted black sesame. I also took some roasted cashews and sheets of roasted seaweed. Along with an apple, that makes up my health and nutritious lunch!! And it wasn't bad!
By the time I came home, Amita had "finished" his brown rice as his bowl had been taken down. What a lucky god to get freshly cooked rice every morning! And lucky me who get to share his leftover!!
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2 comments:
this was too funny... can i have the leftover too! i gotta meet this budda!!! you should have jesus next to him too.
tammy-
Actually, there are many Buddha/Buddhist statues in the prayer room, so you are tempted to feed them all! I shouldn't use "feed", it should be serve or "honor with rice". I am tempted to put a Jesus statue among them. I don't know if he cares for brown rice though! How about pita bread or matzoh?
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